Selected band members
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Original lineup
- Longwa Didos Mutonkole – vocals
- Kasongo wa Kanema – vocals
- Loboko Pasi – guitar
- Madjo Maduly
- Okello Jose
Other members
- Longwa "Disco" Ngoie
Orchestra Super Mazembe was a Kenyan soukous band. Originally formed in Zaire in 1967 under the name Super Vox, the group, led by Longwa Didos Mutonkole, moved to Nairobi in 1974 and changed their name. Their biggest hit was "Shauri Yako", a cover of a song first performed by Nguashi Ntimbo & Festival Du Zaire. [1] In 2006, they renamed themselves Orchestra Bana Mazembe, after most of the original members had died. [2]
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Original lineup
Other members
Albums
Compilations
Youssou N'Dour is a Senegalese singer, songwriter, musician, composer, occasional actor, businessman, and politician. In 2004, Rolling Stone described him as, "perhaps the most famous singer alive" in Senegal and much of Africa and in 2023, the same publication ranked him at number 69 on its list of the 200 Greatest Singers of All Time. From April 2012 to September 2013, he was Senegal's Minister of Tourism.
Florian Cloud de Bounevialle Armstrong, known professionally as Dido, is an English singer and songwriter. She attained international success with her debut album No Angel (1999). Hit singles from the album include "Here with Me" and "Thank You". It sold over 21 million copies worldwide, and it won her several awards, including two Brit Awards; additionally, she won Best British Album and Best British Female as well as the MTV Europe Music Award for Best New Act. The first verse of "Thank You" is sampled in "Stan", a critically acclaimed collaboration with American rapper Eminem. Her next album, Life for Rent (2003), continued her success with the hit singles "White Flag" and "Life for Rent". In 2004, Dido performed with other British and Irish artists in the Band Aid 20 version of the charity single "Do They Know It's Christmas?".
Soukous is a genre of dance music originating from the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the Republic of the Congo. It derived from Congolese rumba in the 1960s, with faster dance rhythms and bright, intricate guitar improvisation, and gained popularity in the 1980s in France. Although often used by journalists as a synonym for Congolese rumba, both the music and dance associated with soukous differ from more traditional rumba, especially in its higher tempo, song structures and longer dance sequences.
Le Grand Kallé et l'African Jazz, often simply referred to as African Jazz, was a popular and extremely influential Congolese rumba band from the modern-day Democratic Republic of the Congo. Founded in 1953 in Léopoldville under Belgian colonial rule, the band was led by Joseph Kabasele Tshamala, popularly known by his stage name Le Grand Kallé. The group saw its heyday between 1958 and 1962, after which it was hit by defections by its members in 1963. It was briefly revived after 1966.
Orchestra Baobab is a Senegalese band established in 1970 as the house band of the Baobab Club in Dakar. Many of the band's original members had previously played with Star Band de Dakar in the 1960s. Directed by timbalero and vocalist Balla Sidibé, the group featured saxophonists Issa Cissoko and Thierno Koité, two singers, two guitarists and a rhythm section with drums, congas and bass guitar. Since their formation, the band has predominantly played a mix of son cubano, Wolof music, and to a lesser extent Mande musical traditions. Following the deaths of Cissoko in 2019 and Sidibé in 2020, Thierno Koité has become the leader of the band.
Zaïko Langa Langa is a Congolese soukous band formed in Kinshasa, in December 1969. It was established by D.V. Moanda, Henri Mongombe, Marcellin Delo and André Bita, the band evolved from the Orchestre Bel Guide National, which is seen as Zaïko's predecessor. Other co-founders included Papa Wemba, Jossart N'Yoka Longo, Félix Manuaku Waku.
Les Quatre Etoiles was a Congolese musical group active from 1982 to 1996. They played the Soukous style of dance music, which gained widespread popularity in the 1980s and 1990s.
Samba Mapangala is a Congolese singer and bandleader who has been based in Kenya for most of his five-decade musical career, most notably there creating and leading Virunga, which has been one of the most popular bands in East Africa for more than 35 years.
