# Fame.am profile — machine-readable export
# Canonical URL: https://fame.am/person/kanda-bongo-man
# Generated: 2026-08-12T23:52:09.225Z

schema: https://schema.org/Person
url: "https://fame.am/person/kanda-bongo-man"
name: "Kanda Bongo Man"
slug: "kanda-bongo-man"
description: "Bongo Kanda, better known by his stage name Kanda Bongo Man, is a Congolese soukous musician and singer. His career debuted in 1973, when he became the singer for the Belle Mambo band, developing a sound influenced by Tabu Ley. His solo career only started to take off after he moved to Paris in 1979, where his music started to incorporate elements of then-vibrant zouk music popularized by Kassav. Kanda Bongo Man's first solo albums, Iyole in 1981 and Djessy in 1982, were hits."
tagline: "Congolese soukous musician"
image: "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:FilePath/Malanga_and_Kanda_Bongo_Man.jpg?width=1200"
gender: "male"
category:
  name: "Musicians"
  slug: "musicians"
profileType:
  name: "Singer / Musician"
  slug: "singer"
  entityType: "https://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q177220"
birthDate: "1955-06-08"
livingStatus: "LIVING"
scores:
  popularity:           48.46
  momentum:             0.616822429906542
  historical:           9.554254666666669
  currentAttention:     0
  sourceConfidence:     65
  profileCompleteness:  65
  trendDirection:       "STABLE"
ranks:
  global:   null
  country:  null
  category: null
platforms:
  - platform:  "WEBSITE"
    url:       "http://www.africanmusicagency.co.uk/kbm_200"
sources:
  - url: "https://www.discogs.com/artist/496075"
    title: "Discogs"
    type:  "DATABASE"
  - url: "https://arz.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D9%83%D8%A7%D9%86%D8%AF%D8%A7_%D8%A8%D9%88%D9%86%D8%AC%D9%88_%D9%85%D8%A7%D9%86"
    title: "كاندا بونجو مان"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kanda_Bongo_Man"
    title: "Kanda Bongo Man"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kanda_Bongo_Man"
    title: "Kanda Bongo Man"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://eu.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kanda_Bongo_Man"
    title: "Kanda Bongo Man"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://fi.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kanda_Bongo_Man"
    title: "Kanda Bongo Man"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kanda_Bongo_Man"
    title: "Kanda Bongo Man"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://ig.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kanda_Bongo_Man"
    title: "Kanda Bongo Man"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://ln.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kanda_Bongo_Man"
    title: "Kanda Bongo Man"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kanda_Bongo_Man"
    title: "Kanda Bongo Man"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://sw.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kanda_Bongo_Man"
    title: "Kanda Bongo Man"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://musicbrainz.org/artist/aee0642c-1d8b-4a64-9993-443f94242b2e"
    title: "MusicBrainz"
    type:  "DATABASE"
  - url: "https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1394971"
    title: "Wikidata"
    type:  "WIKIDATA"

# bio (long form, separated for readability)
bio: |
  Imported from discovery source: wikidata-dump