THE VERY BEST OF THE RUMBA GIANT OF ZAIRE  -  FRANCO

YEAR:  2000
LABEL:  Manteca
TRACK LISTING:  On Entre O.K. On Sort K.O.,  Mpata Ezangi Mokengeli,  Bolingo Ya Bougie,  Luvumbu Ndoki,  Koun Koue! Edo Aboyi Ngai,  Kinsiona,  Azda,  Liberte,  Nalingaka Yo Yo Te,  Laissez Pazzez,  Attention Na Sida
IMPRESSIONS:  Loathe as I am to include "best ofs" on this blog, Franco is something of a special case.  From the time he started recording as a teenager in the 1950s until his death in 1989, Franco recorded some 84 albums and there are something like 150 if you include compilations etc.  In fact, on this very blog I've already posted one of them (which you can go read if you click the "Franco" link at the bottom of this post) and, franc-ly (sorry) this album only differs from that because it's a single disc and that other one has 4 cds in it; and even THAT barely scratches the surface of Franco's best work.  But I will use any opportunity to talk up Franco since his music is some of my favourite of all time and he needs to be better known in this country.  As previously eluded to, this cd is woefully inadequate as an overview of Franco's colossal career but it does contain some of my favourite Franco songs.  Also, this is the first actual Franco cd I ever heard thanks to friend Roxor who mailed it to me in the early noughties.  Roxor had previously sent me a cassette tape of the 1999 career retrospective episode of the Afropop Worldwide radio programme which caused me to fall in love with Franco's music.  Not only did he send me several more Franco cds but also the superb and indispensable Franco biography "CONGO COLOSSUS" which sent me on my way to becoming a ravening Francophile!  "THE VERY BEST OF THE RUMBA GIANT OF ZAIRE" is a short but happy collection of some of le maître's best tracks and would make a great starting point for anyone new to Franco's music.  It spans his entire career from his first big hit "On Entre O.K., On Sort K.O." (which translates into "You enter OK, you leave K.O.'ed" from Franco's powerful music!) and ends with the 80s anti-AIDS epic "Attention Na Sida".  Due to this fact (and the brief nature of a single cd), this album doesn't flow as well as other compilations and the greatly-varied styles of the songs here may be bewildering to some; however as a brief sampler I suppose it serves as a musical appetizer for the much richer main course to be found in the wealth of Franco's output (now happily more readily available on things like iTunes and amazon).  It would be very simple to put "all of 'em" as my favourite tracks from this cd, but I'm going to be scrupulously frugal and force myself to only choose several.
MY FAVOURITE TRACKS:  On Entre O.K. On Sort K.O.,  Koun Koue! Edo Aboya Ngai,  Kinsiona,  Azda,  Liberte,  Nalingaka Yo Yo Te,  Laissez Passez,  Attention Na Sida
FACT SHEET:  THE VERY BEST OF THE RUMBA GIANT OF ZAIRE is a compilation from 2000.  As something of a primer for Franco's soukous sound for the uninitiated, I'll leave it to Robert Christgau from his 2001 Village Voice review:  "First a melodic section following the contours of a lyric that with Franco is almost always in Lingala--a tonal pidgin, originally the patois of the Congo docks, that serves as a kind of working-class West African Swahili--is varied and repeated vocally and instrumentally. And then comes the sebene, soukous's signature selling point, which has been credited to both Franco and one of his mentors, long-repatriated Belgian-born guitarist-producer Bill Alexandre, but which predates both and only flowered in its countless variegations after Zaiko launched their '70s youth movement. The sebene is an "improvisational episode" or "groove" in which three guitarists repeat short phrases off which the lead player improvises, generally remaining close enough to the source riffs to reinforce them and break them down simultaneously. Eventually younger players like Kanda Bongo Man shucked the verse to play nothing but sebene--"speed soukous." The intricate rush of the sebene is what you hear in your head when you recall what soukous sounds like."  ***(all ownership of this quote reside with the original copyright holders credited i.e. Robert Christgau from the Village Voice dated July 1, 2001 and is used here for review purposes.)

