If you remember guys i had made a post about the story behind wazekwa's olympia,and in the last weeks came back to my memories the story of his attempted african tour before that concert
joss gabanna hono cafe etienne and co had left already and wazekwa who was made aware of my going through start of depression and not seeing outside for a straight 45 days called me to invite me to kin to live with him for some time,which i accepted
and few days after he started advising me to try to continue pursuing my dream of being a manager for a congolese artist and i told him that i had an uncle who had studied in france with some guys who had gone back to africa to be promoters  and i got them in touch
and we managed to have 4 deals,one for ivory coast,one for togo,one for benin and a playback in nigeria
 and we started preparing it completely outside kinshasa,on the way to kisantu, as wazekwa feared being sent spies to poach new musicians as it had happened before the loss of gesac and co  and all went well
we had to start with ivory coast and since wazekwa was nervous he asked to have soundcheck early in the morning and it all went okay and musicians went back  and 5 hours before concert  wazekwa tried to call promoter  to ask to take musicians on a tour in the city to discover ,and phone was off  until 1 hour before concert and he receives a text message telling him that concert cant happen anymore because it would upset relationship with other congolese artist
and we had then to find a solution to go to next tour date in togo,there was 22 musicians and we had not planned it like that at all,wazekwa then called jb  who had experience of tours  and jb told him to go to see some people there in abidjan and he ended up having to pay just 5 tickets and we landed in togo and were taken to sarakawa hotel one of their two nicest then,and were well welcomed and we were hopeful that things would be different
and once again the day of concert ya felly(felix) asked to have soundcheck early which we did then musicians went back to their rooms except eclipse who went downstairs at swimming pool and restaurant,he was very at ease since he was fluent in french
then 4 hours before concert promoter called ya felly and myself in some sort of VIP reunion room of the hotel and started telling us  how he liked congolese music and how he was impressed as he had been told that he wrote a couple of hits for koffi and papa wemba and that he had won kora,we chatted about various things then the guy with a change of tone,very low like he wanted to say something secret, and started asking wazekwa if he knew what he could to do get up to 3 times the contract they had agreed (which would become like 30k ) and wazekwa said yes give you a great show and he stood and started walking around and laughing and telling wazekwa i see that you got no experience in tours,then he sat again with a serious face and said you know what your congolese colleagues when they come  they give us their dancers and if we are happy in bed we give them up to 10 times their contract and wazekwa shouts " quoi?moi mes danseuses?vous etes serieux?"(what?my dancers? are you serious?)
And the guy insists starting to give examples of various artists and wazekwa removes his glasses and tells him" look at my eyes do i look like somebody doing this type of things" the guy laughs and said "come on now you are congolese artist you know how it is you guys' dancers are too exciting with their curves come on now dont act like you dont know" wazekwa punches the glass table in front of him out of anger and leaves the room while i am there apologising  to hotel people for him breaking the table and offering to pay something to repair and i run to follow him in room with musicians  and he calls them all to go downstairs at the swimming pool and snooker  and he tells them listen i think we wont perform anymore these guys are not serious and some musicians ask why and he then sits and struggles to find words to explain that the guys wanted  him to offer his 4 dancers before getting his first part of money and to his surprise most musicians including dancers themselves seem not to understand his choice as they are desperate to go back to kin with that pride of having toured abroad and getting some money too
wazekwa is so furious that he leaves and goes and locks his door for a while ,then myself eclipse concorde and vicky nasdaq spend a good while  to try to explain to musicians why its the best thing to do  and he comes back  and says to the dancers "you really think i refuse you wearing crazy outfits then to offer you to people like a piece of meat?its up to you if we go back to kin if you want to go where you can do like other dancers you are free,because i am like your father and i know your concern is that you see your colleagues from other groups going on tours and coming with gifts and money,but is that really the way you want to earn it?" and he  goes again saying i need to pray before making a last decision
While  guitarists are starting to plug their guitars in front of an empty hall he comes and says sorry guys we are leaving here  its not possible  and he gives phone call to promoter saying he has to go  and they are clean anyways since he has not received a single penny  the producer tries to follow him at airport  and tell him he is willing to up to 50k to which wazekwa says no thanks and pays a penalty to anticipate return we head to nigeria for the playback which went very well but unfortunately i  missed out due to flu and stress and he was telling me that he was introduced to an artist there i am forgetting his name it had daddy in it,it seems like the guy did not make it very viral like davido and co
then we were off to benin and we arrive and there is an hostile welcome surely due to  what unfortunately happened at koffi's concert(which is not koffi's fault before i get misunterpreted)
nevertheless the concert happens until by the second song bonjour monsieur the instruments start messing up badly then while technicians Try to correct the issues promoter takes me and wazekwa and starts talking about dancer olga tall with nice curves and making allusions and wazekwa looks at me like not again and goes to toilet  then to his room musicians will perform one generique  then sound messes again as  heavy rain is starting so the concert stops and the promoters invite us to reunion room to offer us possibility of another concert with upgraded  contract to the condition that olga and ursulle are given to him to have fun and wazekwa stands and says" dont even finish your sentence,thank you goodbye" and of course musicians are not really understanding and are moaning and  he decides to pay them 250 dollars each to calm them down despite having barely performed like planned
and we go bck to kinshasa and one at airport musicians will find back full happiness as they are welcomed at airport by somebody sent by cardozo muamba with 650 dollars for each musicians  and the same day a couple of new musicians of the group will decide to go on tv to boast about tour like other musicians do and party in nightclub later
while i go to my room in wazekwa's house feeling very guilty of having introduced him to people who upset him and i kept apologising the whole weekend while he kept saying its not my fault

