At the epitome of his musical career with Orchestra Virunga in the 1990s, band leader Samba Mapangala never dreamt of relocating from Kenya to any part of the world in pursuit of greener pastures. It ...

A Kenyan legend of '70s East African rumba music, Samba Mapangala was understandably proud when Barack Obama was elected president. He even wrote a song, “Obama Ubarikiwe” roughly translated as “Obama ...

Congolese vocalist Samba Mapangala and the various editions of his Orchestra Virunga pop the cork on musical champagne that’s surprisingly bubbly, sweet and tangy, that tickles your senses and ...

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Mapangala, who’s lived near Washington, D.C., since 1998, was coming to Chicago that September to play the World Music Festival, and because he was going to be in the same town as his ...

Congolese Rumba. Even the name is enticing and exotic. The genre is a synergistic hybrid of African and Cuban music. It’s a delightful energetic dance music that would make you forget that Congo is ...

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Camille Cox of Lititz, left, and Frances Thiry of Manheim Township, both age 9, execute dance moves with a Samba Mapangala dancer onstage at Long's Park on Sunday. The East African ensemble led by ...

He has been on the music scene for over forty years and made more than a dozen albums. The musician Samba Mapangala was born in the Democratic Republic of Congo but became an established name across ...