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soukous

American

[soo-koos] / ˈsuˈkus /

noun

a style of central African popular dance music with electric guitars, Caribbean rhythms, and often several vocalists.

soukous British

/ ˈsuːkʊs /

noun

a style of African popular music that originated in Zaïre (now the Democratic Republic of Congo), characterized by syncopated rhythms and intricate contrasting guitar melodies

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of soukous

1980–85; said to be < Lingala < French secouer to shake

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

The traditional soukous dance music out of Congo and other parts of Central Africa.

From Seattle Times • Feb. 2, 2024

You can hear hints of West African highlife and Congo-derived soukous, a hybrid of Cuban rumba.

From New York Times • Aug. 2, 2022

And now East Africans are eyeing DR Congo for other things beyond rumba and soukous.

From BBC • Jan. 1, 2022

The 2012 compilation set Real World At Womad starts with Bakwetu, a reminder of Papa Wemba’s glorious, easy-going voice and his mastery of the slinky, hip-swinging rhythms of soukous , takenfrom his 1998 album Molokai.

From The Guardian • Apr. 24, 2016

We then played a game, and each time one of us scored a goal, he would celebrate with a soukous dance.

From "A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier" by Ishmael Beah

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023