Aurlus Mabélé

Aurlus Mabélé (24 October 1953 – 19 March 2020) was a Congolese singer and composer. He was commonly referred to as the “King of Soukous”. Biography Aurlus Mabélé, real name Benoit Aurélien Miatsonama, was born on 24 October 1953 in Brazzaville in the Poto-Poto district in the Republic of Congo. In 1974, he founded the group Les Ndimbola Lokole with Pedro Wapechkado, Mav Cacharel and Jean Baron. He later left the Congo for Europe, founding Loketo in 1986 with Diblo Dibala and Mav Cacharel. His soukous music swept Africa and he would be proclaimed “king”, hence the slogan “It is Aurlus Mabele the new king of the soukous”. In 25 years he has sold more than 10 million albums and contributed to making soukous known outside continent. Mabélé was diagnosed with throat cancer and had battled the disease . Fellow musician Nyboma Mwan’dido, while on tour in Kenya, broke the news of Mabélé’s sickness to Kenyans and asked his fans to pray for him. At one point of the show he played Mabélé’s song as a tribute. Mabélé was admitted to hospital in Eaubonne on 19 March 2020 and died there the same night due to contracting COVID-19. The news of his death was later confirmed via social media (Twitte