Le TP OK Jazz

Led by influential guitarist and songwriter Franco (born: Francois Luambo Makiadi), TPOK Jazz helped to lay the foundation for the Congolese sound. Combining Cuba's son and rhumba tradition with Central African influences, the group provided some of the best dance music to come out of Africa in the 1960s, '70s, and early '80s. Sam Mangwana and Papa Noel were early bandmembers. Formed in 1955, TPOK Jazz took its name from the OK Bar, where they served as house band. Although they recorded as early as 1956, the group suffered from the unstable political conditions that followed ...