PRIVATE LIFE AND PERSONALITY
 
felix nlandu wazekwa was born on 14 september 1962 in kinshasa,father of 2 children lemiran and flety and married to the same wife since 1985,also uncle of artist kabosé bulembi
in private life, felly like his friends call him is a very shy man,who considers himself like an eternal student,and who continues learning languages and his two favourite which are economics and politics
like himself sometimes says in interviews,he had to force himself overcoming his extreme shyness to start singing in front of people
he is a loyal person but once you betray him he is quite radical,he really cares about family and friendship values and is very protective of his wife and kids,he refuses talking about them in interviews
like he oftens says himself he did not become musician in obsession for money but rather for passion,he had a financially stable life even before starting musical career
in fact,he worked for a decade as a chartered accountant and also owns and co-owns with a friend two "exotic" shops(dedicated to african food)
apart business,wazekwa also has his foundation to help poor people,which includes an orphanage in his native region,workshops in carpentry and brickwork,as like wazekwa says those two  type of workers are vital to the development of a country
so far,600 ex-street guys are under his responsability,but he revealed when asked about his foundation on tv that he does not promote it on tv because he did not create the foundation to boost his popularity but rather to help people as mister nlandu wazekwa rather that wazekwa s'grave the music star

ROLE MODELS AND DEBUT AS A SONGWRITER AND SINGER

his role models were lutumba simaro(whose song mabele is for him the best of all times),kester emeneya(who for him was a genius and he ironically revealed the first time he saw kester on tv he tought his voice was transformed bu tv sound engineers because he was surprised to hear such a deep and powerful voice from a young guy),koffi olomidé(he told koffi,i do not have enough money to give an amount proportional to my appreciation for you,so  all can i offer you is songs and proverbs for free)
and also nioka longo and defao who he considers as best dancers
the last model he mentioned in his interviews was jb mpiana,as he revealed he used to attend several wenge bcbg concerts to learn about discipline on stage,organization of great shows and variety in dancing
he starts writing songs when still at college and high school in the early 80's and he starts rehearsing with folkloric group kin verso in his native quarter of matete where he meets le karmapa,who becomes like a brother for him
both go to europe in 1985 and study economics and management but passion for music is too strong to abandon
wazekwa keeps writing songs(karmapa aswell) and adding melodies aswell(he is a good rhythm guitarist) and once he got his master,started working in offices and slowly but surely some friends convinced him to start collaboration with musicians of kinshasa and europe
he collaborates with the group soukous stars,the "prince of tchatcho" duc herode mandiangu and the "king of tchatcho" himself koffi olomidé le rambo
2 years later he is introduced to papa wemba and gives him many songs of album foridoles but also album pole position
his collaboration with koffi turns sour as when asked who is that man felix wazekwa you mentioned on your cds and thanked him,koffi replied "i dont know him"
it becomes worse with the fact wazekwa starts working with koffi's rival papa wemba,so they fall out and koffi refuses his participation of album wake up which represents reconciliation between him and wemba
wemba tells wazekwa "why not recording your own albums,you have a good voice,you compose well,you can succeed" and promises to help him in album whenever he wants

THE FIRST ALBUMS AND THE BIRTH OF CULTURA PAYS VIE

in 1996 felix wazekwa releases his first album tetragramme YHWH( in reference to God,Jehovah as he is a Jehovah witness) which mainly contains religious songs and is supported by papa wemba and madilu system
one year later,he releases album pauvres mais...with the help of tabuley rochereau and grand pere bozi boziana and wins award of revelation of the year
this motivates him to believe in a career, and he decides going back to kinshasa and perform his songs in concerts
the project of creating a group does not exist yet,but one day singer vicky kibambi(which he nicknamed nasdaq later on),who is from the same quarter of matete,knocks his door as he heard a promising singer from europe and from their quarter is back home for concerts
both then start recruiting musicians just for concerts,but for the first concert vicky uses his own street group which had members like eboa lotin,the very young nono fudji,babangida(soloist in tonya tonya)
 after this concert in their quarter of matete,several musicians arrive at wazekwa's house to apply for a job as the group of nasdaq was only students who had to go back to school
this is how cultura starts,among the musicians who were tested there is singer/rhythm guitarist/drummer joss diena who was leader of group info musica and who brings with him most of the musicians who are in cultura until the 2000's,singer guylain essamba is also among those first guys to join the group
they record album bonjour monsieur and sponsor in two consecutives years (1998 and 1999)
fans appreciate the texts and melodies but complain about the lack of impressive sebene as congolese music is dominated by the dance ndombolo
album signature released in 2001 proves cultura are also capable of performing in terms of dancing and takes the group the another level
their generique insrtumental partts and most of the animation was brought by joss diena who was planning to release it when in info musica,but the most succesful part "malé mambwa" was offered to wazekwa by comedian esobe


