Franco Tickets & 2026–2027 Tour Dates

Franco was the stage name of Congolese guitarist, singer and bandleader François Luambo Makiadi, born in 1938. He co-founded OK Jazz in 1956 and led the group after it became TPOK Jazz, developing a repertoire of Congolese rumba built on interlocking guitars, vocal exchanges and lyrics about social life. The extended song “Mario” is among his best-known recordings.

Franco made the Un Deux Trois nightclub in Kinshasa a base for TPOK Jazz, where the group played long dance sets drawn from its rumba repertoire. The band also toured Europe, and the album “Live at the Hammersmith Palais” documents its large ensemble performing in London.