Here’s my interview with Ken Braun, who produced and compiled a 2-volume CD retrospective on the Congolese music legend Tabu Ley Rochereau called “The Voice of Lightness” (Sterns). Tabu Ley died November 30th in a Brussels hospital where he had been undergoing treatment for a stroke he suffered in 2008. He had just celebrated his 73rd birthday on 13 November, though sources differ on his birth year and could have been 76.
Tabu Ley began his musical career while in his teens, and in 1959 joined L’Orchestre African Jazz, led by Joseph Kabasele (Le Grand Kallé), the premier exponents at the time of “Rumba Congolaise”. That music style has gone on to become among the influential across an African continent emerging from colonial rule, with Tabu Ley greatly responsible for its popularity. Following his departure from African Jazz in 1963,Tabu Ley struck out on his own (along with some fellow band members) to form and lead increasingly sophisticated bands (through various changes in personnel and names). Rochereau and his erstwhile rival Luambo Makiadi aka Franco, dominated the highly prolific and competitive Congolese music scene for some three decades, and toured widely across Africa, Europe and, eventually, North America.
I first became aware of Tabu Ley in 1973, when my brother and I returned to Kenya as high school students. I would hear my fellow students sing Congolese pop songs much like our American friends would sing along to the current radio hits. It didn’t matter that they couldn’t understand Lingala, the main Congolese language sung in the songs. And Tabu Ley was as big a figure as any American or European pop star, with young folk scrambling to get a hold of and sing along to his latest record release. I still have a 45rpm single by Tabu Ley that I played recently as part of a birthday tribute…it’s a bit scratchy but it still swings and brings back some fond memories.
One of my all-time favorite concert experiences was seeing Tabu Ley perform live in Boston in the 1980’s, along with his band L’Afrisa International and the singer/dancer Mbilia Bel. I mean no disrespect to anyone, but that performance cemented my feeling that African music was the hottest on the planet. And Tabu Ley was among the best of the best. My involvement in radio, particularly helping to promote African-based music, is due in no small measure to the music of Tabu Ley.
Thank you to Ken Braun for his generous time, and to Le Seigneur Tabu Ley Rochereau for such a wonderful gift. Rest In Peace.
Kari Njiiri
Ps – Check out Ken’s latest project, a 2-CD set on Tabu Ley’s mentor Joseph Kabasele called “Le Grand Kallé: His Music, His Life” (Stern Music)