Afropop Worldwide

The lineup for Afropop's 25th Anniversary Gala just keeps getting better! Joining the bill alongside Grammy Award nominee Bassekou Kouyate, Malian star Mamadou Kelly, and Sudanese vocalist Omer Ehsas is the Congolese master vocalist Samba Mapangala! Mapangala is one of the few musician from his golden period of Congolese music still actively performing, touring, and recording, and so it is with great joy that we announce that he has joined the bill of artists performing at the gala on the 19th of September.  Born in what was then the Belgian Congo, Mapangala and his band left Kinshasa and traveled throughout Uganda and Kenya in search of less-saturated music scenes. He eventually settled in Nairobi, where he founded Orchestra Virunga and recorded some of the most popular music of his career. Later in life he relocated to the Washington, D.C. area, where he now lives. Click here for more information on the gala, but until then check out this video of Samba Mapangala and Banning Eyre rehearsing for their performance at the gala, and keep counting down the days until September 19th!