PRIVATE LIFE AND PERSONALITY
alain makaba kayele gambe was born on 29th of april in 1968 in kinshasa,son of clément makaba kayele and matapa helene(half dutch half congolese)
he is father of several children and grandfather of 3 grandson and was married to daughter of former gabon's president omar bongo ondimba
Music is something he inherited from his family as his grandfather,mother,brother,daughter and some cousins are/were musicians
alain as a person has two sides,the "home alain" who is quite laid back,is a great fan of politics and geology and alain the musician who is extremely passionate and demanding in any musical projects he gets involved in
like he once said in an interview,musicians are his best friends in daily life but his worst enemies when its about their job because he always wants to get close to perfection and wont hesitate spending months on a song if he feels he has not got the result he wants yet,because for him
reaching perfection is like reaching Heaven so he aims to reach it anytime he does music
he was given the nickname of prince by jb mpiana,as jb considered older guitarists like luambo and co as kings of guitar and alain of the younger generation as their heir, their prince
ROLE MODELS AND DEBUT AS A MUSICIAN
Alain makaba has got a quite wide range of models,starting from pépé felly manuaku waku, roxy tshimpaka,beniko popolipo,huit kilos nseka dimuela,rigo star bamundele, his own friend zing zong alain-luc mwanga aswell as foreign artists george benson,jimi hendrix,wes montgomery,chico buarqué,joao gilberto,carlos santana...
alain listens to almost every type of music and even considers bird singing as a "natural symphony"
aged 3,alain started playing mbonda at parish Saint-Charles in kinshasa,then later started learning piano at school while continuing to impress with his mbonda skills at church and also starts learning drums aswell as harmonica and accordeon with his grandmother
he is sent to a catholic boarding school of notre dame de mbanzaboma in the region of bas-congo where he starts learning seriously guitar alongside his future wenge musica friends didier masela,dédé masolo déno star,jules kibens and co in school group and studies mechanics at school
they perform during week ends and holidays and alain sometimes returns to kinshasa and during a concert at a bar he asks one of the guitar players to hand him guitar for one song and he brilliantly plays and interprets tabu ley's mythic mokolo nakokufa
FROM HIS ARRIVAL IN WENGE MUSICA TO HIS SOLO PROJECTS
When didier masela returns to kinshasa,he creates with werrason,zing zong and aime bwanga the group wenge musica and invites alain makaba to join the group few times after and he really develops his sebene skills alongside zing zong
but since at that time wenge musica is only a group of students playing together for fun in holidays,alain also plays as bassist in the group les shatas alongisde the likes of leopold balongana aka modogo abarambwa or wes koka,one of the first singers of the early days of wenge
later on,he started participating in the group bobongo stars of studio bobongo alongside al nzimbi,shakara mutela...and learned use of synthé and song programming techniques
Those two experiences outside wenge help him continue to improve as an all-round musician,studio engineer and arranger which will prove vital in 1986,as soloist zing zong goes to europe leaving alain makaba role of the lead soloist and master of the group's artistic philosophy
in fact,zing zong was more of victoria eleison's style and makaba of viva la musica's so he mixed both and added to it that "international" flavour he developped in bobongo stars and his own inspiration from zaiko to create the rhythm of wenge musica
when wenge musica start to perform often at olympia bar in their quarter of bandal they start preparing an album and both alain's(zing zong and makaba) are then artistic directors of the group and when zing is settled in europe,makaba will then be the only soloist to play in the first group album mulolo recorded in kinshasa and brazzaville
in that first album bouger bouger aka mulolo released in 1988,alain makaba has one song fisol which will remain forever as one of the classic songs of wenge musica
after recording of first album,alain makaba goes to europe to study jazz and musicology but often returns to kinshasa for concerts
three years after,alain releases another song in the second group album kin e bouger,princesse pathy(sung specially for his girlfriend of then,patricia longomba,younger sister of the then drummer awilo longomba) interpreted by the group lead singer jb mpiana
in the meantime alain had also participated to albums of jp buse and bimi ombalé formerly of zaiko and recorded a second version of the song fisol in the group's third album done in 1992 but released much later
alain is settled in europe while wenge musica is in kinshasa with new soloists maitré ficarré mwamba and burkina faso mbokaliya and when the group arrives in europe in 1993 for a tour and recording of fourth album he releases one song c'est trop tard djenga once again interpreted by jb mpiana who he appreciates a lot a singer and will one day mention in his top 5 singers adding with a bit of humor "when he wants to work"
