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TPOK Jazz

From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist

TPOK Jazz, in full Tout Puissant Orchestre Kinois de Jazz, was a Congolese rumba band, founded in 1956 in Léopoldville, present-day Kinshasa, then still in the Belgian Congo. The original name was OK Jazz, after the OK Bar where the musicians played. The first members included Vicky Longomba, Jean Serge Essous and François Luambo Makiadi, better known as Franco. In the early years they shared the leadership. In the early 1960s Longomba and Essous left, and Franco became the leader. The name changed to TPOK Jazz and the number of musicians grew to more than twenty.

Music and breakthrough

Franco's music appealed because it was about the daily lives of ordinary people. He was also one of the first Congolese musicians to use electric guitars, amplifiers and bass guitars, which meant the sound quality was higher than elsewhere in Africa. The guitarist Mose Fan Fan brought the danceable sebene style. In the 1970s the orchestra grew into one of the two giants of Congolese popular music, alongside Grand Kalle & l'African Jazz. In 1978 Franco spent two months in prison over the songs Helene and Jacky, which were considered indecent. The 1980s were the peak, with an average of four albums a year and, in 1983, the first tour of the United States. The song Attention Na Sida from 1987 warned against AIDS.

Influence

After Franco's death in 1989 Simaro Lutumba took over the leadership. In 1993 a quarrel arose with Franco's family over income and instruments, after which most of the musicians under Lutumba formed the group Bana OK. A restart in 1996 was inactive again by 2004.

Listening

Listening tip. Listen to Attention Na Sida and notice how the singing in French lies over heavy African drums and many guitars. How does the music make the message stronger?

Discography

Studio albums

Categories: Artists