Франсуа Луамбо: Мастер африканской румбы и "Волшебник гитары"

François Luambo Luanzo Makiadi (6 July 1938 – 12 October 1989) was a Congolese musician. He was a major figure in 20th century Congolese music, and African music in general, principally as the leader for over 30 years of TPOK Jazz, the most popular and significant African band of its time. He is referred to as Franco Luambo or simply Franco. Known for his mastery of African Rumba, he was nicknamed by fans and critics "Sorcerer of the Guitar" and the "Grand Maître of Zairean Music", as well as Franco de Mi Amor by female fans. His most known hit, "Mario", sold more than 200,000 copies and was certified gold.

Born 6 July 1938 in his mother's hometown of fr in what was then the Belgian Congo, he grew up in the capital city, Léopoldville (now Kinshasa). When his father, a railroad worker, died in 1949, he ended his formal education at age 10 or 11 and helped his mother by playing a homemade guitar, harmonica and other instruments to attract customers to her market stall in Léopoldville's Ngiri Ngiri neighborhood. He also honed his guitar playing by working with Paul "Dewayon" Ebengo, a slightly older friend who had a real guitar. In 1950, Franco (then age 12), Dewayon (age 16), and others formed a group called Watam, which played together for three years, playing weddings and funerals and with the help of a mentor of Franco's, the established musician Albert Luampasi, recording a few songs on the Ngoma record label. Also in 1953, Franco released on Loningisa his first solo record, "Bolingo Na Ngai Na Beatrice" (my love for Beatrice), which made Franco a local celebrity in Kinshasa. In 1957, O. K. Jazz lost its leader, Essous, as well as original vocalist Philippe "Rossignol" Lando, when they were hired away by Bowane for his new record label, Esengo (Bowane had left Loningisa after being outshone there by O. K. Jazz). appearing twice in New York's Manhattan Center. at Namur in Belgium, of AIDS. (He never publicly acknowledged having AIDS, and while many sources flatly report it as the cause of death, others report this as unconfirmed, e. g., The New Yorker uses "of an illness believed to be AIDS.") Upon his death, President Mobutu declared four days of national mourning in Zaire.

It is difficult to summarize the enormous volume of recordings issued by Franco (virtually all of them with TPOK Jazz), and work remains to be done in this area. The range of estimates suggest both the size of, and the uncertainties about, his output. An often cited number is that Graeme Ewens listed eighty four albums in the thoroughly researched discography (based on the work of Ronnie Graham) in Ewens' 1994 biography of Franco; this list does not include compilation albums that also have other performers, or O. K. Jazz tribute albums and compilations issued after Franco's death (Ewens noted about this number that "it falls short of the 150 albums which Franco claimed back in the mid 1980s, but no doubt some of those were collections of singles for the African market"). Ten albums on the list were issued in 1983 alone. Other statements include: "he released roughly 150 albums and three thousand songs, of which Franco himself wrote about one thousand;" "Franco’s prolific output amounted to T. P. O. K releasing two songs a week over his nearly 40 year career, which ultimately comprised a catalogue of some 1000 songs;" "With his band OK Jazz he released at least 400 singles (more than half later compiled onto LP or CD) . Ewens list 36 CDs; Asahi net has 83;" and "from June 1956 to August 1961 the band recorded 320 tracks for the 78 rpm music label Loningisa." As a rough explanation of its nature, in the 1950s and 1960s Franco and TPOK Jazz issued singles, either 78rpm (1950s) or 45rpm (1960s), as well as some albums that were compilations of singles, and in the 1970s and 1980s they issued longer albums. All of this was done by a large number of record labels, in a variety of countries in Africa and Europe as well as the United States. In the 1990s, many of the albums were reissued in CD form by various record labels but haphazardly reorganized, often combining various parts of multiple albums onto single CDs. Since 2000, several compilations have been issued collecting aspects of Franco's work, most notably Francophonic, a pair of two CD sets of highlights issued by Stern's in 2007 and 2009 and spanning Franco's entire career. Through 2020, the Planet Ilunga record label is still able to issue (on vinyl and digitally) compilations that include tracks which had never been reissued since their original release as singles.

Franco's guitar playing was unlike that of bluesmen such as Muddy Waters or rock and rollers like Chuck Berry. Instead of raw, single note lines, Franco built his band's style around crisp open chords, often of only two notes, which "bounced around the beat." Major thirds and sixths and other consonant intervals are said to play the same role in Franco's style that blues notes fill in rock and roll. Franco was a member for 33 years, from its founding in 1956 until his death in 1989, of TPOK Jazz, which has been called "arguably the most influential African band of the second half of the 20th century," and he was its co leader or sole leader for most of that period. Franco is commonly described as the preeminent African musical figure of the 20th century. For example, world music expert Alistair Johnston calls him "the giant of 20th century African music." A reviewer in The Guardian wrote that Franco "was widely recognised as the continent's greatest musician, back in the years before Ali Farka Touré or Toumani Diabaté." Ronnie Graham wrote, in his encyclopedic 1988 Da Capo Guide to Contemporary African Music, that "Franco is beyond doubt Africa's most popular and influential musician." This is in addition to listing Franco first in his book's rank ordered section on Congo and Zaire, and putting on the book's cover, to represent African music, a waist up photo of Franco playing guitar.

Franco was married twice. He reportedly fathered eighteen children (seventeen of them girls) with fourteen women.