Awilo Longomba

Born on May 5, 1962 in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Louis Longomba, known musically as Awilo Longomba, immediately benefited from an extensive sound background. Son of singer Vicky Longomba, a member of TP OK Jazz, a Congolese rumba group founded in 1956 in Kinshasa, Awilo Longomba made his debut as a drummer in the groups Viva La Musica (founded by Papa Wemba), Stukas, Nouvelle Génération and Loketo, from 1980 to 1994. The following year, he swapped his musician's costume for a singing career, recording Moto Pamba in Paris, a debut album that unveiled his universe close to soukous, a style popularized in the Congo in the 1960s and derived from Congolese rumba. The album won awards at the Kora Awards in 1996 and 1997, and motivated the singer to release Coupé Bibamba in 1998. Coupé Bibamba was a great success, extending Longomba's international reputation, reaching Europe and America in particular. Now a fixture on the Congolese music scene, his third album, Kafou Kafou, was released in 2000, and won him another Kora Award in 2001. With his career well underway, Awilo Longomba moved to France, released two new albums, Mondongo (2003) and Super-Man (2008), and established himself as the representative of soukous on tours of West Africa, reaching the Zénith stage in Paris on October 18, 2009.