Loading details…
Artist
Franco et Le T.P.O.K. Jazz
12+ albums
congoafricansoukousworldrumba
about
OK Jazz, later renamed TPOK Jazz (short for Tout Puissant Orchestre Kinshasa, "all-powerful Kinshasa orchestra"), was a soukous band from the Democratic Republic of the Congo established in 1956 and fronted by Franco. François Luambo Luanzo Makiadi (6 July 1938 – 12 October 1989) was a major figure in 20th-century Congolese music, and African music in general. He is widely referred to as Franco Luambo or, simply, Franco. Known for his mastery of rumba, he was nicknamed the "Sorcerer of the Guitar" for his seemingly effortless fluid playing. As a founder of the seminal group OK Jazz, he is counted as one of the originators of the modern Congolese sound. The group disbanded in 1993, but reformed in 1996. The OK Jazz band was formed in 1956 in Léopoldville (now Kinshasa), in what was at the time the Belgian Congo. On independence in 1960, the Belgian Congo became the Republic of the Congo, later Zaire and is now known as the Democratic Republic of the Congo. At one time in the late 1970s and early 1980s the band grew to over fifty members.During that period, it often split into two groups; one group stayed in Kinshasa, playing in nightclubs there, while the other group toured in Africa, Europe and North America. 1950–1959 The musicians who started OK Jazz included Vicky Longomba, Jean Serge Essous, François Luambo Makiadi, De La Lune, Augustin Moniania Roitelet, La Monta LiBerlin, Saturnin Pandi, Nicolas Bosuma Bakili Dessoin and vocalist Philippe Lando Rossignol. They used
you might also explore
▤Books
▧Games
▣Movies
▦TV
