Kanda bongo man biography of albert

September 03, 2024 - 04:34 PM

Kabasele, Joseph "Le Grand Kalle" (Kabasele Tshamala), celebrated Congolese singer and band leader; born Matadi, Congo-Kinshasa, Dec. 16, 1930; died Kinshasa, Feb. 11, 1983.

Kabasele was born to a prominent Congolese family that included Joseph Malula, who rose to become a cardinal in the Catholic church. As one of the period's better-educated Congolese—he completed secondary school—Kabasele gained employment as a typist at a succession of commercial firms in colonial Léopoldville (Kinshasa). Music was his true calling, however, and he found an opportunity to pursue it around 1950 at a new recording studio called Opika. There he joined the aggregation of session musicians that included Jhimmy (Zacharie Elenga), the era's biggest star, established guitarists Georges Doula and Albert Yamba-Yamba, and a number of younger players, who, like himself, saw music as the key to a future outside the humdrum realm of business and the colonial administration.

One of the early bands to emerge from this mix joined Kabasele, Doula, and Yamba-Yamba into a combo called Groupe Doula Georges. The band became known as OTC after making a promotional film for a local radio station that used the call

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