François Luambo Makiadi

Franco Luambo Makiadi ( born July 6, 1938 in Sona Bata, Central Congo as L' Okanga Landju Pene Luambo Makiadi or François Luambo Makiadi, † October 12th 1989 in Brussels) was a famous singer, guitarist and band leader of Congo - Zaire.

Life and work

Franco (as he was usually called without surname ) was from 12 years of Ebengo Dawayon, a solo guitarist of the band " Watam ", teaches. His first single he took in 1953 with " Watam " on; it was a success and he persuaded to perform in live shows. End of the 50s he was, next to Dr. Nico, authoritative guitarist of early Congolese pop music. In 1956, he played with the first medium-format Orchestre Kinois Jazz, with whom he worked the rest of his life. O.K. Jazz, as the band was abbreviated, stood as devotion to the city of Kinshasa, in the history of Congolese rumba music began; In 1957, the band played but in Brazzaville. Later, it was additionally the abbreviation T.P. appended to the name. That is " Tout puissant ", ie: the " almighty ". As such he should and T.P. O.K. Jazz act over the years in the music scene of the Congo. Although T.P. OK Jazz played no jazz music, she used the term 'jazz' to show that their music was modern, cultured and thoroughly entertaining. Over the decades, countless musicians have played in the growing to 23 musicians big band, as Essous, Wuta May, Fan Fan Josky or Papa Noel took the later a central position.

In the early years of Franco played primarily a fast variety of rumba. He soon took over elements of indigenous, and traditional music. With time, the songs adopted a different form. In the format of the pieces remember from the late seventies to the radio by James Brown: You use a repeating, never tiring reef and fill on this basis often a half or whole side of the LP.

Not always Franco has just sung alone, but had frequently lead and guest singer in his band as Simaro, Vicky Longomba, Sam Mangwana, Madilu system and even his rival Tabu Ley Rochereau, with whom he sang a duet. With numerous well- danceable rumba and soukous pieces in which he was heard as a guitarist, he sang again and again beautiful ballads - mostly in Lingala, but sometimes also in French. In his songs he devoted himself to the description of African everyday life, in which the woman appeared everywhere - later also political and satirical pieces were added. " Le Grand Maître ", the great master, so is one of the attributes that were attached to him. Between Guinea and Zambia, between Cameroon and Kenya, he played with his orchestra the Congo Rumba, as the strongest competitor of local Afro-pop style dance floors, radio programs, and filled the stadiums at regular intervals until the end of the 1980s. In the last ten years of his multi-faceted career Franco narrowed his perspective, however, a visibly. Unlike, say, Ray Lema and Sam Mangwana Franco arranged with the patronage system of Zaire.

After his death, President Mobutu Sese Seko in 1989 decreed national mourning for four days. It came to rumors that he had died of AIDS, because he was quick to denounce the danger of the epidemic in Africa for his song "Attention na sida ". In fact, he is but died from a liver disease.

The work

Overlap and duplication not counting the musical estate of Franco comprises about 70 albums. Almost all are out of print; only a part has been released on CD. The recordings currently available, it is the opinion of Radio Europe partly to copyright dubious publications.

Discography (selection)

• Franco: The Rough Guide To Franco
• Franco & Sam Mangwana et TP OK Jazz: For Ever