L'Argent Ne Fait Pas Le Bonheur (1988)/ Kallé, Pepe

Pépé Kallé, sometimes written as Pepe Kalle (1951 – 1998) was a soukous singer, musician and bandleader from the Democratic Republic of Congo. His musical career started with l'African Jazz, the band of Le Grand Kallé. He later performed in Bella Bella and became the lead singer of Lipua Lipua, where he sang alongside Nyboma Mwandido. In 1972, Kallé along with Dilu Dilumona and Papy 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, sounds that had long been sidelined by popular rumba. The band was an instant hit, and together with Zaiko Langa Langa they became Kinshasa's most popular youth band. With hits such as 'Dadou" and 'Sango ya mawa', the band was a constant fixture on the charts. They also created a new dance, the kwassa kwassa. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, Kallé fused elements of the fast-paced version of soukous produced in Paris studios. (Muziekweb)|