Frank Bessem's Musiques d'Afrique: Samba Mapangala & Orchestre Virunga (Kenya)

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Orchestre Virunga, led by Samba Mapangala, is one of the many bands that left Zaire to search for new audiences in Kenya (and Tanzania). This Zairean invasion started in the 1960s, reached its top during the 1970s and ended in the early 1980s. These bands left because of civil war (in the 1960s), the stiff competition between the numerous soukous orchestras as well as the dominant position of Franco and Tabu Ley Rochereau in the 1970s and 1980s. Kenya offered new audiences, record companies and studio facilities. After a stay in Kampala, Uganda, Samba Mapangala and his orchestra Les Kinois arrived in Kenya in 1977, and they were soon loved for their music characterised by light guitar playing on a strong basis of drums and bass. In 1980, Les Kinois broke up, and Samba formed a new band Orchestre Virunga. In the early 1980s, the first Virunga album « Malako Disco » was a huge hit and resulted in a first European release. This was followed by a few European releases made with Paris based musicians such as Diblo Dibala, Pablo Lubadika and others, creating another style closer to that of Les Quatre Etoiles. The original East African style can be enjoyed on a recent album « Virunga Roots volume 1 » with a collection of older successes of Virunga.

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