Rest in Peace Mavuelas “Le Geant Catalogue”. He started to become a great songwriter when Papa Wemba formed Yoka Lokole. The band flopped in the first months, but it became number one the moment Mavuela released his songs and the late Mbuta “Brown” Mashakado joined the band. From then also a leadership war starting of the two guys Mavuela Somo and Yaya Brown again Jules Presley ‘aka Wemba
Mavuelas biggest hit was “Bana Kin” that got him in trouble and indirectly ended his career. The authorities of the MPR-regime and Mobutu himself were thinking that it was about them while it was against Papa Wemba who also sung in the chorus but not being aware about it. The song got censored and Mavuela’s father got fired from work, Mavuela would get multiple problems and not being able to fight Wemba who just formed Viva La Musica. A lot of stuff happened behind the scenes (I recommend you to watch Shora Mukoko’s interview) which made Mavuela on the end decide to settle in Gabon
I was hoping to see Mavuela himself being interview by Marcel Landu or Chouna Mangondo to talk about Zaïko, Isifi Lokole, Yoka Lokole, why DV Moanda rejected him for a return in Zaïko, his exil in Gabon and reason why he became a brother in Christ for a moment. But it sadly never happened. There was an interview of him on Congonumber1 talking about Yoka Lokole and the war against Viva La Musica but it got removed from youtube
Rest In Peace
