Leif Totusek brings Seattle soukous to the Triple Door's MQ Stage

The Seattle-raised guitarist, a longtime champion of Congolese guitar music, plays a free early set Wednesday downtown.

There's a particular sound a soukous guitar makes, bright, looping lines that seem to circle over the beat, and if you've heard it live in Seattle, there's a good chance it came from Leif Totusek. On Wednesday, Oct. 28, he's back at the Triple Door.

The show is on the venue's MQ Stage & Lounge, the bar-side room, not the ticketed Mainstage. The Triple Door's MQ calendar lists it at 5 p.m. with no cover. That makes it the easiest kind of hometown show to catch: after work, downtown on Union Street, with nothing to buy but a drink.

Totusek was born in 1964 and grew up in Seattle, according to his biography. In 1982 he started a jazz-influenced band, Freestyle Candela, and that project became the throughline of his career. His bio says that after moving to Boston in his twenties, he helped popularize Zairian, or Congolese, soukous guitar in that city's music scene before returning home. Along the way he worked with African artists including Mose Fan Fan, Ali Birra and Tabu Ley Rochereau.

The Triple Door's own listing for an earlier 2026 MQ show calls him one of America's foremost experts in Pan-African, soukous, rumba and jazz music. That's not an easy title to earn from a city better known for other exports. His site keeps an archive of press going back decades, including a 1991 Boston Phoenix profile and a 1994 piece in The Stranger.

The easiest kind of hometown show to catch: after work, downtown, with nothing to buy but a drink.

There is recent activity to point to, too. His site lists a Freestyle Candela album release party at Shrine in New York on Oct. 3, 2025, so the band that started in Seattle more than four decades ago is still putting out music. We couldn't confirm the album's title or whether any of it is in Wednesday's set, so go in with open ears.

The MQ Stage hosts live music from local and touring acts Tuesday through Saturday, and a happy-hour set like this is part of what makes the Triple Door such a useful room for the city. Not every show needs a ticket, a seat map and a two-drink minimum. Sometimes the best thing on a Wednesday is a guitarist who has spent most of his life learning one of the world's great dance-music traditions, playing it a few feet from the bar.

If you're downtown Wednesday, stop in at 5. If soukous is new to you, give it two songs. That's usually all it takes.

Sources: MQ Stage Calendar - The Triple Door (thetripledoor.net); Leif Totusek @ MQ Stage & Lounge (Feb 19, 2026) - The Triple Door (thetripledoor.net); FAQ - The Triple Door (thetripledoor.net); Leif Totusek - Official Site (leiftotusek.com); Leif Totusek Biography (leiftotusek.com); Leif Totusek - The Stranger Article (1994) (leiftotusek.com); Seattle soukous: Freestyle shows how it's done (Boston Phoenix) (leiftotusek.com)