Samba Mapangala born in Matadi in what is now the Democratic Republic of Congo. He spent early 70's with various bands in Kinshasa, before moving to Uganda in 1975 where he and some other Congolese musicians formed the Les Kinois band. They moved to Nairobi in 1977. He formed a new band, the Orchestra Virunga, in 1981. The band is named after Virunga volcano located in Congo.
Orchestra Virunga released their first album, It's Disco Time with Samba Mapangala in 1982. In early 90's the group gained some international popularity through album releases like "Virunga Volcano" and "Feet on Fire".
He has continued to record, and is still one of the leading musicians in East Africa. He is now based in the United States . Mapangala began performing with Occidental Brothers Dance Band International in the fall of 2009.[1]
Mapangala is considered as one of the golden era of Kenyan Lingala music acts alongside Les Mangelepa, Baba Gaston and Super Mazembe.[2]
At the 2004 Tanzania Music Awards his album Ujumbe was nominated in the best African Album category.[3]
Samba Mapangala has released the following albums [4]