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Artist
Pepe Kalle
12+ albums
soukouscongoafricapepe kalledemocratic republic of the congo
about
Pepe Kalle (November 30, 1951 – November 28, 1998) was a soukous singer, musician and bandleader from the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Pepe Kalle was born Kabasele Yampanya in Kinshasa (then Léopoldville), but later assumed the name of his mentor, Grand Kalle. With a multi-octave vocal range and a dynamic stage presence, the 190 cm (6 feet 3 inches) and 136 kg (300 pound) vocalist recorded more than three hundred songs and twenty albums during his two decade-long career. Known affectionately as "the elephant of African music" and "La Bombe Atomique", Kalle entertained audiences with his robust performances. His musical career started with African Jazz, the band of Grand Kalle. He later become the lead singer of Lipua Lipua, where he sung alongside Nyboma Mwandido. In 1972, Kalle along with Dilu Dilumona and Papy Tex, left Lipua Lipua to form their own band named Empire Bakuba. Empire Bakuba took its name from a Congolese warrior tribe, and it pointedly incorporated rootsy rhythms from the interior, sounds that had long been sidelined by popular rumba. The band was an instant hit, and together with Zaïko Langa Langa they became Kinshasa's most popular youth band. With hits such as Pepe Kalle's Dadou and Papy Tex's Sango ya mawa, the band was a constant fixture on the charts. They also created a new dance, the kwassa kwassa. On their tenth anniversary in 1982, the band was voted Zaïre's top group. Throughout the early 1980s, Empire Bakuba continued to tour extensively w