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Great piece of work archos, at least now we know more about Wazekwa. I remember the first time I watched him was at Kora awards I think doing the song 'Bonjour Monsieur' and I initially thought he was Koffi's brother because of the similarity in the music.

for me it was on a video cassette and he was singing " bonjour Monsieur"

merci mingi archos, this is what I wanted. Clarify the involvement of Vicky Kibambi in Culture, did they have equal membership when culture started? what influenced the name culture? One point I have learned over the time is that these musicians don't just wake up one day and become who they are. I mean Jos Diena before joining Wazekwa was already a band leader and Eboa Lotin was already in a performing band under Kibambi!! It takes a process to be known in music now I believe. Once again Thank you archos.

Yeah like Sly said I know more about Wazekwa now.

THE RISE OF FELIX WAZEKWA

Like said earlier,wazekwa's first succesful album is signature recorded in 2001 in difficult conditions
in fact,they had tried 4 times to record songs but producer was not satisfied and tired of paying studio fees for a result he judged not good enough
the fifth was the best one as joss diena proposed the two generiques(majority like i said earlier) and the determination of the whole group made the songs improve a lot
album is recorded live within less than a month
he starts touring outside DRC with that album and is even at KORA AWARDS along with new friend werrason
one year later,he records in europe album yo nani which is also a success and 2nd in hit parades for months
when he is back in congo,he is introduced to jb mpiana by their common friend café etienne tshimanga,and with the help of jb gets a sponsorship contract with primus beer
 he is at that time one of the rare big names to have very good relationship with jb and werra at the same time
two years later he releases album et après and performs for the first time of his career at grand hotel,where only bigger stars were performing so far
the same year,he performs for the second time of his career at fikin,during summer holidays,this leads to conflicts between him and etienne tshimanga
in fact,etienne as he wanted his friend to succeed but also seeing the interests he could have should he suceed,went to see sorcerers and did all he was meant to
he had previously buried some animal parts and so on in wazekwa's house secretly,and took in one of the cars from their convoy a dead corpse and unfortunately for him and the poor wazekwa,police were checking all cars because it was spread in kinshasa that some normal citizen possessed weapons and could soon cause trouble in the city
they found the corpse and it created polemic around wazekwa,etienne's plan that once at home he would convince wazekwa to have sexual intercourse with the corpse so that he becomes very powerful
once they went home a violent argument happened between them,wazekwa was so angry that his bodyguard had to hold him otherwise he would try to beat etienne
then both were calmed by older guys and etienne admitted all what he planed and did,and dug up what he had buried in wazekwa's house
from then wazekwa swears he will never talk to etienne again forever
after that incident,he goes to europe with his group to promote album
meanwhile,his rivalry with koffi keeps growing and they attack each other in songs and interviews
he prepares album faux mutu moko boyé aswell and performs in sweden,with a very limited number of musicians,and while he goes back to kinshasa to bring two dancers and a journalist to report it
the two dancers and journalist blaise wanga plus wazekwa himself are arrested by belgian police as it was the period where all congolese groups were suspected of human traffic

NEXT STEP RECONCILIATION AND RETURN OF RIVALRY WITH KOFFI AND ALSO  HIS FIRST PRESTIGIOUS CONCERT IN FRANCE


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I remember that Karmapa started beefing against Wazekwa, but what was the problem between two guys. I remember also that Wazekwa refused to give him a hand at the Kora Awards of 2003.

Thanks Archos for the story. I heard that some time Felix Wazekwa and Papa Wemba also had a fallout. It is interesting that Felix had good relations with Wemba and Olomide but after he becomes a superstar, his relations with them goes down.

