Lokassa Ya Mbongo

Congolese guitarist born Kinshasa, 1946, died 15th March 2023. In the world of Congolese music where lead guitarists almost always get the glory, Lokassa is the rare bird who played rhythm guitar to stardom. It didn't hurt that he began his professional career in one of Africa's great bands, Afrisaled by Tabu Ley. Starting in 1968, when the band was still called African Fiesta National, he did his time in obscurity accompanying a succession of prominent lead players that included Attel Mbumba, Mavatiku Visi, and Dino Vangu. For ten years he played on all Fiesta National/Afrisa's hits and took the stage in Paris in 1970 for the band's breakthrough performances at the famed Olympia. In 1978, during one of Afrisa's numerous tours, Lokassa and several band mates dropped out in Abidjan to try something new. Lokassa, guitarist Dizzy Mandjeku, and drummer Ringo Moya joined with singer Sam Mangwana, who was already in Abidjan, to form the African All Stars. This seminal group, together for only a year, recorded a number of excellent songs. When the All Stars broke up in Togo in 1979, Lokassa settled in the capital, Lomé, and began to call himself Lokassa ya Mbongo, essentially Lokassa the money man. He performed with the growing numbers of Congolese musicians in exile including future members of Quatre EtoilesNyboma Mwan Dido, Syran M'Benza, and Bopol Mansiamina. His 1982 reunion with Mandjeku, Mangwana, and Moya produced a second round of African All Stars recordings. Lokassa moved to Paris in 1984 where he quickly found his niche as a session player, recording with the likes of Abeti, Kanda Bongo Man, and Pepe Kalle. One such gig for producer Ibrahima Sylla and Congo-Brazzaville singer Ballou Canta led to a new formation. Lokassa, Ballou, guitarist Dally Kimoko, and singers Lukombo Shimita, Yondo "Sister" Kusala, and Neil Zitany joined together in 1989 as the Soukous Stars. In the ensuing years Lokassa presided over a changing cast of characters, but his Soukous Stars survived. Over his more than thirty years as a musician, Lokassa has become one of the best-known Congolese rhythm guitarists, rivaled only by Bopol and Dechaud. His nimble fingers have paced a number of Kinshasa rumba classics and a variety of Paris soukous hits. He has also made his mark as a leader and arranger, contributing heavily to the evolution and outpouring of the Congolo-Paris sound.