FC Saint-Éloi Lupopo is a Congolese professional football club based in Lubumbashi. Their home games are played at Stade Kibassa Maliba.
Victor Longomba Besange Lokuli, commonly known as Vicky Longomba, was a singer and a founding member of Tout puissant OK Jazz, a Congolese rumba group.
Muziki wa dansi, or simply dansi, is a Tanzanian music genre, derivative of Congolese soukous and Congolese rumba. It is sometimes called Swahili jazz because most dansi lyrics are in Swahili, and "jazz" is an umbrella term used in Central and Eastern Africa to refer to soukous, highlife, and other dance music and big band genres. Muziki wa dansi can also be referred to as Tanzanian rumba, as "african rumba" is another name for soukous.
Football is the most popular sport played in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The national football team has won the African Cup of Nations twice: in 1968 and 1974 under the nations' former name Zaire. The national team qualified for the World Cup in 1974, their only appearance in that tournament.
Robert Kazadi Mwamba was a goalkeeper who played for TP Mazembe and Zaire.
Orchestra Makassy were an East African soukous band of the late 1970s and early 1980s, consisting of musicians from Uganda and Zaire. In 1975, under the leadership of their principal vocalist Kitenzogu "Mzee" Makassy, the group moved from Kampala, Uganda to Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, taking up residence at the New Africa Hotel where they were joined by guitarists and singers such as Mose Se Sengo and Remmy Ongala. One of the band's first recordings was the song "Chama Cha Mapinduzi" praising the Tanzanian independence party, with lyrics based on the words of the country's first president, Julius Nyerere. In 1982, the band moved to Nairobi, Kenya, to record The Nairobi AGWAYA Sessions at the CBS Nairobi studio. Remmy Ongala left the band and stayed in Tanzania where he went on to join Orchestra Super Matimila. Mose Se Sengo left the band in Kenya to start his own band Somo Somo. The Nairobi Agwaya Sessions, produced by London-based Australian engineer, Norman Mighell, has been described as "one of the finest moments of East African rumba". The band broke up in 1984.
Mose Se Sengo was a guitarist, composer and band-leader from the Democratic Republic of Congo. He was one of the pioneers of Congolese Soukous.
Viva La Musica is a popular band from Zaire founded by singer Papa Wemba in 1977. While Viva La Musica started out as a soukous band, it eventually grew into a world music act, reaching some popularity and success in the European, American, and even Asian markets, as well as in most of Africa. The band is still active today, although it is just one of a number of musical ensembles used by Papa Wemba as a backup for his essentially soloist production.
Masengo Ilunga is a retired footballer who played as a midfielder for club sides in Zaire, Greece and Cyprus.
Bopol Mansiamina, also known as Bopol or Don Paolo, was a prolific and renowned Congolese musician. He recorded and performed extensively over four decades as a solo artist, as a member of leading African bands, and in support of many African musicians. Bopol was best known for his work in the 1980s and early 1990s as one of the four members of the Paris-based supergroup Les Quatre Etoiles and as a solo artist.
Nashil Pichen Kazembe (1932–1991) was a Zambian singer from Kaputa District in the Luapula Valley, who gained prominence in the 1970s. He spent a large part of his life in Nairobi, Kenya, where he collaborated with fellow Zambia emigre Peter Tsotsi and Benson Simbeye. As members of Eagles Lupopo Band they sang 'patriotic songs' praising President Kenneth Kaunda and commenting on various social issues.
Super Biton de Ségou, Super Biton for short and also known as the Orchestre Régional de Segou and Super Biton National de Ségou, are an African jazz musical group. They were especially popular and influential in the 1970s, when they became the national orchestra of Mali, and in the first half of the 1980s. They formed in Ségou, Mali, in the 1960s, had up to 19 members at one point, but dwindled after 1986 after band leader Amadou Bâ left. After a hiatus, they re-formed with four new members and guitarist Mama Sissoko as band leader in 2001, and started playing the closing set at the Festival sur le Niger in Ségou each year.
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