I remember that Karmapa started beefing against Wazekwa, but what was the problem between two guys. I remember also that Wazekwa refused to give him a hand at the Kora Awards of 2003.

karmapa said on tv that he was the only true artist from matete and mocked wazekwa while praising koffi,so wazekwa did not appreciate and refused to salute him,but after karmapa apologised and explained him he only did that for polemic

Thanks Archos for the story. I heard that some time Felix Wazekwa and Papa Wemba also had a fallout. It is interesting that Felix had good relations with Wemba and Olomide but after he becomes a superstar, his relations with them goes down.

wazekwa and wemba did not really have a fallout,but wazekwa was bit disappointed because he wanted another featuring with wemba but wemba's staff told him not to do it otherwise it will make wazekwa become bigger
but other than that they are in very good terms they visit each other often and so on

Now I know the true story about the dead corpses.

Continue archos and don't forget to address my earlier questions. Thank you.

masterpiece of info molakisi archos
kudos and keep it up ur our source of info here!!

when asked  if they were really artists and not ngulu,his dancers annie and olga confirm that they are dancers and blaise wanga a true journalist also that wazekwa is their boss and that they'd rather go back to kinshasa if police do not trust them
this is what happens,all three return to kinshasa followed by a very upset wazekwa,who could not finish his sweden tour
once in kinshasa,few days before the project of reconciliation of congolese musicians held at restaurant maisha park,wazekwa is invited at home by his friend and donor,businessman somi somida and start talking and suddenly koffi arrives as somida had planned secretly to have both at home the same day so that he could advise them to reconcile
wazekwa is reluctant at the beginning and after a good hour of discussion he accepts saluting koffi and they promise in front of somida conflict is over
once the project of maisha park starts,koffi and wazekwa shake hands again  and wazekwa invites koffi in a concert in his quarter of matete
relationship improves between them and they even plan a featuring by the end of 2005 but one incident revives their conflict
in fact,ferre chair de poule joining quartier latin caused controversy as many musicians are against and see it as a disrespect of the promise they made each other of not recruiting anymore musicians coming from their respective bands
koffi defends himself saying that ferre did not come straight from maison mere but rather les marquis,and wazekwa is among those who do not agree and tells koffi that he should stop this habit of recruiting from big groups as it leads to conflicts
 koffi does not appreciates wazekwa's advice  and feels betrayed so he decides he will punish wazekwa
therefore,he starts missing reunions and prepares his revenge against wazekwa,sending spies around wazekwa's rehearsal place to spot the most important musicians of the group
meanwhile,wazekwa goes to europe to discuss with producers about future album que demande le peuple,cultura musicians are in studio recording their songs as wazekwa planned to add only one song to allow cultura musicians more freedom
once the "spying mission" is done,koffi approaches wazekwa's bodyguards and office members to contact the musicians he needs
he invests almost 100 000 dollars in the "destroy wazekwa operation" as he buys a car,a nice house plus a good fee(thousands of dollars) for 3 years contracts
4 of the 8 musicians approached and a bodyguard accept koffi's offer late in the night of a certain tuesday,whereas the same day earlier they were mocking koffi on tv
on wednesday,those guys go on tv as quartier latin musicians and start attacking wazekwa who was watching interview at home a furiously arrives there to sort things with them face to face
following that incident,koffi,wazekwa and journalist djo k are banned from tv for 6 months
another incident happens between both camps as wazekwa's musicians are beaten during a concert in lemba,koffi's area and wazekwa himself escapes death thanks to bodyguards
in quartier latin,former cultura lead guitarist and arranger hono kapanga is assaulted in strange conditions,even though it seemed obvious the attack came from cultura its yet to be proved that it was them,or if it actually came from koffi's camp
in fact,hono kapanga filed a complaint against wazekwa but lost the process as he lacked proof to back his claims
wazekwa had decided meanwhile to completely rework que demande le peuple so that all the work from the 4 who left is erased,and he is determined to prove koffi that he can't destroy him by taking main musicians
the result is impressive,with a very good generique and the dance"mutu ya liboma aliaka na fulu" which is a massive success in kinshasa and DRC,this album is so far the best for wazekwa in term of sales aswell
he announces from that album there will never be wazekwa solo albums again as he wants to let musicians shine
