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Former Sokous Stars bass guitarist Ngouma Lokito will join vocal singer Samba Mapangala on his Kenyan tour next year.
“No African artiste can believe to be popular in Africa without a performance in one of the Kenyan cities. This is because they (Kenyans) love our music,” Lokito told The Standard from New York, his base for the past 12 years.
Mapangala will be giving back to his East African fans who have missed him from the time he relocated to the US many years back. Lokito’s last performance in Kenya was in 1998 at Safari Park Hotel in the company of Congolese songstress Tshala Mwana and Awillo before he relocated to the Unites States of America 12 years ago.
He’s full of praise to former Kenya Broadcasting Corporation presenter Elizabeth Obege whom he described as a passionate journalist who supported the growth of African talents.
“She gave our music lots of airtime in the 1980s to 1990s hence supporting the growth of our talents,” he said.
He said his services are out for hire as a professional musician who has performed in all the 52 US states with different global artistes. He’s full of praise for the US music promoters.
“US promoters are honest and they make sure we are fully and promptly paid our royalties. They shop and lead us as where to perform,” said Lokito.
He was born on March 3, 1976 in Lubumbashi in the Democratic Republic of Congo as Shungu Omba before he was nicknamed Ngouma Lokito, (Power Of The Bass), a name that has stuck to-date.
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With the love for Rhumba and Lingala spreading faster across the globe, he said it has forced top Africa musicians to go for lucrative offers abroad with most of them first landing in Europe and on to the United States of America.
He performed with the late Lokassa Ya M’bongo and has been with Samba Mapangala, the former band leader of the defunct Orchestra Virunga and a host of top US artistes. Lokassa, believed to be the best rhythm guitarist in the world, and who was a founding leader of Orchestra Soukous Stars formed in early 1990s died on March 14 in Nashua, New Hampshire, US, aged 77 battling diabetes. The bass guitarist is a former member of Soukous Stars, a popular outfit in the early 1990s.
