Frogtoon Music

Mosala Ekomi Mpasi Embonga by Franco & Le Tout Puissant Ok Jazz

Artist Biography For Franco & Le Tout Puissant Ok Jazz

Just As James Brown Is The Crucial Figure In The Development Of Most R And B And Rap The Congolese Guitarist Franco Is THE Key Musical Source For The Modern Music Of Most Of Sub-Saharan Africa. Born Francois Luambo Makiadi Franco Was A Melodic And Fluent Guitarist Who Emerged As A Teenager From The Rumba Craze That Was Still Sweeping The Congo During The 1950s. He Swiftly Rose To Head His Own Band TPOK Jazz. Their Slogan Was "On Entre OK On Sort KO" You Enter OK And Leave KOed. Franco Was One Of The Main Developers Of The Musical Form Known As Soukous Guitar And Brass Driven "African Rumba" Dance Music In Which A Series Of - Often Quite Melancholy - Verses And Chorus Ends With An Extended And Upbeat Instrumental Sequence With A Lot Of Repetitive Chiming Guitar Work. By The Seventies And Through The Eighties He Was Probably The Leading Cultural Figure In Zaire Releasing A Large Amount Of Material That Ranged From Adverts For Band Sponsor's Shops Azda To Social Commentaries Like The Epic Mario. This Latter Track Available In Several Versions All Well Over 10 Minutes Long Is A Portrait Of Fictitious Man-About-Town/gigolo Living Off A Rich Older Woman. Everyone In Black Africa Knows It. Franco Even Released A Follow-Up La Response De Mario In Which The Gigolo Justifies His Behavior. In 1987 He Released His Last Big Classic Attention La Sida Beware Of Aids . He Died In 1989 - In All Probability From An AIDS Related Illness.

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