FRANCO LUAMBO & TPOK JAZZ TOP SONGS EXPLAINED

Mario (1985):
Franco’s biggest hit, it tells of an educated man who prefers to wallow in aging wealthy women. This gigolo doesn’t want to apply for jobs. Mario is the story of a Portuguese man.

 Mamou (1983):
A woman laments about her friend (Mamou) for whom she covers but goes around blaming the woman for her woes. Mamou is a cheat but tells her husband that every other man she is found with is her friend’s boyfriend. The friend obliges to save their marriage. Yet Mamou goes around blaming the same woman for her marital woes.

 Attention na Sida (1987): 
An intense 15 minutes. After a UN summit asked African governments to make deliberate efforts to create awareness of HIV/Aids scourge, Mobutu returned home with an assignment for Franco. ‘Beware of Aids’ is done in French and implores the people to stop reckless lifestyle.

 Matata ya Mwasi na Mobali Esilaka Te (1974) :
At the time, it made sense. Today, feminists would strangle Franco for this. It says problems of man and woman will never end in this world. It says men jubilated when they chased away the colonialists only to return home and find a more vicious master—woman—who keeps them working while owning only one pair of trouser.

 Kimpa Kisangameni (1983): 
Done in Franco’s native Kikongo, it starts with heavy Mpundi Decca bass guitar (like it was with Jackie in 1978) punctuated with a mournful husky voice of Franco. Kimpa Kisangameni means charms planted on the roof of a house and Franco is telling his mother to see the charms that enemies have brought to kill him. He says his brother Bavon Marie Marie (died in 1970 in a car crash) was killed by sorcerer.

 Odongo cooperation :
Also in Kikongo. Odongo means unity, cooperation. After rumours that Sam Mangwana had left TPOK, he did the song with Franco to tell fans that they were still together. Last year, Dizzy Mandjeku, a TPOK soloist, said in a WhatsApp response that the title track was inspired by a friend

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