It is indeed very difficult for a clean musician to make it in the business.

If it isn't the musician's dancers it is being ripped off.

I remember some time back in the 90's the group Loketo came to perform in Nairobi at a very popular cultural venue. We all trooped in, paid and patiently waited as the opening concert did their thing. After the opening act finished, the Loketo musician started  tuning and mike checks. Suddenly all the power and lights went off, pitch darkness for one hour.

In the dark, rumours started flying that the group has gone, the promoter is nowhere to be seen (literary!).

After one and half hours we gave up and trooped home.

This is the bane of most musicians in Africa : if you cannot compromise, you will suffer.

Mad respect to Wazekwa Felix.

My respect for Wazekwa went even higher than it was and I didn’t think that was possible. That was so nice of him to invite you to live with him and help you pursue your dream. 

If you remember guys i had made a post about the story behind wazekwa's olympia,and in the last weeks came back to my memories the story of his attempted african tour before that concert
joss gabanna hono cafe etienne and co had left already and wazekwa who was made aware of my going through start of depression and not seeing outside for a straight 45 days called me to invite me to kin to live with him for some time,which i accepted
and few days after he started advising me to try to continue pursuing my dream of being a manager for a congolese artist and i told him that i had an uncle who had studied in france with some guys who had gone back to africa to be promoters  and i got them in touch
and we managed to have 4 deals,one for ivory coast,one for togo,one for benin and a playback in nigeria
 and we started preparing it completely outside kinshasa,on the way to kisantu, as wazekwa feared being sent spies to poach new musicians as it had happened before the loss of gesac and co  and all went well
we had to start with ivory coast and since wazekwa was nervous he asked to have soundcheck early in the morning and it all went okay and musicians went back  and 5 hours before concert  wazekwa tried to call promoter  to ask to take musicians on a tour in the city to discover ,and phone was off  until 1 hour before concert and he receives a text message telling him that concert cant happen anymore because it would upset relationship with other congolese artist
and we had then to find a solution to go to next tour date in togo,there was 22 musicians and we had not planned it like that at all,wazekwa then called jb  who had experience of tours  and jb told him to go to see some people there in abidjan and he ended up having to pay just 5 tickets and we landed in togo and were taken to sarakawa hotel one of their two nicest then,and were well welcomed and we were hopeful that things would be different
and once again the day of concert ya felly(felix) asked to have soundcheck early which we did then musicians went back to their rooms except eclipse who went downstairs at swimming pool and restaurant,he was very at ease since he was fluent in french
then 4 hours before concert promoter called ya felly and myself in some sort of VIP reunion room of the hotel and started telling us  how he liked congolese music and how he was impressed as he had been told that he wrote a couple of hits for koffi and papa wemba and that he had won kora,we chatted about various things then the guy with a change of tone,very low like he wanted to say something secret, and started asking wazekwa if he knew what he could to do get up to 3 times the contract they had agreed (which would become like 30k ) and wazekwa said yes give you a great show and he stood and started walking around and laughing and telling wazekwa i see that you got no experience in tours,then he sat again with a serious face and said you know what your congolese colleagues when they come  they give us their dancers and if we are happy in bed we give them up to 10 times their contract and wazekwa shouts " quoi?moi mes danseuses?vous etes serieux?"(what?my dancers? are you serious?)
And the guy insists starting to give examples of various artists and wazekwa removes his glasses and tells him" look at my eyes do i look like somebody doing this type of things" the guy laughs and said "come on now you are congolese artist you know how it is you guys' dancers are too exciting with their curves come on now dont act like you dont know" wazekwa punches the glass table in front of him out of anger and leaves the room while i am there apologising  to hotel people for him breaking the table and offering to pay something to repair and i run to follow him in room with musicians  and he calls them all to go downstairs at the swimming pool and snooker  and he tells them listen i think we wont perform anymore these guys are not serious and some musicians ask why and he then sits and struggles to find words to explain that the guys wanted  him to offer his 4 dancers before getting his first part of money and to his surprise most musicians including dancers themselves seem not to understand his choice as they are desperate to go back to kin with that pride of having toured abroad and getting some money too
wazekwa is so furious that he leaves and goes and locks his door for a while ,then myself eclipse concorde and vicky nasdaq spend a good while  to try to explain to musicians why its the best thing to do  and he comes back  and says to the dancers "you really think i refuse you wearing crazy outfits then to offer you to people like a piece of meat?its up to you if we go back to kin if you want to go where you can do like other dancers you are free,because i am like your father and i know your concern is that you see your colleagues from other groups going on tours and coming with gifts and money,but is that really the way you want to earn it?" and he  goes again saying i need to pray before making a last decision
While  guitarists are starting to plug their guitars in front of an empty hall he comes and says sorry guys we are leaving here  its not possible  and he gives phone call to promoter saying he has to go  and they are clean anyways since he has not received a single penny  the producer tries to follow him at airport  and tell him he is willing to up to 50k to which wazekwa says no thanks and pays a penalty to anticipate return we head to nigeria for the playback which went very well but unfortunately i  missed out due to flu and stress and he was telling me that he was introduced to an artist there i am forgetting his name it had daddy in it,it seems like the guy did not make it very viral like davido and co
then we were off to benin and we arrive and there is an hostile welcome surely due to  what unfortunately happened at koffi's concert(which is not koffi's fault before i get misunterpreted)
nevertheless the concert happens until by the second song bonjour monsieur the instruments start messing up badly then while technicians Try to correct the issues promoter takes me and wazekwa and starts talking about dancer olga tall with nice curves and making allusions and wazekwa looks at me like not again and goes to toilet  then to his room musicians will perform one generique  then sound messes again as  heavy rain is starting so the concert stops and the promoters invite us to reunion room to offer us possibility of another concert with upgraded  contract to the condition that olga and ursulle are given to him to have fun and wazekwa stands and says" dont even finish your sentence,thank you goodbye" and of course musicians are not really understanding and are moaning and  he decides to pay them 250 dollars each to calm them down despite having barely performed like planned
and we go bck to kinshasa and one at airport musicians will find back full happiness as they are welcomed at airport by somebody sent by cardozo muamba with 650 dollars for each musicians  and the same day a couple of new musicians of the group will decide to go on tv to boast about tour like other musicians do and party in nightclub later
while i go to my room in wazekwa's house feeling very guilty of having introduced him to people who upset him and i kept apologising the whole weekend while he kept saying its not my fault

