The likembe player passed away on Wednesday (15Apr15) in Kinshasa, the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Mawangu founded Konono No.1 while he was a truck driver in the mid-1960s and recruited local musicians to create an electrified sound of the dance music native to the Congo, according to RollingStone.com.

It took the band four decades to find international acclaim following the release of the Congotronics album in 2005.

In 2007, the group was chosen to open for Bjork and collaborated with Herbie Hancock on his 2010 interpretation of John Lennon's Imagine, which won Mawangu a shared Grammy Award for Best Pop Collaboration With Vocals.

The group was also nominated for the Best Traditional World Music Album Grammy in 2008.

A message on the band's Facebook.com page reads: "He founded Konono No.1 in the 1960s and invented his own electrified likembe, which gave Konono No.1 its distinctive sound. He led the band and toured with them until a few years ago. He will be dearly missed by his son Augustin and the rest of the band."