Music / verdensmusik - world music

Le Grand Kallé : his life and music : Joseph Kabasele and the creation of modern Congolese music


Reviews (3)


The guardian

d. 24. Oct. 2013

By

By

Robin Denselow

d. 24. Oct. 2013

"He was a singer, songwriter and businessman whose band African Jazz were the best-known exponents of Congolese rumba, and included such celebrities as guitarist Dr Nico, singer Tabu Ley Rochereau and saxophonist Manu Dibango. They all feature on this 38-track set that includes intriguing sleeve notes detailing Kallé's sometimes controversial life, friendship with Lumumba and uneasy dealings with Mobutu".


Mojo

2014 July

By

By

David Hutcheon

2014 July

"One of the most influential musicians of all time? You'd better believe it ... The 38 tracks here are a tiny fraction of 20 years of recording but, boy oh boy, do they swing".


fRoots

2013 December

By

By

Rick Sanders

2013 December

"Much reverenced as the founding father of modern Congolese pop music, Joseph Kabasele with his handsome compendium finally gets the serious release he merits. There are two CDs of songs - many taken from shellac and vinyl, not available for decades - with 104 pages of authoritative and entertaining text from compiler Ken Braun to tell the story of Congolese pop music and Le Grand Kallé's great contribution to it ... [The Cuban son], reimported into Africa (...) was the music that fired Kabasele, who was both a trained musician and a lover of local music. He put it all together with his band African Jazz. They called it rumba, though it was not that close to Cuban rumba. Other bands tried to follow, but Kallé was the classiest. He was the first".