On Friday, May 30th, 2025, guitarist Dizzy Mandjeku will perform a special concert at La Grande Halle de l’Institut Français de Kinshasa. He’ll be joined on stage by two longtime musical companions: Sam Mangwana and Nyboma.
Together with his band Odemba OK All Stars, they present an evening dedicated to friendship, music, and rumba. The repertoire includes original compositions, arrangements of Franco’s music, and songs they recorded together over decades of collaboration.
Alongside Mandjeku and Toms Ntale (guitar, arrangements), the line-up features Nana Akumu and Malage De Lugendo on vocals — all musicians deeply rooted in the music scenes of Congo and the diaspora.
This concert marks a return to Kinshasa and a reunion of generations of artists carrying over sixty years of shared musical history.
Dizzy Mandjeku (b. 1946) is widely regarded as one of the foremost living guitarists in Congolese rumba. He rose to prominence with Les Grands Maquisards and Orchestre Kossa Kossa, and in the early 1980s, he joined Franco’s OK Jazz.
He later played with Tabu Ley Rochereau and co-founded the African All Stars in Abidjan, alongside Sam Mangwana, Nyboma, and Lokassa Ya Mbongo. The three albums they recorded together — all under Mandjeku’s musical direction — are considered milestones of the soukous genre.
Mandjeku went on to serve as artistic director at Verckys’ Editions Vévé, helping shape the careers of many musicians across generations. Since moving to Belgium, he has collaborated with Papa Noël, Tshala Muana, Papa Wemba, Zap Mama, Stromae (Papaoutai), Waldemar Bastos, Jimmy Cliff, and Baloji.
Today, he remains active as a performer, arranger, and mentor to young musicians in Belgium, Congo, and beyond.