Tabu Ley Rochereau et l'Orchestre African Fiesta: “N'daya Paradis” (1964) | Herberg De Kelder

 

N 'daya paradis

 

Tabu Ley Rochereau et l'Orchestre African Fiesta: “N'daya Paradis” (1964)

"One of these times, I’m going to break a hiatus on this blog for something other than an obituary post. But not this time. Tabu Ley “Rochereau” died last week at the age of 76. Born Pascal-Emmanuel Sinamoyi Tabu, he took his stage name, Rocheraeu from, of all places, a French general, Pierre Philippe Marie Aristide Denfert-Rochereau, the “Lion of Belfort.“ 

This was the colonial era, so young Congolese boys who got the privilege of going to a decent school learned about European aristocrats and battles. Rochereau probably stood out to young Pascal because he was the only French general to do anything but fail during the Franco-Prussian War, holding Belfort against a vastly superior army. 

Rochereau put himself on the map in Kinshasa (then called Leopoldville) as one of the singers in L'African Jazz, the band of Le Grand Kallé Joseph Kabaselleh, the man most people consider the father of modern Congolese music (Franco and OK Jazz first recorded for a label he owned).
The dance orchestras of the day generally had a front line of several vocalist, who would trade leads and harmonies as needed, and among African Jazz vocalists, Rochereau stood out. He had a voice that seemed to drift over the music, light and sweet. As a lead singer, he was nimble and warm, and on the harmonies he added a drizzle of honey every time he sang.

He and the great guitarist "Docteur” Nico Kasanda left African Jazz in the early 60s to form their own band, African Fiesta, and that’s the group that recorded this track in 1964. It’s probably my favorite recording of his. The spacey slide guitar sets him up so nicely, and this is a great vocal performance, commanding but light. 

The men who did the most to turn Rocehreau into a star, Kabaselleh and Nico, both ended their careers early, but Rochereau kept going, putting new bands together for over thirty years. He changed his stage name to Tabu Ley during the Mobutu years, and went into exile in the late 80s, continuing to record until 1997, when he joined the cabinet of Laurent Kabila, the first post-Mobutu president of the Democratic Republic of Congo. He bounced around government posts for much of the last decade and a half of his life."

HERBERG DE KELDER