Friday, May 15, 2009

Malako Disco Original


This morning I received the publicity flier for Samba Mapangala's upcoming live shows (see below). By co-incidence I was looking for some of his early material with Les Kinois following a discussion with Stefan at World Service. After some trawling through the digital archives I came across two albums both of which were passed on to me from a visitor to the Melodica Record Store in Nairobi. The album I'm sharing with you today was labelled Malako Disco Original and despite the annoying crowd applause tacked on contains some of the songs that would make their way onto Samba Mapangala's break-through LP from 1982 "Its Disco-Time". Check this post for the history of that record.


Background from myspace/sambamapangala :
Born in Matadi, Congo, Samba Mapangala moved to Kinshasa in the early 1970s, to pursue his secondary education. Inspired by legendary Congolese vocalists Tabu Ley Rochereau and Soki Dianzenza, it was there that Samba began his singing career.
Samba’s early years included stints in the groups Bariza, Super Bella Bella and Super Tukina. It was while touring in Eastern Congo in 1975 that Samba and other musicians separated from Bikassy Bijos’ Orchestra Saka Saka. Recruited by a Ugandan promoter, Samba and his comrades set up camp in Kampala. There, they formed Les Kinois, with Samba as lead vocalist. In 1977, Les Kinois shifted their base to Nairobi, where they made their first recordings on 7” vinyl with Melodica Records. Hits like the original Malako, Sunday, Christmas and Sigana Mar Anyango rang out over the airwaves.

Les Kinois gave way to Orchestra Virunga in 1981, with Samba as bandleader and lead vocalist. 1982 saw the release of the “Disco Time” LP, which included Malako Disco, Virunga and other hits. Released internationally as “Virunga Volcano”, this album has been recognized in “World Music: 100 Essential CDs” by Simon Broughton.


Malako Disco Original - Samba Mapangala & Orchestre Les Kinois (Melodica CDr)
1. Malako
2. Mwana Mboka
3. Christmas
4. Sunday
5. Mpenzi Rudi
6. Safari
pw=samba

Samba Mapangala & Virunga Live on Tour 2009:
June 20: Kennedy Center, Washington DC, UN World Refugee Day 6 p.m.
July 9: Kimmel Center, Philadelphia, PA
July 10: Midsummer Night Swing, Lincoln Center, NYC
July 11: Nyati Lounge, 543 Martin Luther King Jr. Dr., Jersey City, NJ
August: European tour, details to be announced
October 9-10: Richmond Folk Festival, Richmond VA

14 comments:

Timothy said...

Yet again, you've brought that East and Central African magic touch to this blog. Many thanks for sharing this rare gem. I agree that the canned applause pasted on to the tracks could have been skipped.
If you ever find the very original Malako by Les Kinois on vinyl, please remember to digitise it and share it here before you sell the vinyl for a fortune on e-bay! :)

music business said...

there are few people who find time posting this thing..im glad that you still manage to do it..:)

DJ Transpacificus said...

We may broadcast / webcast Virunga's July 10 set on WFMU. Very tentative at this point, but keep an eye on http://www.wfmu.org or http://www.wfmu.org/tsp.

Dr Phil said...

super keen to listen but link seems broken?

Anonymous said...

File no longer available. Please post again.

matt said...

Its been reloaded for an extended period. Next up the AIT LP from Les Kinois!

Anonymous said...

what is the password?????

Anonymous said...

samba

Timothy said...

@matt:

I look forward to the AIT LP from Les Kinois! :D

LeFranck said...

No longer available for download. Please use a storage place that last longer as Rapidshare, Megaupload or Easyshare.

It really hurt to see but not be able to get this great music.

Goofy said...

Unfortunately the link is dead. Can you please re-up it??

Steven said...

Link is still dead...

matt said...

New link:

http://rapidshare.com/files/313555757/Malako.zip

Occidental Brothers Dance Band Int'l said...

hello-
I am currently working closely with Samba, and I don't believe he has a copy of this record. Could you e.mail and let me know how to download it? I see the password but don't know the log-in.

Thanks!
Nathaniel
obdbi@occidentalbrothers.com