Franco and Soukous
Friday, January 09, 2009
Congolese icon Franco crafted his first guitar from tin of cooking oil. A few years later, he had become a driving force in the popularization of the Congolese “rumba” sound, which would later be called soukous and spread its influence across the globe. Franco’s long-time band, OK Jazz, had a motto - On entre O.K., on sort K.O. (one enters OK, one leaves KO'd) - and pushed the limits of free speech allowed by the Congolese monarchy. Ken Braun discusses the pop phenomenon and his impact on African politics and music.
Soundcheck blog: John Schaefer on Afropop and a busy weekend for world music in New York
Soundcheck blog: John Schaefer on Afropop and a busy weekend for world music in New York
Comments [3]
Hallo John
I wanted to find out how to aquire the Franco Compilation Cd that was discussed on Soundcheck a while ago.
Many tHanks
Chris
I was impressed by your program about Franco's music. But a teaser. I would ask that you expand the segment and include the chart-topping music that Franco later released to appreciative audiences, primarily in Europe and Africa.
Perhaps a reason why many in your audience would never have heard of Franco stems from the biased perception that little that is good ever comes out of Africa. Here is a partial list of what US media attributes to Africa that dominates the headlines: African killer bees, West Nile virus, HIV/AIDS Virus, Giant African Snails, Ebola...I could go on for pages!
WNYC's coverage, though relatively balanced (thanks to your partnership with BBC), tends to be short on Africa. Keep up the good work.
Brief? I first heard soukous in 1980 and began collecting. Previously had only African ethnic LPs. We saw Franco when he came to NYC - a fantastic show - the buzzy amplication on his guitar sounding (appropriately) like a thumb piano! I have about 20 Franco recordings.. LPs and CDs. Have a large collection of African music, most of it soukous (congolese/zairean) but lots of other stuff too from many countries. THanks for this segment!
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