So kalmery was born in 1955 in the region of Bukavu, near Lake Kivu in the east of former Zaïre. His father, musician, played the accordion, the trumpet and the guitar in the local brass band and the organ on Sundays at church. So sung from a very early age in choirs with the other children and accompanied his older brothers when they played brakka in the Sunday orchestres. He was only nine years old when he started composing his first songs.

In 1966, his father died, during the anti-Lumumbist repression. So accompanied his family to Lusaka (Zambie). Singer in a choir, he was hired by a local orchestra leader, who kidnapped him and brought him on tour in Burundi and Kenya. A year later, So finally managed to escape and began to travel all over Africa. Taking a walk in Nairobi, he bumped in EMI’s H.Q and presented his demos, even if recording an album remained an inaccessible dream. However, EMI decided to produce «Vedette mambo», So was 16 years old. Thanks to this first production, he was finally able to get access to professional equipment and began a real carreer.

In 1982, after a tour in Belgium, he went to Paris and settled there. He formed his group, Ujamaa (family in swahili) and recorded two self-produced albums : «Ujamaa» and «So & Ujamaa». In 1987, So opened for Paco de Lucia and John MacLaughlin at the Albert Hall in London and sat on stage with them for a couple of songs. In 1989, he recorded « So » for CBS France. Restless traveller, So shared his time between London and Paris.

In 1993, So wondered about the real place of musicians in the society. He realized the difficulties for African people to adapt to the continent’s evolution and tried to give his music an educational dimension. In 1995 he recorded his album «Rasmi» and opened for Ben Harper in Europe. In 2001, he release the album «Bendera» which geta warm welcome from the press in France, Germany and USA. He is on tour since then in France, Germany, Czeck Republic, USA, Canada, Brazil…