Quote from: Matebu on May 01, 2018, 03:11

I thought since we sort of know where members stand with which artists/groups and music time periods we like, it’d be interesting to know opinions you have that aren’t of popular opinion. I think alternative viewpoints can make for interesting discussions/debates.
- I think Evoloko Lay Lay was the worst leader/singer. I was a big fan of his dances like “Dallas” way back in the day, but his singing voice always seemed to be a cheap version of Wemba’s. In some songs his voice sounds like a whining child. He is good on chorus though.

I thought i was the only one who thought Evoloko's singing is difficult to digest.

My Unpopular Opinions:

1) Lita Bembo
I never understood why people liked him so much.  To me he was just too over-the-top and animated, the precursor to Adolphe Dominguez.  Franco produced a Stukas record for his record label, so maybe he saw something in him that I still cannot see.

2) Tabu Ley was a selfish bandleader
Meeting him and spending a whole entire day with him was probably one of the greatest moments of my childhood, but the way he compensated his people in Afrisa was deplorable.  You think Werra was bad, try shipping your whole band to the US, don't pay them and then abandon them, leaving them to fend for themselves.

3) Not Enough Sebenes
With the successes of Fabregas, Robinio, Heritier and others, it looks as if Congolese music is making a huge comeback, one we haven't seen since Fally & Ferre left Quartier Latin for solo careers.  But here again comes the age old debate:  Where are the Sebenes?  What was once popular and literally took the music all over the world, is still absent from a lot of today's rumbas and if there's one, it's cut too short.  Generiques aren't enough. Non-Lingala speakers, especially white people, don't understand rhumba music. They want to dance to the guitars and that was these guys' tickets to Europe. These artists just can't seem to grasp that.

4) Vulgarity/Sex Appeal
Nearly 20 years ago, my grandfather from Matete, watched a WWE show with me during the Attitude Era while he was here in the States.  While watching the divas in lingerie prancing around in the ring, he said, "If women did that in Congo, they'll be in jail."  Fast forward nearly 20 years later and we're seeing and hearing more sexual innuendos than before.  When I was in Kinshasa in 2010, Ferre's 3eme Droight and JB's Mpunda was blazing the airwaves and the night clubs.  Although still popular, a lot of church goers found those songs to be improper.  Now female dancers are twerking in videos and song-writers are finding more clever ways to sing about vagina.  The music is no longer for kids.

5) Mabanga
I've complained about this subject numerous times over the years and I'm tired of talking about it.

In regards to my last bullet points, maybe I'm just an old fashioned 35 year old.

Man #3 is huge here. We need sebenes. Just the other day someone heard me blast Thshitokoo from Wenge Tonya Tonya in my car. They were dancing a bit. Congolese has a chance to be very successful in the USA if they at least make an effort. But sebenes are needed and short rumbas.

Why are Congolese doing this?

Here is my propositions.

1) Get the Congolese diaspora in USA, UK, Belgium, Canada and France to organize to get labels going
2) We need to talk to our artists and tell them what they need to do to boost Congolese music again.
3) Tell them that we need at least 2 songs with sebenes.
4) Tell them to make 2 generiques on a given album.
5) Tell them to make sure that all artists get paid and copyright is resolved.
5) Get the Congolese who can work with social media networks so that Congolese music can get more attention than it has at the moment.

Absolutely! Social media management is a hot career field now. It will help the genre tremendously!

I feel Congolese aren’t promoting their craft well. Not to mention we shouldn’t have long rumbas and no sebenes on an album. These days it’s been a chore listening to new Congolese albums. But back when I was a kid that is what I looked forward to hearing. New Koffi, JB, werrason all we danced to in the day.

What Congolese need to do is:

1. Take advantage of Instagram.

2. Listen to what made Congolese popular and bring that back

3. Collaborate with other countries to infuse some of their style into yours.

4. Release an album! Take advantage of streaming music platforms. Promote on YouTube as well.

5. Sebene to rumba ratio must be smaller. People want to dance not sleep.

6. Also feel free to engage an American audience, but doing the top 5 should help.

I saw this evening! Yes congrats!  By the way emojis don’t seem to work well with the mobile web page.

Weren’t they supposed to release an album this summer?

What are the Congolese dancing in clubs to? Long rumbas?? 

Oh man we badly need some more albums to come out.