During the 1980’s, a lifetime’s worth of wonderful live African music performances took place in Los Angeles. African music filled KCRW's airwaves and local print media, and it seemed like a group ...

During his 35 year recording career, the Congolese guitarist, vocalist, songwriter and bandleader Franco released several hundred singles and around 150 albums. Where does the anthologist begin, and ...

Last year Americans finally discovered Congolese music. Trancey enough for club rats and New Agers both, the distorted thumb pianos and junkyard clatter of Konono No. 1’s Congotronics also rang with ...

A huge bronze statue of a smiling Franco Luambo Makiadi, a guitar strapped to his burly self, towers above Kinshasa; a fitting tribute to arguably the most significant cultural icons that Africa has ...

The African guitarist, singer and bandleader known as Franco was the first modern international pop-music superstar in the continent, a sensation not only in his native Republic of the Congo, but ...

When the Congolese musician Franco died of an illness believed to be AIDS, in October of 1989, the dictator Mobutu Sese Seko declared four days of national mourning. Many of the members of Franco’s ...

Congress has cut federal funding for public media — a $3.4 million loss for LAist. We count on readers like you to protect our nonprofit newsroom. Become a monthly member and sustain local journalism.

T.P.O.K.—as the name implied—produced a big sound that propelled dancers around the floor like few other Congolese bands. This was especially true in the 1980’s recordings, when the band was larger ...