JACQUES Sarasin’s “On the Rumba River” gives us quite an earful of Wendo Kolosoy, a prominent Congolese musician long known as Papa Wendo, who specializes in an African version of the Cuban rumba.
Wendo’s stardom in the then-Belgian colony was interrupted for about three decades after the rise of dictator Mobutu Sese Seko plunged what was then known as Zaire into an extended period of bloodshed and chaos that continues today in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Delightful music alternates with too-brief interviews with Wendo and his colleagues. “On the Rumba River” cries out for narration to help viewers understand the tragic context of his life.
Running time: 82 minutes. In Lingala with English subtitles. Not rated (disturbing images). At the Village East, Second Avenue and 12th Street.