The Rice Thresher, Vol. 97, No. 25, Ed. 1 Friday, April 9, 2010 Page: 23 of 32
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ARTIST PROFILES & LETTER FROM THE STATION MANAGER
RICE RADIO r-
©h □ 1 fa
SPRING 2010
Africa's Greater
Franco et le TPOK J
Continued from page 1
Franco was popular across Africa.
When I lived in Cameroon in the 1980s,
his music was ubiquitous. His band was
one of the few to break the barriers of
national styles to reach an audience in
Anglophone and Francophone countries
alike. OK Jazz was a formidable group
ranging from six to over 20 musicians
who produced a "who's who" of African
musicians and vocalists.
Songs start slowly with gentle vo-
cal harmonies, incrementally building
speed and adding layered instruments
into funky sebenes leavened with
strong I^itin flavor. Cuban music was
as essential to the development of
modern Congolese music as African
slaves were to the creation of Cuban
music. Franco's pan-African popularity
was never matched by his reputation
among Western "world music" fans;
to most casual listeners, his music just
sounds like salsa. However, there is a
tremendous difference, as the guitars
are more forceful and the rhythms
more urgent, paired with a unique vo-
cal interplay. Franco's music has been
difficult to find in the US, shunted aside
by more popular Afro-funk re-releases.
For example, Pitchfork's recent "Africa
100" playlist ignored Congolese music
altogether. But among Africans over
forty, the music of OK Jazz is regarded
with reverence, and his monster hits of
PHOTO COURTESY STERNS MUSIC
The sorcerer of the guitar
Franco's work chronicles the social
transformation of urban African society.
the 1980s are inevitably played at par-
ties and village reunions. When Franco
comes on, smiling old-timers shake their
heads, muttering about what passes for
"music" today.
Franco's mother, a professional
mourner and market-woman, brought
the young Luambo to funerals, steeping
him in traditional music. At age 12, he
was recruited to his first professional
band while playing a homemade guitar to
attract customers to his mother's market
stall; at 15, he was writing and recording.
Franco is noteworthy for modernizing
Congolese music while also remaining
grounded in tradition. Some suggest his
finger-picking style was derived from the
thumb piano, or likembe.
Franco never forgot his roots in the
poverty of Kinshasa and celebrated its
day-to-day life in his song cycles. His
work chronicles the social transforma-
tion of urban African society, especially
gender relations. Franco's lyrics scold
men and women alike for misbehavior.
In "Mario," a saga stretched over two
LPs, he chastises a young gigolo preying
on a widow of a prominent politician; he
berates Mario to return to the farm and
earn an honest living. To Franco's fans,
he was a child prodigy, a bad boy arrested
by colonial police for reckless driving, a
playboy, and autocratic bandleader. His
political views and romantic exploits
made ample fodder for gossip.
795,3-1979 begins with his first record-
ed song, "Esengo ya mokili." The song
and most of the first disc have a strong
Cuban flavor. Franco even recorded
several songs in Spanish; one discusses
the perils of witchcraft. Bythelate 1960s,
Franco had embraced the electric guitar
and trap drums, developing an entirely
new, raucous sound of jazz-like repetition
and reinterpretation. While Congolese
hipsters wanted Africanized soul and
funk. Franco transformed folklore into
dance floor classics. "Boma L'Huere,"
a feminist anthem, is built around log
drums, honking saxophones, and a
strangely tuned vocal chorus.
1980-1989 chronicles Franco as Le
Grande Maitre (grand master) of African
music. His relationship with Mobutu de-
teriorated, as did conditions in Kinshasa.
Franco began to focus his operations on
Brussels and touring the rest of Africa.
The switch from 45s to 33-rpm LPs al-
lowed the band to stretch out, with one
or two songs per album side. 10 of the
13 tracks clock in at over 10 minutes
with no wasted notes or meanderings;
one highlight is an unedited version of
"Princesse Kikou" four minutes longer
than previous releases. Typically, a
gentle horn riff and singing open the
songs, at between three and six minutes
the speed begins to increase, intricate
guitar jams build and explore subtleties,
punctuated by horns and occasional vo-
cal chorses, culminating in the sebene,
a race between drum and guitar. Guitar
skills undiminished, the aging Franco
began to use his rich baritone to admon-
ish listeners on the social issues of the
day. The complexity and depth of these
epics earned him the nickname "the
Balzac of Africa." 1980-1989 is a triumph
and amply demonstrates why OK Jazz
was so revered.
Franco and OK Jazz were one of the
world's greatest bands, and Congolese
music remains sadly underrepresented.
