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 ...

34 years after his death, Franco Luambo Makiadi's name still looms large over the world of Rhumba. Franco and his baby, the band TPOK Jazz are an indelible part of Rhumba. And while the band outlived ...

The full title of this double-CD set is Francophonic: Africa's Greatest - A Retrospective, Vol 1: 1953-1980, and if that seems more than a little grandiose, it's also perfectly accurate. The Congolese ...

The current hotspot for African music might be Mali but for many years Congo was the continent's driving force, with the melodic, guitar-led sound of soukous conquering first Francophone Africa then ...

TPOK Jazz made efforts to carry on, as Franco wished, under Simaro Lutumba's leadership, but despite the respect that was given to him, Simaro lacked the shrewdness that was necessary to balance all ...

The Congolese singer-guitarist-bandleader François Luambo — who performed as “Franco” and was one of the greatest African musicians of the 20th century — has finally got the retrospective he deserves.

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 ...

Yves Emongo was very clear. No one, he told this writer, can wear the OK Jazz brand better than Franco did. The son of L’Okanga La Ndju Pene Luambo Makiadi, better known simply as Franco, was trying ...