From Daily Nation on the Web:
Exactly 14 years ago tomorrow, one of Africa’s greatest musicians, Congolese maestro Luambo Luanzo Makiadi, Franco to many of his fans, died in a hospital in Brussels, Belgium.
With his death, the curtain came down on one of gurus of lingala band music. Franco was such a big star, with his TP OK Jazz, which had nearly 50 musicians, that they operated as more of a fully-fledged company.
While his many fans miss the numerous hits he churned out month after month year after year, the other big losers were the many musicians he brought under his wings and tirelessly honed their talents.
You can read the full article here.
One of Franco’s greatest songs was his final one, “Attention na SIDA”, a very ominous warning (in the form of a rumba with awesome guitar solos) about the disease which killed him and which continues to kill millions of people in Africa.