after decades of supremacy in african with our music,congolese music has started going down while some other music were and still are for some on the up
and it seems in order to survive our artists chose either to team up with them or to try and copy them, and try to INDIVIDUALLY i insist on individually because in the prime of our music,our music was so strong as a collective force that even the guy considered the 20th biggest artist in congo of the moment was having tours here and there and having a good career
nowadays it seems we've made the fight to be back were we belong more of a "who is putting congo on the map of african music" or who are the few of a rotten and weak congolese music to emerge overseas
but i genuinely think from the bottom of my heart that both artists and most fans are not asking themselves the most crucial question
how to make congolese music dominate africa again and not how music made by congolese people will eventually be represented up there with stars of other countries
i think most musicians are neglecting more and more what is congolese music
there has been a slight effort to reintroduce a bit more some guitars by some artists on rumba but its still for most some "overprogrammed" stuff on albums of 20+song,when programming sometimes "takes out the soul of the song"compared to either accoustic guitar or true ,and i have also complained about that in the past,there is an ever growing lack of danceable rumbas,when i mean danceable rumba with a tempo which can kind of set a tempo for moves not just pick a girl a hold her until the song is over
just look at madilu's career,how he was undroppable on parties weddings VIP events of authorities
as for generiques we could try to create many many many things,for example every of the big names for one year or two all deciding to start the first two three minutes in whatever of the folks we have(kintueni agwaya bonioma mutuashi makuandungu and co) then serious sebene,i think we'd send a bigger message than what we are doing right now
also we can revive sebene songs,it would force guitarists to look for partitions atalakus to be more creative...and it will ALWAYS have that appeal of "i dont understand what they are saying but the dancing part made me jump off my seat"
we currently have some cases of guitarists who have not even participated on more than 6 songs outof 30 because of that desire to be "modern" and up to trend
but instead  of having musicians under pressure to be creative ,now leaders even want more and more to be the center of everything
soon we'll have artists who claim that they are doing the whole albums on their own including the programming and all that since our music is losing more and more its essence of strong unit of exceptional talents and edgeing more and more towards a music of egoistic self-proclaimed genuises finding individually for the own brand

The problem with us is that we don't appreciate good music and we demand constant change which plays a role why we have mediocre music. That is also one thing that we need to take responsibility. For example, if we had allowed a dance like Ndombolo or Kwasa Kwasa for five years then it would give people chance to give something years later to keep our music going.

What's also killing our music is our artists being too greedy and doing every song for donors, think about it we're stuck on this rhumba trend for 16 years now and todays Rhumba's aren't even classics like that anymore. At parties you won't hear a lot of todays rhumbas but just the new generiques from Fally, Werra, Robinio, Heritier Innoss, Koffi (Papa Mobimba), Fabro to an extent. but their rhumba's not as much as before it's always the old rhumbas or maybe the odd Canne a sucre, Alidor or BM.
It's getting concerning now, last december is the perfect example we had so much releases the same day/week but they all came and went it's only Tokosss 2 that's still doing things but not like fally's other albums in the past.

I said it and I am saying it again, Congolese music now lacks creativity, we have stuck with the same type of Music for 20 years, in the past the music in congo was changing after every 5 years. I can give you an example. I started to follow Congolese Music in 80s, my favourites were Franco and Tabu Ley, Then I switched to Pepe Kale as he brough something different. in the 90s I switched to Wenge and Kofii Olomide. I can telll you Kalayi Boeing was different from Hi Ho Ha new Image. Pentagon was a new innovation with Caludji. Maison Merre took the music the higher level in 1999 with Bill and Celeo combo. That was very successfully and was copied by most bands including Mopao who unleashed  Kerosene and Brigade. Twenty years later there has been nothing creative that has came out. JB is stuck with Genta for 20 years. Here in Tanzania the recent successful Congolese Music ware Yope, Papa Mobimba and Selfie. Because they were something new. Diamond is playing Congolese, he has only modified it, even the Nigerians have modified  our beloved music.

Music is a good that should be sold for money. Musicians don't sing for fun, they depend on it for survival. Therefore consumers determine what they produce. If they want coupe decale, give it to them or you won't buy. If they want R&B give it to them or they won't buy.

So they cannot keep producing that old sweet Congolese music we want because the larger fan base that pays for music wants something else. Let us allow our artists to evolve or they will fall far behind South African and Western African music.

There has been some hopes in the past few years, but our music scene's been grim in terms of prospects. I feel like it's the leaders' fault, partly because they've grown complacent and partly because they focus on themselves and their own image rather than finding and nurturing local talents and easing them into a tight unit. Archos, you're right when you say the scene needs fresh ideas, or at least something to revitalise it and get it back to where it was 20-30 years ago.

Yes because,longterm the strategy of doing like others to compete with them is not good,what if tomorrow sudanese take africa by storm,then music from comoros,then music from the arabic countries of the northern africa go very viral,will we then do rumba rai,rumba kwaito,rumba whatever(not taking a dig at ferre for rumba trap but more as to say is it enough to think we represent congo in feats just because we sing some lingala lines along withfrench and english ),but will we be longterm back again as a strong force by doing feats and putting some cherie na nga nakanisaki yo butu ya lelo for 2 minutes on whichever rhythm or will we be back doing what we master
i  dont agree with that argument of doing foreign stuff is what pays,look at but na filet,2 years of career already has about 11 cars one house for his parents himself building and renting in a more expensive area now than 2 years ago, half or 1/3 of his band having cars too,a rumba album of 15 songs generates,before taking away studio fees,minimum 100k when you have reached a certain standard
doing foreign boosts individual careers,not congolese music,while if they decided to work harder  to provide to the world again something very strong and congolese it will benefit us,and be an even bigger stepping stone for those ego-boosting foreign feats,those artists would come to kin to record

Congolese music needs new artist and those new artists need to be pushed, thats what brings fresh blood and creativity. French rap has bout 10 new artists per year same with us rap. In the last ten years we’ve had innoss b gaz mawete mpr rebo but na filet . How can music genre evolve with 90% of the industry being people that all have 30 some years in the game

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.

Congolese music needs new artist and those new artists need to be pushed, thats what brings fresh blood and creativity. French rap has bout 10 new artists per year same with us rap. In the last ten years we’ve had innoss b gaz mawete mpr rebo but na filet . How can music genre evolve with 90% of the industry being people that all have 30 some years in the game

French rap is insane! Love their flow, been following the genre as well.

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.

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!

Congolese music does not need to be put on the map again, because it is already on the map. It is called Rumba, Soukous and Ndombolo. But artists stopped playing these, or play them on a low level, and that's why the success is not like before. After the Zaire era ended, the old donor system disappeared and nowdays artists cannot find their way in the new system. But on the other hand, many artists became lazy and opportunistic, putting more emphasis on  short term small profits insead of long term goals and vision. They behave as "peasants" instead of "prophets". The mentality has to change. Internationally, a record with lots of machine and programming filling up the space of missing bandmates will never be respected as much as a record with a real full band. It can satisfy old friends and a small fanatic circle in a diaspora, but not a wide audience across the globe.

Tbh. It is the system as a whole, the leader with the axtual money they have they could provide a system but they prefer taking people on the verge of homelessness and be mad when they demand basic things lile money for the work. I mean once Fally and Ferre, Fabregas, Heritier and Deplick will stop making music who are the heir whi will take our genre back not even into stardom but into survival? No hier mentality no vision. The only leader who did that in his way it is Werra and to some extent Koffi, but these same leaders are The one who fought hard for Fally, Terre and many of their underclasses to faul as solo career. Childish people who ruined a genre.