Longombas
Kenyan music duo
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Lovy and Christian Longombas were a duo from Kenya who performed a mixture of Hip hop and Soukous. Christian Longomba was diagnosed with a brain tumor in May 2015, and underwent surgery to have it removed. He later required a second surgery due to blood clots in his brain and completed six weeks of radiation therapy. He died on March 13, 2021.[1]
Career
The group consisted of two brothers, Christian and Lovy Longomba. They were from a musical family; their father Lovy Longomba Sr. was a member of Super Mazembe, while their grandfather Vicky Longomba was a member of TPOK Jazz. France-based Congolese musician Awilo Longomba is their uncle.[2]
The group entered the Kenyan music scene in 2002 with their song "Dondosa", which became a national hit. Follow-up singles were "Piga Makofi", "Shika More" and "Vuta Pumz". Their debut album Chukua was released in 2005 by Ogopa DJs.[3] In 2003, they left Ogopa DJs record label together with Deux Vultures and Mr. Googz & Vinnie Banton, and formed their own label, Bad Man Camp. Deux Vultures and the Longombas, however, later returned to Ogopa [4]
They performed at the 2006 Channel O Music Video Awards in South Africa.[5] The group later relocated from Kenya to Los Angeles.
Awards
- 2005 Kora Awards Africa - Best East African Group [6]
- 2006 Kisima Music Awards - Best Group from Kenya & Boomba Group & Best Song from Kenya ("Vuta Pumz") & Social Responsibility
- 2006 Tanzania Music Awards - Best East African Album (Chukua) [7]
Nominations
- 2006 Pearl of Africa Music Awards - Best Group from Kenya [8]