VIDEO: Veteran musician Kasongo wa Kanema collapsed and dies in Nairobi
Veteran Nairobi-based Congolese musician Kasongo wa Kanema has passed on.
The former leader of the legendary group Super Mazembe collapsed and died at his Lang’ata home in Nairobi Tuesday evening.
Fellow musician Longwa Disco said he was informed by Kasongo wa Kanema’s children, Morris and Chantal, of his death.
His death comes barely days after that of Kenyan musician Aziz Abdi, who died last weekend in Voi on Saturday evening.
Kasongo was part of an elite group of Congolese musicians who relocated to Kenya in the early 1970s, under the tutelage of the legendary Baba Ilunga wa Ilunga, in search of greener pastures when Kinshasa held little promise for the many bands.
The veteran musician who served Super Mazembe for four decades as a guitarist, singer and song composer will be best remembered for the Kasongo composition that took the whole East African by storm and for his lead vocals in the evergreenย Kakolele Viva Christmas song. The chartbuster was so popular that it became some sort of a national anthem among the lips of many Lingala music fans.
Kasongo had been battling with high blood pressure that later culminated into a stroke. He ย leaves behind his Kenyan wife and six children. He will be laid to rest at Langata Cemetery a place where most Congolese musicians have been buried.
By AMOS NGAIRA
Source-nation.co.ke
Baba Gaston (Baba National) – Kakolele Viva Christmas
Orchestra Super Mazembe – Mwana Mazembe (edit) from the Sterns’ release Mazembe
Super Mazembe – Kayembe
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VIDEO: Veteran musician Kasongo wa Kanema collapsed and dies in Nairobi