the group returns to kinshasa and alain remains in europe but is in close contact with them as they prepare another soon after their return
that album will be released in two volumes,les anges adorables vol 1,with alain makaba the only one to release two songs,douglas ilumbe interpreted by jb mpiana and alain mpela aswell as tuna tina jack kitshindja which was meant to be sung by jb on his own but his visa had come to an end so he had to return to kinshasa and alain then did it instead,and les anges adorables vol 2
one year after,in 1995,he decides to release a solo album and starts working on it,and when wenge musica arrive in europe uses jb mpiana,titina alcapone and roberto ekokota only which is not well seen from the rest of the group,whereas alain had just chosed to use few wenge musicians so that his album sounds something different from wenge
thanks to his various session works in europe with a wide range of african and european artists,alain meets cameroonian producer simon ndjonang lowe with his label simon sipe music,and introduces him to other wenge musica members,as he is bound to produce their future group album
the same year,alain makaba participates in the project of wake up with koffi olomide and papa wemba,and what has never been said is that the project started around them 3 and not with makaba just as one session artist
in fact, the original project was 12 songs,with all 3 having 4 songs each but koffi is against it,preferring that album to be fully around him and wemba(switching the song balance to 6 for him and 4 for wemba,with two of them considered as co-composition)
few times later,alain participates to what will be wenge musica's last group album, pentagone,where alain has one song dizoizo,but does not appear in any clip as he remains in europe and the clips done in congo
when after album pentagone,jb mpiana decides to release his solo album,makaba fully supports him in a controversial time as this decision fuels ego wars within the group
from 91 to the group split,makaba often complains about werrason refusing to pay musicians which almost leads two times to musicians threatening to remain in europe to form another band with him as they see him as a better chief
jb's album is released in 1997 and the end of the year the ego wars become impossible to handle despite several negotiations and most musicians follow jb mpiana,alain makaba and bula to create wenge bcbg
they record album titanic in 1998 and alain has one song barrakuda and remains in europe while the group is back in kinshasa
while the group is in kinshasa,they make the band bigger with arrival of reserve musicians like jules kibens,rio kazadi,heritier,chay ngenge,sunda bass...and during one of his visits in kinshasa he notices that change but does not see it as a problem as long as they remain a reserve team of wenge bcbg
the recruitment of those musicians will then be one of the reason of conflict with jb when jb brings most of those reserve musicians on europe tour whereas alain makaba considers that 10 musicians maximum is enough for a tour and also the group is now presented as jb and his wenge bcbg whereas the group was originally a group of 3 administrators
the day of concert of zenith in 1999,alain makaba who is upset arrives late and is told he wont go on stage until the one or two last songs and has a very strong argument with jb mpiana,which is why when he goes on stage he is not the usual alain makaba who smiles,sings and dances while playing guitar but an angry alain who plays with back turned to the crowd and moaning
he leaves the group soon after and remains in europe,and in 2000 helps former wenge musica singer and ex wenge bcbg member aimelia lias in his solo album constat
after that,he settles in gabon where is now married to daughter of president bongo and when there is divorce with her comes back to belgium to continue music and records a second solo album ya ku dominer and also plays guitar in a movie les habits neuf du gouverneur,which features felix wazekwa as the main actor and several other musicians
one year after, he participate as guitarist and arranger in album of mpela brothers bouro and alain,mortel combat
in 2008,when he gets married again,he invites jb as they had reconciled and he disappears until 2010 when a concert is organized by mobile phone company airtel to reunite former wenge musica members
once again,his meticulous nature strikes as he openly criticizes one of the singer who had not rehearsed with them and who forgot many lyrics while on stage
two years after, he comes back to kinshasa with project of building a huge studio with a concert hall next and a production label but he finds the taxes he has to pay for it way too expensive so he postpones his project a bit preferring to have for now a mobile studio and is currently working hard on blaise bula's rendekita and adolphe's tchop tchop as a guitarist and arranger
