This was a promising band but unfortunately bad luck followed them. Had they continued, I think that they would have given fire to not only Papa Wemba but also to Kester Emeneya. In my view, Kester and Wemba were lucky that this band disbanded.
They actually gave Papa Wemba fire from day 1 when they created the band, after that reunion at Viva’s rehearsal place in Paris that made them leave Viva La Musica.
When Nouvelle Generation got created, Wemba lost alot of his donors to them and also a big part of fans. Although Stino and Reddy quickly returning after a few days, when getting pressure from fans and small conflicts, Wemba was still in a dip. Wemba was focused on world-music, but the split made him force to release a solo-album. Congolese people claimed that Wemba was finished, they said that he needed to stop with music and that he was just existing because of Reddy, Stino and Joly Mubiala. The world-music projects weren’t interesting the Congolese community in Europe. It was Reddy’s album Injustice that saved Viva la Musica followed by Stino’s Romeo et Juliette. These albums made Papa Wemba able to breathe. The album Foridoles brought Papa Wemba back in the race, after years long of criticism. However, Nouvelle Generation was still giving him nightmares. The funny thing is that when they were in Viva la Musica, the singers except Luciana were consirered as weak and finished (Fafa de Molokai, Lidjo Kwempa and former chef d'orchestre Jose Fataki). Especially Lidjo Kwempa, because in Kinshasa he was Viva's main star (1983-87) and when rejoining the band in 1988 in Europe after that Bozi brought him with Anti-Choc. He wasn't the same anymore and Stino & Reddy then being the main star while in Kinshasa, they were both invisible.
The album Porokondo of Nouvelle Generation was a huge hit at that time and Luciana’s solo album Vigilance was still hot. In the song Monimambu they dissed Papa Wemba very hard. Until this former Viva-fanatics remind Lidjo Kwempa about that, when Lidjo decided return to Viva in 1998, fans kept attacking him about the song.
the comparison to Michael Jackson and Johnny Hallyday isn’t fair lol.
from 4:58 min
“Michael Jackson boboto etonda ye, atinda ba kisi na Somalie, yo kutu rien. Michael Jackson motema mawa. Ye kutu asalisaka na bana ba bola” “Johnny Hallyday aleki yo, Manu Dibangu kutu asalisa yo. Koluka te welisa ba titres honoriphique. Oweli na mikili, keba oko zonga ghetto”
The thing that killed the band was Lidjo Kwempa’s & Awilo’s departure after the fara-fara against Viva la Musica. If u listen to Porokondo and compare it to this album “Nyata Binzeti” you can feel a huge difference. Djenna and Lidjo left a huge void and Simolo’s way of drumming compared to Awilo is totally different . Also the songs aren’t that good like their first album. Just 2 or 3, the rest are mweeh. The fire was gone. ntil this day Lidjo claims that it was Mere Malou’s French husband who used to be police-officer, that made him getting deported to Kinshasa.
King Kester Emeneya was already finished after the succes of Nzinzi. He started to get humilated by the press in the years 1988-1991 and the press starting to compare him to the upcoming Wenge Musica. Primus started to doubt about him and started organising fara-fara concerts against Wenge Musica in the 24 areas of Kinshasa. But Emeneya was lucky that he had a loyal fanbase, Wenge mostly fans just coming from Bandal, which made him keeping correcting Wenge 4x4 in those concerts and earning the nickame "Ya Mukolo oleki bango (Wenge)".
Him going to Europe in 1991 brought Emeneya back into the race with those 3 confrontations against Viva la Musica at LSC, Villejuif and le Bataclan (Back then if you were claiming to be n1 or wanted to prove someone that you are better, they would confront the bands by organising a double-concert on the same stage and not sending Manicke or journalists to insult artists). Emeneya then released an album called Djo Kester which had remixes of his old hits. The album was a succes at time. But he started to lose it when he released his solo-album Everybody in 1993. People not liking the music-style and saying that he was killing his music. Many people also going far that he was killing his own band Victoria Eleison by hiring session musicians from Liberia, Cameroon and the French West-Indies and mix them together in concerts. Emeneya was really hurt about it and would sometimes refer to it when being asked by people why he didn’t continue with the Nzinzi-style. Anyway, from 1993 until Emeneya’s return to Kinshasa in 1997 was dark years for Emeneya. Nouvelle Generation at that time, did a fara-fara against Victoria Eleison. They then disrespected Emeneya openly on the mic, for being mad that they had to start (Normally, it is the youngest band starting and the oldest one ending it).
In their eyes they had to start to finish, since because of Emeneya not more being on the top. Some people were not happy with it and said that the succes went to their head. When it was the time to confront Papa Wemba at LSC, they went on stage as last band. But this time Awilo and Lidjo didn’t show up for conflicts that occurred during the preparations and Djenna being sick at home. After the concert, people claimed and rumors were spread that Papa Wemba finished the band with witchcraft. Years later, Lidjo Kwempa would make multiple interviews about it and explaining why he and Awilo decided to not show up at that show.
