Mav Cacharel

Mav Cacharel (1957- ), real name Hilaire Youla, was born in Brazzaville in the Congo. He took the name from the French prêt-à-porter company due to his liking for their products. After playing in several small local groups from the age of 13, he won the Radio France International prize and this enabled him to move to France, where he made a living as a session singer: here he teamed up with Aurlus Mabele, Diblo Dibala, Jean Baron and Mack Macaire to form Loketo. This soukouss band toured extensively worldwide, but after a few years Cacharel formed his own band Kebo and recorded several albums with this combo, which included the popular songs N'kembo and Banana Kebo. In 1990, he wrote music for a female vocal collective and produced their album Les Ananas. Cacharel went solo in 2004, only for him to rejoin Loketo in 2008 for the appropriately named Reconciliation.

Links to Peel
John named Cacharel's Kebo LP (actually released in 1989) as his third favourite album of 1990, and gave his maximum three stars to four of the six tracks. In 2001, Tom from Atlanta sent JP a copy of a 1992 Cacharel album, which he duly played.

Festive Fifty Entries

 * None

Sessions

 * None

Other Shows Played

 * 23 August 1990: 'Boula Moteur (LP-Mav Cacharel Et Le Group Kebo)' (Gefraco)
 * 04 May 1991: 'Lusolo (LP-Mav Cacherel)'
 * 24 June 1991 (BBC World Service): 'Vicano Bayaya(?)'
 * 29 March 1992 (BFBS): 'Boyoka Ba N'Deko (LP–Mav Cacharel)' (Melodie Distribution)
 * Peel Out In The States (Program 11): 'Pour Toi (LP-Mav Cacharel)' (Kaluila)
 * 16 October 2001: 'Kembele No (LP-Triple Force)' (Axile)
 * 24 October 2001 (BBC World Service): 'Yembela Ye (LP-Triple Force)' (Axile)
 * 07 July 2004: 'Zakomba (LP-Mav Cacharel Et Le Group Kebo)' (Gefraco)