Pepe Kalle. Gerant Ethnomusicology Collections. CD

- Pepe Kalle (November 30, 1951 - November 28, 1998) was a soukous singer, musician bandleader from the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Pepe Kalle was born Kabasele Yampanya in Kinshasha ( then leopoldiville), but later assumed the name of his mentor, Grand Kalle. - With a multi-octave vocal range and dynamic stage presence, the 190 cm (6 ft 3") and 136 kg (300 pound) vocalist recorded more than three hundred and twenty albums during his two decade long career. - Known affectionately as "the elephant of African music" and "La bombe Atomique" (the atomic bomb), Kalle entertained audiences with his robust performances. - His musical career started with African Jazz, the band of Grand Kalle. He later become the lead singer of Lipua Lipua, where he sung alongside Nyboma Mwandido. In 1972, Kalle along with Dilu Dilumona and Pay tex, left Lipua Lipua to form their own band named Empire Bakuba. - Empire Bakuba took its name from a Congolese warrior tribe, and it pointedly incorporated rootsy rhythms from the interior ethnic music, sounds that had long been sidelined by popular rumba. - The band was an instant hit, and together with Zaiko Langa Langa they became Kinshasha's most popular youth band, with hits such as Peppe Kalle's Dadou and Papy Tex's Sango ya Mawa, the band was a constant fixture on the charts. They also created a new dance, the Kwassa Kwassa. - On their tenth anniversary in 1982, the band was voted Zaire's top group. Throughout the early 1980's, Empire Bakuba continued tour extensively while releaasing no less than four albums per year. By the mid eighties, they had a large following throughout Francophone Central and West Africa. - His 1986 collaboration with Nyboma labelled Zouke Zouke was one of the years top selling albums. But it was his second collaboration with Nyboma, Moyibi (1988), which launched his popularity throughout the globe. - In the late 1980s and early 1990's, Kalle fused elements of the fast paced version of Zairean soukous into studios in Paris. His 1990 album, Roger Milla, a tribute to the exploits of the great Cameroonian Soccer star, is a classic example of this arrangement. - In 1992 the band faced its first major calamity when Emoro, the band's dancing dwarf, died while on tour in Botswana. Despite this setback, Pepe Kalle's popularity continued to sour in the nineties as he released albums like Gigantafrique, larger than life and cocktail. - He also collaborated with other legends like Lutumba Simaro and Nyoka Longo. Pepe Kalle died of heart attack in November 1998, and now his son has taken the path of music and the legacy of his father. - CD plays all five global Geographic Zones, if not familiar, research on CD zones. and comes with original bonus songs.