Le Grand Kalle, Don Gonzalo, Manu Dibango Et L’African-Team – 1970

🇨🇩🎵🎷🎸🥁 Joseph Kabasele, better known by his stage name, le Grand Kallé, is one of the founding fathers of Congolese rumba. His African Jazz has left its mark on the history of the genre since the 1960s, alongside the likes of Tabu Ley, Franco and Docteur Nico. In 1970, he brought his African Team together in Paris to relaunch the machine, and collaborated with Cuban flutist Don Gonzalo. The credits of the African Team are rather vague, but it is reasonable to say that they probably included Joseph Mulamba, Manu Dibango, Jean-Serge Essous (from Les Bantous de la Capitale), Edouard Lutula, Jean Kwami Munsi and Casimir Mbilia. With this all-star line-up, he has produced a formidable album at the crossroads of Cuba and Africa, with rumba, pachanga, boogaloo and cha-cha. Gonzalo’s flute lends a Charanga air to the ensemble, and Manu Dibango alternates saxophone and organ on two fiery boogaloos.