Career
In the early 1950s at a new recording studio called Opika. His first group was OTC, led by George Doula.
In 1953, disillusioned with the lack of modernisation at OTC, he formed l'African Jazz which thought to be the most important Congolese band. L'African Jazz was one of the most popular early African Rumba bands. At its height, L'African Jazz included big names like guitarist Dr Nico Kasanda, saxophonist Manu Dibango and singers Tabu Ley Rochereau, Sam Mangwana and Pepe Kalle.
In 1960, he established his own label, Subourboum Jazz, which was home to Franco Luambo's TPOK Jazz. Grand Kallé was responsible for striking deals with European record labels to ensure high quality recordings of his band's music for the Francophone market.
In the mid-1960s, Kallé suffered his first major setback when two of his protegés (Tabu Ley Rochereau and Dr Nico Kasanda) left to form their own group called Africa Fiesta. Kallé never recovered from this setback, concentrating on nurturing the talent of singer Pépé Kallé.
Read more about this topic: Grand Kalle
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