wazekwa reaches another dimension,starting to have immense crowds at concerts,having 50 or 100 dollars VIP concerts and so on,album is a great success despite censorship of the song que demande le peuple where he explains all what people from congolese population need to be happy is enough money to eat,dress,send their children at school..
many authorities do not appreciate and the tv's assistant director who used to show the clip on tv is fired as the political side of the song does not please them
cultura then goes on to record la chevre de monsieur seguin (the title in french is the story of a goat which was eaten by a wolf because of having left cowshed against the desire of shepherd) which is alluding to joss diena and co who joined koffi thinking the grass was greener there and ended up badly treated
koffi was mocking wazekwa for never performing in prestigious halls like olympia,zenith in several interviews,wazekwa did not rush to respond koffi he tooks 3 years to prepare his first concert in a prestigious hall,making sure he had enough popular songs to offer a great show
on 11 april 2009,wazekwa joins the group of the rare congolese musicians to have performed at olympia along with the legend rochereau,king kester,jb mpiana,adolphe dominguez,fally ipupa...in difficult conditions
in fact,days and weeks before the concert,koffi had paid some guys to steal some original concert posters then modify it adding that concert is cancelled and spread in streets of paris
even worse,the day of concert, the same guys are at tramway and metro stations near olympia telling to go back home because there is no concert
nevertheless,wazekwa performs and delivers a great show which wins award of the best show of 2009 at ndule awards
another sign of koffi-wazekwa conflict was koffi giving his singer babia the very same jacket wazekwa wore at that concert so that he could belittle it
one year after,he releases album memoire ya nzambe feat lutumba simaro and with the dances isseyi,zala na mbangu and likelele very appreciated and plans his first concert at zenith(as for him it was logical to confirm himself as a top artist by performing in zenith) but he struggles to promote that album because the sweden affair re-appears
in fact belgian authorities sent several court sommuns but wazekwa did not receive them as he switched houses several times over the years so the first adress they had was not good anymore
they agreed he would be jailed should one musician remain in europe during two years and wazekwa is fined 55 000 euros which he pays quickly
the day  of the process,koffi goes on tv and drinks a cup of champagne as he thinks wazekwa will be jailed
the promotion of zenith is also troublesome due to the process,as there is uncertainty over the presence of cultura musicians,despite wazekwa repeating everywhere that he had been promised they would get visas
but one week before concert,still no visasa,wazekwa is in europe and thinks about a plan b with europe musicians like thierry mogratana,junior wendo and co
one day before concert,cultura musicians try a last attempt to get visas but despite the help of very important personalities they fail to get it
wazekwa then has to present a show prepared in a week,whereas he had prepared show in kinshasa during 7 months
the day of concert,even though the hall was not full,there was an incident which made the actually smaller that it was before the beginning of concert
in fact,a bomb alert was given to police from an unidentified person and police had to arrive at zenith and check every inch of zenith during two hours,which pissed many fans who went back home,of course that anonymous bomb alert was suspected to be coming from koffi's camp
only his true friends and some fans who came from kinshasa and america remained to watch the concert which was good considering the conditions,but he could not hide emotion as he cried on stage
one year after he releases maxi single haut les mains with dances nova danca,boma ngungi,ba piqué crise..and more recently in 2013 released adamu na eva
felix wazekwa currently works on future album i love you and also two songs for his sponsor primus

merci mingi archos, this is what I wanted. Clarify the involvement of Vicky Kibambi in Culture, did they have equal membership when culture started? what influenced the name culture? One point I have learned over the time is that these musicians don't just wake up one day and become who they are. I mean Jos Diena before joining Wazekwa was already a band leader and Eboa Lotin was already in a performing band under Kibambi!! It takes a process to be known in music now I believe. Once again Thank you archos.

vicky helped wazekwa recruit musicians,he is like a co-founder of the group somehow but was given discipline role while joss was chef d'orchestre
the name cultura means african culture,and that was wazekwa's idea,vicky proposed a name with musica but wazekwa said there was already wenge and viva with musica so he wanted something different