Rumba on the River. Retro Blog 7 December 1993 Coda: For Dechaud... 30 June 1993 It's our last day in Brazzaville... 29 June 1993 Back downtown at the U.S. Embassy... 28 June 1993 Breakfast in town at La Marquise... 27 June 1993 We still haven't interviewed Nino Malapet... 26 June 1993 We'll be interviewing Pamelo Mounk'a today... 25 June 1993 We hope to see Pamelo Mounk'a today... 24 June 1993 We leave for Brazzaville today... 23 June 1993 We plan to return to Brazzaville today... 22 June 1993 Gerry Dialungana drops by the hostel this morning... 21 June 1993 Today’s the day we’re supposed to meet both Wendo and Verckys... 20 June 1993 We go back to the Chantilly for breakfast... 19 June 1993 (Part Two) Roitelet has told us that Mwanga Paul is still alive... 19 June 1993 (Part One) We’ve spent our last night in Kintambo... 18 June 1993 A search for Roitelet and Dechaud is on our docket for today... 16 June 1993 Beth is sick this morning... 15 June 1993 We're not quite as tense as we were yesterday...
Rumba on the River. Kabasele, Joseph "Le Grand Kalle" (Kabasele Tshamala), celebrated Congolese singer and band leader; born Matadi, Congo-Kinshasa, Dec. 16, 1930; died Kinshasa, Feb. 11, 1983. Kabasele was born to a prominent Congolese family that included Joseph Malula, who rose to become a cardinal in the Catholic church. As one of the period's better educated Congolese—he completed secondary school—Kabasele gained employment as a typist at a succession of commercial firms in colonial Léopoldville (Kinshasa).
Music was his true calling, however, and he found an opportunity to pursue it around 1950 at a new recording studio called Opika. There he joined the aggregation of session musicians that included Jhimmy (Zacharie Elenga), the era's biggest star, established guitarists Georges Doula and Albert Yamba-Yamba, and a number of younger players, who, like himself, saw music as the key to a future outside the humdrum realm of business and the colonial administration. SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY M. Luambo Luanzo Makiadi Franco; the Tiger that Roared but never Pounced | KymsnetFeatures. By Mari-Djata Amadi kwaa Atsiaya—- mari_djyata@yahoo.com Of the most famous musicians that continental Africa has produced, DRC’s Luambo Luanzo Makiadi Franco has etched himself an eternal place.
In just a few weeks to come, rumba music enthusiasts all over the world will commemorate with great nostalgia, the October 12th 1989 demise of the Grand Master of Zairean (as the DRC was known for quite some time during Franco’s life) Music. As the excitement steadily mounts in various quarters to remember this fallen musical titan, my mind jogs to a few years ago when listening to one such commemoration on radio. A reporter was interviewing some residents of Kinshasa, and one man made a remark that made me get interested in Franco than ever before. In my opinion, sentiments by the two who in those years of Franco would aptly be referred to as Zairois mpe Zairoise tended to present a simplistic view of the personage whom writer Graeme Ewens calls the Congo Colossus.
Like this: Like Loading... African Music Encyclopedia: Diblo Dibala. Diblo Dibala, born in 1954 in Kisangani in the Congo (now Zaire), of the Baluba people, is the one of the hottest African Soukous lead guitarists around. At the age of 6 Diblo moved to Kinshasa and by the age of 15 he was playing guitar in the great Franco's TPOK band. In Kinshasa, Diblo continued to master his lava-hot guitar chops with such top Zairean bands as Vox Africa, Orchestre Bella Mambo, and Bella Bella. In 1979 Diblo left Zaire and landed in Brussels where he played a rented guitar and washed dishes to make money.
In 1981 he moved to Paris, where the Soukous scene was a happening thing. He rejoined Kanda Bongo Man, who he had played with in Bella Bella. Their first album, Iyole (1981), was a big hit: Kanda became a big star, and Diblo became the most sought-after session man in Paris. Diblo's naturally gentle demeanor might have served him well in a recording studio, but he had problems keeping Loketo together with the flamboyant Mabele. Soukous Guitar! (including Congo Rumba!) SOUKOUS means Congolese guitar! 60+ years of guitar brilliance, from the fingerstyle rumbas of Henri Bowane w/Wendo Kolosoy, through Dr. Nico, and then FRANCO's 30-year heyday of Congolese rumba...through Sam Mangwana’s African All-Stars where Lokassa ya Mbongo first set his standard of brilliance on rhythm guitar...through Tabu Ley’s L’Afrisa where young Huit Kilos brough new complexity and genius to lead guitar, and on through the guitar geniuses who performed with Pepe Kalle, Zaiko Langa Langa, and on into the pop Soukous era of greats like Diblo, Dally Kimoko, Caen Madoka, Néné Tchakou, and today’s kings of Ndombolo, Coupe Decalé and other hot Congolese pop guitar stylings, ZAIREAN / CONGOLESE GUITAR continues to set the global standard of creativity and excellence in pop guitar artistry.
It’s not a ‘traditional’ sound: Congolese guitar is Africa's modern pop sound, one that has changed with the passing decades, but never failed to hold the African audience enthralled. Safaritv Productions - Video & Audio Post Production - London. Worldservice. Le Grand Maitre Franco et le Tout Puissant O.K. Jazz - Ekaba - Kaba, Celluloid. Le Grand Maitre Franco et Jolie Detta 'Massu' (1986) This album is commonly known as 'Massu' due to the big hit song from the album which made its singer Jolie Detta a reluctant star. Two of the songs on this album 'Cherie Okamuisi Ngai' and 'Likambo Ya Somo Lumbe' appear never to have been released outside of this LP release.
We think this is simply one of the best LP's Franco released in the latter years of his life. Jolie Detta's singing is sublime, as is the multi-layered guitar playing. Le Grand Maitre Franco et Jolie Detta 'Massu' (1986)