Heritage Du Grand Maitre Franco

We post this in tribute to our father. This was recorded after Franco's death in tribute to the great master. It is perhaps the best OK Jazz recording done without him. Some of the synthesizer sounds have not dated well, but we cannot fault the great songs, musicianship, sebenes and perhaps best of all, the fact that so many of the great OK Jazz members came together on this album.
We have Josky, Simaro, Madilu System, Ntesa Dalienst, Djo Mpoyi, Lola Checain, Ndombe Opetum, Aime Kiwakana, Lukoki Diatho, Papa Noel, Decca M'Pudi, Gerry Dialunguna, Yuma Michel Sax, Flavien Makabi, Ya Mokoso, Kunista Ribens, Cyril Orcel, Makwala Bibeson, Weteto Mikorason, Zinga, Alpha, Gandy and Dizzy Mandjeku mixed it. There may be a big hole without Franco on this record, but just that front line of singers is incredible. Josky, Simaro, Aime, Madilu, Papa Noel and Ndombe contributed one great song each to make this a great record. Really the last great OK Jazz record before divisions made the band members break into different versions and pursue solo careers.

We have fond memories of the day our father brought this LP home and played it for us over and over. We were mourning Franco then, today we celebrate our father's memory with this post.

http://www.4shared.com/file/ai0u-klP/ok_jazz_heritage_du_grand_mait.html

A1		Maby (Josky)
A2		Mamisa (Simaro)
A3		Malaria (Aime)
B1		Tonton Zala Serieux (Papa Noel)
B2		Mort' Vivant...Somida (Madilu)
B3		Osala Erreur (Aime)

New Franco Radio Show

We have been contacted by Hedd Thomas, a DJ and presenter of United World Radio to tell us about a new radio special about Franco and OK Jazz. You can listen to it here.

http://unitedworldradio.org/2010/11/17/show-19-%E2%80%93-legends-of-africa-franco/

Itshiofo (Edipop 058)

 

We return to posting OK Jazz classics with a bang. 

This was one of our father's favourite tracks and we found this rare single amongst his record collection. It is a Youlou Mabiala composition called 'Itshiofo' from 1977. Another one of those classic building rumbas with a great sebene. The intro is quite funky, a bit like James Brown, after that it's pure OK Jazz. 

This single just consists of this one track, broken over two sides. We've put it all on one mp3, without editing the fade in and out so as to preserve the way it goes on the vinyl. We hope you enjoy this, the first of a new batch of OK Jazz songs we will be posting this month.

The download link is here http://www.4shared.com/file/WLEX_atj/Itshiofo.html

This file is 320 kps. Some people requested we try higher bitrates so we experimented with this. Unfortunately it will not be practical for us to upload other tracks at this bitrate because our internet connection is very slow. It took an hour and a half to upload this one track!

Update

This is Isaac Musanga, brother of Kasongo. We are both sorry for not updating this blog for so long. We had been tending to our terminally ill father. We have been in mourning for the last two months as our dear father, who introduced us to Franco when we were small children and cultivated our love for TPOK Jazz, passed away.

One of his dying wishes was that we continue to restore Franco's legacy, so he has left us many records. We will soon start posting more records.

For now we just want to say Rest in Peace to our dear father......

Franco Presente Youlou Mabiala et son Orchestre Kamikaze (1982)

Ok, so this release is not a TPOK Jazz recording, but it has Franco's name on the cover, it is on his Edipop label and it features his son-in-law and TPOK Jazz member Prince Youlou Mabiala. It's also a fantastic and rare record, so these are reason's enough to post it here.

It was released in 1982 and feautres five tracks, three of which are Youlou compositions. It sounds like it could be TPOK Jazz on the record, the band is so good. We don't know who the band members are.

Franco Presente Youlou Mabiala et son Orchestre Kamikaze - Loningisa Bolongwa Na Nzela Edipop 019.

Side A

U.C.B (Youlou)

Motema Na Ngai Television (Youlou)

Gentil Ya Mbebo (Nlemvo Djomoke)

Side B

Sentiment Ekoti Nzube (Bola-Bolithe)

Ndoyi Ya Ba Soucis (Youlou)





http://www.4shared.com/file/17Gj16BO/Franco_Presente_Youlou.html

Lela Ngai Na Mosika (1985)

This is a 12 inch single from 1985. It is credited to Momy et le Tout Puissant O.K.Jazz, presumably because Momy (Momene Mo Mikengo) composed the tracks.

There are just two tracks. One on each side.

The first track 'Lela Ngai Na Mosika' appears to be a re-recording of a hit from Josky and Ntesa Dalienst's album 'Alerte'.

The second track is called 'Likingo Li Mboka'.

The single was released via the African Record Center/Safari Music inprint with a catalogue of Tchika 010/85.

We don't know if Franco is on this rare record, but it is very good nonetheless. There's a great sebene in Lela Ngai Na Mosika. Vocals on both tracks are provided by Josky, Ntesa, Madilu and Kiwakana.

Side A

Lela Ngai Na Mosika (Momy)

Side B

Likingo Li Mboka (Momy)

http://www.4shared.com/file/0-jbNw6K/Lela_Ngai.html

Two 45's from the 1970's

We have been busy collecting some great rarities to post on the blog. Some of these were acquired with the help of some generous doners. May we thank you sincerely for helping to make these recordings available to everyone. Your continued support is appreciated.

Our first two posts of our new acquisitions are two 45's from the 1970's.

The first is 'Boni Nkaka' a Youlou Mabiala composition from 1977 released as a stand alone single labelled Edition Populaires 061 (African 91.595). The song was previously released on the now deleted Sonodisc CD 36571 which we never got a copy of. This is the original vinyl release in two parts.

http://www.4shared.com/file/Unz22FQ4/Boni_Nkaka.html


The second track is 'Zenaba' a compositon by Franco from 1973 released as Edition Populaires 146. This seems to be two different versions of the same song rather than one long song split over two sides. There is slight warping on our copy of this single which causes the start of part 2 to sound a bit strange. A live version of this song was released on CD by Sonodisc CDS 6952. Both studio versions seem to have only been released on vinyl so this is a rarity and a real classic too.

http://www.4shared.com/file/Y8fEcBKR/Zenaba.html