You owe it to yourself to discover
Franco's musical legacy and these CDs.
Franco's music remains as vital and
thrilling as ever after 30 years of listen-
ing and dancing.
5 urf nvcR Tn
ktru.drg td fink dut
rbdut upcoming shows.
listen td streaming
webcbst, view online
—nil set lists,lehrn hdw
k i kll td become r m.
11.7 FM KN17 MUCH MORE!
LAUREN PEMBERTON
KTRU Grabs the Bull by the Horns
KTRU Board members attended the College Broadcasters, Inc. conference at UT Austin with
partner station KVRX In October 2009.
Letter From the Station Manager
By Rachel Orosco
As the academic year comes
to a close, there are several proud
moments from KTRU's recent opera-
tions. We have greatly expanded our
efforts to continue promoting Rice's
student-run initiatives with a focus
on partnering with other on-campus
arts, entertainment, and cultural
groups. We have also continued to
reach out to the Houston community,
and we have successfully continued
and established KTRU traditions.
KTRU is very proud to have
partnered with Matchbox Gallery,
Rice's first-ever completely student-
run and student-operated art space,
since its opening exhibit in fall
2009. We have provided live DJs to
every gallery opening. The Matchbox
art openings have provided a highly
entertaining and enlightening means
to promote, explore, and discover
student artwork, and they have
shown how powerful the alliance of
student-run organizations on cam-
pus can be. The whole experience
has been very rewarding to Match-
box, KTRU, and art viewers alike,
and we are definitely looking forward
to continuing to work with Matchbox
organizers in the coming years.
Another on-campus partnership
that we are very proud of this year,
with the Shepherd School of Music,
has also been an excellent way for
KTRU to further its mission to pro-
vide educational programming to its
audience while furthering the reputa-
tion of Rice's fine music school. This
past year, we have begun broad-
casting several Shepherd School
performances live on our station and
giving student performers the op-
portunity to be heard citywide, and
even worldwide through our online
streaming.
In only one week, on Saturday,
April 10, we will be holding our 19th
Annual KTRU Outdoor Show. We
are excited to be continuing this
long-honored KTRU tradition that has
been very well-attended and well-re-
ceived by Rice students and the Rice
community for nearly 20 years. The
all-day music festival will last from
noon to night, and KTRU is proud
to present seven great acts from
around Houston and beyond. Our
2010 Outdoor Show acts will include
Children's artist and Rice community
member Rachel Buchman, Jones
College rock band The Office Party,
Houston noise group Wasp& Pear,
Austin electro-pop Ghost Mountain,
the always wonderful Space City
Gamelan, Houston hip-hopper Fat
Tony, and nationally successful Raf-
ter. With this lineup, we will stay true
to our progressive, educational, and
underexposed music philosophy, and
we hope to help expand the musical
palate of Rice and Houston concert-
goers, while also simply providing
a beautiful and exciting music-filled
Saturday afternoon.
The Outdoor Show is not the
only KTRU staple that will continue
into this year. 2010 also marks the
continuation of our production of a
live compilation album, which began
in 2009. We have begun to release
a compilation CD of live, in-studio DJ
performances to showcase talented
Houston artists who have performed
in the KTRU studios here on cam-
pus. This year, uniike last year, we
will be hosting a CD release party to
kick of this studio-produced album
at Avant Garden on Westheimer. The
CD release will be held on Friday,
April 16 and will feature several live
performances from local artists who
appear on the CD.
Finally, after the success of
the return of our KTRU Polar/Roller
Prom last year, we will be hosting
another free Roller Prom event on
Saturday, March 26 at the Dairy
Ashford roller rink. That's right! This
year we are going all out and hitting
the roller rink retro style. Show up
in your finest 80's prom attire, and
support our return to the roller rink
(real skates!)!
The 2009-2010 school year has
been an exciting one. We are happy
to continue expanding our efforts
to promote the arts on the Rice
campus and throughout the Houston
area as well as to keep our long-
standing traditions alive.
As always, KTRU encourages
you to check out our wide variety of
specialty shows by looking at our
programming schedule at www.ktru.
org. We are constantly expanding
our music library in all genres and
hope that you will find the music
that you never knew you loved.
Thanks for listening. Viva ktru
ear fuck radio, out.
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Wilde, Anna. The Rice Thresher, Vol. 97, No. 25, Ed. 1 Friday, April 9, 2010, newspaper, April 9, 2010; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth398458/m1/23/: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Rice University Woodson Research Center.