Dr. Nico

Born in 1939 in Luluaborg, Zaire, Nicholas Kasanda Wa Mikalay passed away in Kinshasa in 1985. After early membership in Le Grande Kalle’s African Jazz during the first years of the decade, the virtuoso guitarist and composer later known as Nico helped establish African Fiesta alongside Rochereau; the ensemble ranked among the most popular and influential Zairean groups throughout the mid and late 1960s. Although he grew up in a musical household, Kasanda completed formal studies at the Leopold II Institute and earned his technical-teacher diploma in 1957. He nevertheless devoted himself entirely to music, drawing inspiration from his father’s accordion playing and from his brother Mwamba Dechaud’s guitar work. His own technical mastery soon secured him a place in African Jazz, where his standing among Congolese guitarists remained unrivaled; during the band’s appearance at the 1960 independence celebrations he received the enduring nickname Dr. Nico. Joining African Fiesta in 1963, he sustained both his commercial appeal and his inventive approach, issuing hundreds of singles that became hits across the Congo and much of the continent. Disillusioned by the bankruptcy of the group’s Belgian label and convinced he had been defrauded, he withdrew from performing in the early 1970s. Only a few isolated concerts punctuated the following quiet years until, in 1983, he signed with Togo’s Africa New Sound label. Several albums resulted, most featuring his brother and supported by Les Redoubtables De Abeti; his first American releases then appeared on the African Music Gallery imprint in Washington. This late resurgence ended abruptly with his death, widely attributed to alcohol-related causes, in 1985. Experts continue to regard his innovations as the single most decisive contribution to modern African guitar styles, an influence that persists today.