Would you be open to working with Wazekwa again? It seems like you two still have good relations

It seems that Wazekwa is not a complicated artist to manage. Compared to other leaders, Wazekwa is just not used to the showbiz's world but with a little more management I think he can adapt to this world and and have big opportunities, its not too late

Was/Is he still a member of Jehovah's Witnesses?

Enough respect to him for not falling into the shady business of pimping of other people's daughters in the name of being dancers.

From what you have written I take it a managers job is hard especially in Africa where there are a lot of shady promoters/producers.

Was/Is he still a member of Jehovah's Witnesses?

Enough respect to him for not falling into the shady business of pimping of other people's daughters in the name of being dancers.

From what you have written I take it a managers job is hard especially in Africa where there are a lot of shady promoters/producers.

My dad worked with him when he came London. My dad Used to do his media things, worked with few.

I remember when I saw that Christian couple come to our flat. Theyre called couple buloba.

And Felix Wazekwa I remember he used to come London to visit my uncle. Because they grew up as Jehovah witness, don't know if he still is but I need to ask my uncle if he's still in touch with Felix.

he still is but not involved as in the past him (and his big bro karmapa) were excluded from jehowah witness over their choice of doing music as their profession instead of bank as they had started but he still has some strict principles  which are surely theirs
for example he is 58 soon,but has never celebrated a birthday for him its a random day

Wazekwa is a strong man, if not promoters wanting his dancers then they do poor promotion to his concerts. I think Wazekwa needs to professionalize his marketing team. Let other people handle other issues and him left to think of performance. When you are left to chase promoters everywhere and think of performing at the same time then you get exhausted.

But let me ask you archos, Isn't it good practice to have the promoter pay half the contract fee even before the artiste leaves Congo?

yes indeed,but by the way all those experience have lead to him not being too interested in touring abroad anymore unless he funds a part of it himself,he makes far more money outside music with his private business than in music so unlike other guys he is not obsessed at all costs to tour abroad
cafe etienne who used to be the man doing that is slowly getting back in good terms with him so maybe he'll take that role again in the future