Jb's singing is discipline,he has completely dropped on that field,you'd be surprised probably to know except makaba another person who was not messing with him on that field it was amida,she'd keep a very close eye on him on concert days and days before she'd be capable to lock all doors when he rehearsed at home so he wont move until he completes like 6 7 hours of work while now he does what he wants when he wants and he said it himself in a recent interview that he knows sometimes he is clearly out of form and sings badly to his standards but it does not bother him because he is not for him anymore in a situation where he has to put extra pressure on himself to always be close to perfection so even if he has to eat peanuts and stuff like that which can affect voice before a concert he does it ,strange how he has become so open about his lack of motivation at times
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.
Quote from: Matebu on May 01, 2018, 03:11I 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 BemboI 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 bandleaderMeeting 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 SebenesWith 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 AppealNearly 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) MabangaI'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.
I 100% agree with everything you've said I also find that rhumba is ridiculously overrated, the sex thing is too much and the mabanga just wow
Yes the poorest have cellophonres, but they can't watxh video's. Because it to expansive for them, since that they have to buy alot of mega's. Nobody in Kinshasa knows those internet journalists who are based in Kinshasa or the combattans who are making alot of noise on YouTube. If you go to Kinshasa you will diacover that they are bot informer about many things even about things who are gooing on in their own country.
1) Lita BemboI 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 bandleaderMeeting 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 SebenesWith 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 AppealNearly 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) MabangaI'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.
2) Tabu Ley was a selfish bandleaderMeeting 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. I remember hearing a legend that Ley composed over 1,000 songs and it wasn't until I was an adult I found out that he got most of his compositions from his musicians and proceeded to credit himself. For me that takes away artistic integrity... with TPOK jazz the public always knew who composed what.
Quote from: Matebu on May 02, 2018, 03:142) Tabu Ley was a selfish bandleaderMeeting 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. I remember hearing a legend that Ley composed over 1,000 songs and it wasn't until I was an adult I found out that he got most of his compositions from his musicians and proceeded to credit himself. For me that takes away artistic integrity... with TPOK jazz the public always knew who composed what.Very interesting rivalry Franco & Tabu Ley had. To me Afrisa were one dimensional, while OK Jazz had members who came from other groups and were given freedom to write and compose in various styles. Vieux Rochereau taking credit of his members' composition doesn't surprise me at all. It's unfortunate. While OK Jazz produced successful stars like Madilu System, Simaro, Dizzy Mandjeku, and Papa Noel, I can't name one successful artist from Afrisa aside from M'Bilia Bel.On another note, Ley was the first person in my lifetime to open my eyes to the fact that while Zairean artists may sing songs praising their wives, offstage you wouldn't even know they were married.
Sam Mangwana na who left in 1967 to create Les Marquisard recruiting Ntesa Dalienst and co. Also Paul Ndombe who went to create Afrizam until that Tabu Key & Franco went to kill his band, like they used to do to many bands of the 60's & 70's who were a treath to their hegemony. Which made stars like Ntesa, Kiambukuta, Ndombe, Kiese Diambu end up in TPOK Jazz
@MatebuPerhaps the recent trend of increasingly programmed music over live instrumentation is because it's cheaper to record and release. Half the battle of making music today is done by when you can program percussions, horn sections, and synths on the keyboard. Where back in the day, you had to factor in whether live horns would sync well with the guitars, keyboards, and drums. This means that music composition was the foundation of song creation, as opposed to improvising melodies on a keyboard or guitar partition then stretching them out into songs.In order to conserve cost, reheasals were constant and music compositions of some of our favorite songs underwent many rewrites to get that sound just perfect enough to record. With a band set up of lead (sometimed mi-solo) and rhythm guitar, it required a dedicated team of studio engineers to properly record and sequence the music in respects to the bass player and drums.This requires a lot of money, patience, and commitment which I don't think a lot of artist have nowadays in the social media era. It's all about quick output and even faster returns on investment, where as the past required time to create an album that could survive months on rotations because of the power of the music.As far as lyrics go, maybe it's time for songwriters to reach into themselves and share songs about the things we all go through besides just sex...maybe fables of common life or songs about personal trials (big or small). Atalakus need to strengthen their craft on creating cries that get people to dance and admire their wordplay (incorperate different languages like kikongo and tshiluba).Those are just my observations, but it seems we're all on the save wavelength.