Tabu Ley Rochereau (born 1940) is the leader of Orchestre Afrisa International and one of Africa's most influential vocalists and prolific songwriters. Along with guitarist Dr Nico Kasanda, Tabu Ley pioneered soukous; he internationalised his music by fusing elements of Congolese folk music with Cuban, Caribbean, and Latin American rumba. Tabu Ley was born in Bandundu, Democratic Republic of the Congo, as Pascal Tabu. In 1954, at the age of fourteen