Seke Molenga

In 1977, a would-be reggae promoter brought some fellows from Zaire to Jamaica in hopes of creating a new African reggae sound. Apparently, she abandoned the two Africans soon after they arrived in Jamaica and left them stranded on the mean streets of Kingston. Not speaking any English, they had to beg for money and food to survive. Eventually, they found themselves at Lee Perry's house and somehow communicated their desperate story.

These two  Africans were none other than the two Congolese musicians Seke Molenga and Kalo Kawangolo

Perry took their arrival as a sign: Jah himself had sent these guys from Africa to make a connection with the Black Ark. Soon after, the three of them were in the Ark recording the six songs that make up From The Heart Of The Congo. It's an incredible and ground breaking collaboration, done long before anyone was attempting such a crossover, and even before reggae had become popular in Africa. The result was a thick, swirling, tribal groove that is unique in the Lee Perry canon. Killers include "African Roots", "Mutoya Motema", and - oddly enough - the mislabelled Robert Palmer tune is really good, too!

The singing is mostly in Lingala and some local Zairean dialects, but the musical flavor could have come from nobody else but Lee "Scratch" Perry. This is a missing link not only in Perry's musical career but between the music of the Mother Continent and Jamaica as well.