In 2006 invaluable reissue label RetroAfric dropped Endurance, a collection of killer 70s grooves from Les Mangalepa, a band of Congolese expats making music in Kenya. Their irresistible blend of ...

Les Mangelepa hit song 'Embakasi' composer Papa Vivi Kalenga Nzanzi is dead. Les Mangelepa hit song 'Embakasi' composer Papa Vivi Kalenga Nzanzi is dead. Nzanzi died on August 9 in his house at ...

The sprightly steps might have been reduced to laboured trudges, but there is no stopping Orchestra Les Mangelepa, a band whose name was inspired by the French phrase marquez le pas (marching time).

Harare — IN Lubumbashi, eastern Congo the group, known in Zimbabwe as Orchestra Mangelepa was called Baba Gaston Ilunga wa Ilunga Orchestra Baba Nationale. Sometimes it was referred to as Baba Gaston ...

I first heard Orchestre Les Mangelepa's seductive and sweet sound on one of their songs from the late 1970s, Embakasi, which was a nationwide hit in Kenya and beyond. Initially, I thought they had ...

It starts with a horn fanfare, then eases into lilting Congolese rumba, Kenyan-style, with three singers backed by a rock-solid rhythm section, intertwining guitars and horns. From the opening bars of ...

Nairobi — When a list of the top five music groups in Kenya are compiled, it is highly unlikely that Les Mangelepa would be left out of the roll of honour. For the older generation of Kenyans, the ...