Bopol
was born in Congo-Kinshasa in 1949. He is a guitarist, vocalist,
arranger and producer. His long and varied career as a musician
started when he joined Orchestre Bamboula with Papa
Noel twenty years later, in 1969. He has been associated
with some other bands, namely Rock A Mambo and Africa Fiesta
Sukisa with Docteur Nico. Bopol was one of the co-founders of
Orchestre Continental in 1971 and at this point began to compose
and released 3 singles.
During 1973-1976
Bopol was with Tabu Ley's Afrisa then in 1976 he went on to
found the group Ya Toupas with Ray Lema and Manuaku. He decided
to go to West Africa in 1978, joining Sam Mangwana, Lokassa
and Dizzy Mandjeku in Africa All Stars first in Abidjan, then
Lomé. A year after that he went solo and released the
albums Pitie, je veux la reconciliation, Marriage
Force and Manuela.
In 1982 Bopol
settled in France and, with Syran Mbenza, Nyboma and Wuta Mayi,
formed the very well-known Les Quatres Etoiles. Later in 1998
he recorded an album,
The Very Best of Bopol on which he is accompanied by
several
other top Congolese musicians.
More recently Bopol has featured as composer,
guitarist and producer on Samba Mapangala's
recordings, Ujumbe |
photo:
© Fred Hines
(2001)
and Song and Dance (2006). The year 2002 was a year
of lots more successes for Bopol, including touring with Mose
Fan Fan's Somo Somo in Britain. Bopol played rhythm guitar
on Déesse Mukangi's
new album, Lettre Anonyme, 2002, and
composed the title track.
Another musician Bopol has worked closely with is Ricardo
Lemvo - he was the guitarist on many of the tracks on Ricardo's
São
Salvador album, and composed 'Manuela' on Mambo Yoyo. |