Ricardo Lemvo

Ricardo Lemvo & Makina Loca's infectious fusion of Latin and African music has been hailed as the future of African Salsa. Ricardo Lemvo was born in the Congo and grew up listening to the Cuban greats—Orquesta Aragón, Arsenio Rodríguez, Sonora Matancera and Abelardo Barroso. After moving to Los Angeles, he founded Makina Loca in 1990 to create a new blend of Cuban and Congo music.

Lemvo has established himself as a pioneer with his innovative music, combining Latin and African elements from salsa to soukous with an occasional merengue or Afro-Portuguese excursion. This Congo-born artist of Angolan ancestry is the embodiment of the Afro-Latin Diaspora which connects back to Mother Africa via the Cuban clave rhythm. Lemvo is truly multi-cultural and equally at home singing in English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Lingala, and Kikongo.

Through the years, Lemvo has performed countless shows and in many prestigious festivals throughout Europe, the Americas, and Australia. Giving him the ultimate form of respect, his songs have been performed and recorded by such Latin luminaries as Colombia's Joe Arroyo, and Orquesta Reve from Cuba.

Lemvo's five albums, Tata Masamba, Mambo Yo Yo, São Salvador Ay Valeria! and Isabela have been enthusiastically acclaimed by both print and broadcast media worldwide and have also been nominated for various awards including the California Music Awards, The Los Angeles Weekly Music Awards. The American World Music Awards voted Lemvo and his band the Emerging Artist of 1998.

Lemvo has been the subject of various national and international radio and television programs including BBC Radio, Radio France International, National Public Radio, CBS Sunday Morning, the NBC Today Show, CNN World Beat. In film, Ricardo Lemvo & Makina Loca appeared in the 1998 movie Dance With Me starring Vanessa Williams and Chayanne.—Courtesy Calabash Music