Planet Ilunga wishes to contribute to rebuild the Congolese music archive. The label tries to be as accurate and precise as possible in writing the booklets or liner notes. Unfortunately I didn’t live the fascinating fifties and sixties in the two Congos, nor do I’m a native Lingala speaker, so I depend on reliable sources or old and hard to find records to check the information I found or heard through the grapevine. Sometimes this goes wrong and I publish something that’s false. So, please share if you think you spotted an error in the booklets and I will publish it on this page, maybe with even more information. Melesi mingi, we will be all very grateful.

PI: 07: O.K. Jazz – Pas Un Pas Sans… The Boleros of O.K. Jazz 1957-77

p 10: transcription of Chérie Maite composed by Isaac. ‘I used to think of being married. The truth is I’m under forty’. Should be: ‘I used to think of being married. The truth is, I can’t afford it.’.
The line ‘The truth is I’m under forty’ doesn’t make much sense, it sounds more reasonable that a man can’t afford the bride price (‘mbongo ya libala’ in Lingala). Pointed out by Doug Paterson (RIP).

PI: 03: O.K. Jazz – The Loningisa Years 1956-1961

p 5: the track ‘Yaka Na Koki Te’ has been composed by Brazzos, the index states incorrectly that the author is Franco (only on the first copies, corrected on the repress).

PI 02: Various – Souvenirs from Esengo 1957-1961

p 18: transcription of  ‘Baila’:the line ‘feliz de la vida’ is not correct, Kabasele & Rossignol were singing ‘Elixir de la vida’. Essous, the composer of the song, loved to use this phrase in his songs.

p 4: track A4 suffers from an incorrect track title. The correct track title is Lo Qui A Mi, composed by Papa Noel with the Rock-a-Mambo and originally released on Esengo 201.

PI 01: l’African Jazz – Souvenirs from the Congo

*p 5: the track ‘Basi Ya African Jazz’ has been composed by Charles Mwamba (Déchaud), the index states incorrectly that the author is Tabu Ley Rochereau.

* p 14: the version of ‘Parafifi’ that you can hear on the vinyl is not made in the late fifties, but in the sixties. The guitar solo on this late version was done by André Kambite (Damoiseau); Nicolas Kasanda (Docteur Nico) played the guitar in the early fifties version of this song.

* p 16: a more correct translation of ‘jamais kolonga’ is ‘un homme hors pair’.

* p 21: the track Lipopo Ya Ba Nganga has not been composed in 1961, but in the mid sixties, in the new formation of l’African Jazz.