Diblo Dibala

Congolese soukous guitarist Diblo Dibala has recorded with most of leading figures of Congolese music as well as recording solo material and, most recently, playing with his own band Diblo Dibala & Matchatcha. Dibala's early prodigious talent earned him a place in the band of soukous pioneer Franco which lead to spots playing with many of Kinshasa's bands in the 1970's. Like many of his countrymen, Dibala left Zaire (as it was then) for Europe; eventually settling in Paris. There he reunited with former band mate Kanda Bongo Man and struck up a fruitful relationship with fellow guitarist Rigo Starr. Kanda's insistence on non-stop high energy playing brought soukous to a wider audience and brought fame to Dibala resulting in him becoming a highly sought after session musician. In 1988 Dibala formed soukous super group Loketo with vocalist Aurlus Mabele. The band recorded three albums before animosity between Mabele and Dibala resulted in Dibala's departure to form his own band Matchatcha. Dibala has since released many albums with the ever changing line up of Matchatcha. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.