When he was seven years old,
Francois Luambo Makiadi built his own guitar. He would become one of the titans of 20th Century African music, Le Grande Maitre of the All Powerful Orchestre Kinois Jazz.
Franco and his band
Tout Puissant OK Jazz were the foremost practitioners (and transformers) of
rumba Congolaise, arguably the most popular music in Africa, but Franco is still largely
unknown in
the US and non-francophone Europe, even among aficionados of "
world music." He barely toured the US, never sang in English and rarely adapted his music to international tastes, in part a reflection of his agreement with the government policy of
Authenticitie.
Called the
Sorcerer of the Guitar, for
more than 30 years, Franco and OK Jazz sang about
relationships,
personal conflicts,
death and
bad behavior, (while many songs also had
hidden meanings). He also
responded to critics, while taking time to praise his
tailor and a
Volkswagen dealership. Franco and OK Jazz were
hugely prolific, producing more than 2000 songs. When Franco
died, reportedly of
AIDS, the government declared four days of national mourning; his music was played non-stop on the radio without repeating a song.
OK Jazz musicians, singers and collaborators are a who's who of Congolese music:
Madilu System,
Papa Noel,
Youlou Mabiala,
Simaro,
Ntesa Dalienst,
Josky Kiambukuta,
Tabu Ley, and the great
Sam Mangwana (who said that a man like Franco came along only every hundred years), and many more.
Politically, Franco was no
Fela: he was distressingly close to
Mobutu, composing
praise songs for the US-supported dictator, and even assisting Mobutu's move to appropriate
Lumumba for his
own rule. In return, Franco was named "Le Grand Maitre" (a title usually reserved for judges and scholars), exercised
tremendous control over the music industry in Congo, and died a multi-millionaire.
His music was once available only as expensive imports, with the songs often
butchered, but perhaps a new
two volume retrospective (reviewed
here and
here) along with mp3s at iTunes, will make Franco more well known to those outside of Africa, where he is still revered. There remain untold hours of material to be digitized. Fortunately, there is Aboubacar Siddikh's
youtube channel, and
various blogs which feature long out of print Franco vinyl.
So, dive in: even if you don't know the languages, you will still lose yourself in those
guitars,
those glorious,
glorious,
guitars.
Be careful though:
you enter OK,
but you leave knocked out!
posted by mykescipark at 9:20 AM on January 2, 2011