FRANCOPHONIC VOL. 1 & VOL. 2 - Franco & le TPOK Jazz

YEAR: 2008/2009

LABEL: Sterns Music

TRACK LISTING: Esengo Ya Mokili, Tika Kondima Na Zolo, Anduku Lutshuma, On Entre O.K. On Sort K.O., Tcha Tcha Tcha De Mi Amor, Mosala Ekomi Mpasi Embonga, Sansi Fingomangoma, Bato Ya Mabe Batondi Mboka, Bazonzele Mama Ana, Bolingo Ya Bougie, Ku Kisantu Kikwenda Ko, Tozonga Na Nganga Wana, Annie Ngai Nalinga, Marie Naboyi, Boma L'Heure, Nzube Oleka Te, Likambo Ya Ngana, Infidelite Mado, Azda, Mambu Ma Miondo, Minuit Eleki Lezi, Mabele, Kinsiona, Alimatou, Cherie Bondowe 2, Liberte, Lisolo Ya Adamo Na Nzambe, Nalingaka Yo Yo Te, Tokoma Ba Camarade Pamba, Bina Na Ngai Na Respect, Sandoka, Princesse Kikou, Nostalgie, Cooperation, Suite Lettre No. 1, Missile, Pesa Position Na Yo, Kimpa Kisangameni, Mario, Testament Ya Bowule, Sadou

IMPRESSIONS: In my top 10 favourite music of all-time, Franco is right there. No matter how bad a mood I am in the music of Franco will never fail to make me feel better; and practically no other music has that kind of power over me. With more than 150+ albums released over his career, Franco presents a problem of which album to choose to put up here first. Even so-called "best ofs" and collections are plentiful and hard to choose between. So I went with this fairly recent collection which is actually readily available to buy from amazon, itunes or indeed the Sterns Music website. But even this big honkin' 4 cd set has many huge favourites missing. Because Franco is in fact one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century and his relative anonimity in this country is criminal. For all the yuppies who fawned over Paul Simon's GRACELAND that might want to know whose sound he stole, that would be Franco's. The entire sound of Afro-Cuban music is derived from Franco and not the other way around. Franco is indeed the "Sorceror of the Guitar" (during his lifetime there was much speculation about deals with the devil) or, as his indispensible biography calls him the "Congo Colossus". His music is too great to go unheard. In an unprecedented move on this blog, I'm going to post two links to Sterns Music (the publishers of this collection) where you may hear excerpts from every song on this 4 cd set. The first volume can be sampled here and the second volume can be sampled here. You owe it to yourself to rush right over and listen. Then buy as much Franco as you can lay your hands on. Thankfully in recent years quite a substantial number of Franco albums have turned up on itunes so you have no excuse not to enrich your life today! Buy buy buy!!!

MY FAVOURITE TRACKS: On Entre O.K. On Sort K.O., Tcha Tcha Tcha De Mi Amor, Bato Ya Mabe Batondi Mboka, Bazonzele Mama Ana, Ku Kisantu Kikwenda Ko, Boma L'Heure, Likambo Ya Ngana, Azda, Mambu Ma Miondo, Mabele, Kinsiona, Cherie Bondowe 2, Liberte, Cooperation, Missile, Pesa Position Na Yo, Kimpa Kisangameni, Mario, Sadou

GUEST ARTISTS: Sam Mangwana (vocals on "Cooperation"), Tabu Ley (vocals on "Suite Lettre No. 1"), Madilu System (vocals on "Sadou")

FACT SHEET: FRANCOPHONIC is a 2 volume 4 cd set of the music of Franco & le TPOK Jazz from "le Grand Maitre's" earliest sides beginning in 1953 to his death in 1989. Franco began appearing on records when he was 15 and would craft his own big band called OK Jazz to become the biggest, most respected and most influential musicians in Africa. He would add the "TP" letters to the name which stands for "Tout Puissant" making the name "The Almighty OK Jazz". There is no way to overstate Franco's importance to 20th century music. FRANCOPHONIC does a good job sampling from the many different eras of OK Jazz's history from the early rumba recordings on 78 to the 1960's "more steadily rhythmic and ebullient Zairian sound" of the longer dance records to the later grooves which would last to epic lengths. Franco did not follow musical trends but created them seemingly effortlessly with neverending creativity and joy.