Gina Efongé, Lokua Kanza, Bozi Boziana, Delvis Salsero, Luciana Demingongo, Stino Mubi, Fafa de Molokai, Thythy le Vallois, Wuta Mayi, Wabalonzo, Faya Tess, Abby Suria & Céline Cheynut from the West-Indies.Koffi is/was still on the top because he knew how to adapt to eras with his albums. He left his original tchatcho style to make kwassa-kwassa/ndombolo (1990s) and to leave ndombolo music to make rumba/modern tchatcho (2000s). Also the many beefs he had with artists who were on the top. Them being stupid to put alot of energy in reacting on Koffi provocations. They were all claiming that they would finish Koffi but on the end it were them who got finished and Koffi still being there. If the competition in Congolese music was the same like back in the days Koffi would have been finished. The competition being low makes him still survive and rely already for 4 years on Papa Mobimba.
Wym about competition being the same like back in the days? By the way do you think that if Koffi felt that he was about to be forgotten right now, would have adapted to the current Kinsahsa House/Afro House trend? Because on the other side Zaiko never adapted to modern times but they are still strong after more then 50 years of activity.Back in the days artists used to release every year top-albums. 1 or 2 flops in a row could already mean your grave in the Congolese music-world. Like Adolphe for example, Affaire Mouna was so/so and in no time Wazekwa passed him. He had a dance to be back on the race, but he missed that opportunity because of his album Jugement Dernier "25 Minutes" flopping. If you would miss out for 1 or 2 years on the market as Congolese artist it would immediatly have effect on your succes. Good example is King Kester Emeneya. He was back in the race after Stade des Martyrs and Mboka Mboka but it took him 2 years to release Longue Histoire after Mboka Mboka in meantime his fans started to get impatient and those who were young decided to move towards Werrason. Spokemen King Tekila used to be a Emeneya-fanatic before joining Maison Mère. JB Mpiana was lucky that he had a solid fanbase and feeling sorry for the way he was blocked in Kinshasa because of having alot of enemies in both music and politics. His sponsor Bralima/Primus started to doubt of him. If he didn't release the single Pelisa Ngwasuma in 2003 they could have cut or change his contract. Him not listening to his fanatics made a few years later, a part who were young and only wanting to be on the winning side going to Ferre Gola and a part to Fally Ipupa, when the G-5 Revolution started. Zaiko is a legendary band. Nothing can break them because they have a solid fanbase. Most fans being +60 years +70s years old and always thinking back about nostalgia and them not having anything to prove the public a point like Bana Ok back in the days. Also it is not that Zaiko had only succes from the start until this day. There were multiple times that they were in a big dip. Its their past that makes them exist and when a single or album hitting the topcharts them in no-time being back. For example the period of Sans Issue (1996) which flopped followed by Backline Lesson One (1997) until Nous Y Sommes (1998) which brought their succes back. Another example is the period when they got stuck in Europe because of Nyoka Longo's problems with justice (2003-2009). Multiple articles being written about Zaiko being dead, what Zaiko would be without Nyoka Longo, etc. Then when Zaiko finally returned the succes didn't return immediatly. It came back when their concert at GHK (2010/11) got on the market where they presented the new dance "Vimba" and the release of EP Bande Annonce bringing back where they were. The lack of new dances of huge impact in other bands made Zaiko dominate for like 3 years in Kinshasa with DVD/videos of their concerts being huge succes (FIKIN 2012 & Masina 2013), with the dance Maman Siska in 2012 & Voler n'est pas Bon in 2013. Since that there's no sebene-band anymore, even youngster started to dance Zaiko from 2012-13 at parties. The old generation now even complaining that they dont have a moment for themselves at parties/weddings, because of the dancefloor always being full. Something that nobody could imagine 15/20 years ago. Because youngsters would never dance on Zaiko which was/is seen as a band of old people. Them only dancing on Clan Wenge, Quartier Latin and Nouvelle Ecriture. Zaiko now doesn't have to release anything with pressure. It took them 8 years to release Sève. Before Nyoka Longo joining Socoda, Zaiko was always booked to perform every week from thursday to sunday. Koffi Olomide in Legend adapted on Tokoos music by making multiple featerings with Davido, Tiwa Savage, Ninho. Which is/was on vogue in Kinshasa for several years next to Nigerian music. The new generation is mostly listening to French-speaking artists living in Europe (Damso, Ninho, Aya Nakamura, Dadju, etc.). Legend is not a project of today. It's just that it took some time for him to get it on the market. If he would work on an album today it would surely be on the rhythm of Brazza-music and the new tchatcho rumba.
After Mboka-Mboka Emeneya went to resettle in Europe, because his vision was not live in Kinshasa. It were btw his fans in Kinshasa pushed him to return in 1997 and Mambo de Panama who recruited his musicians. Like in 1997, in 1999 people pushed him to return back to Kinshasa saying that he could not let the succes of Mboka-Mboka go away like that. When going back to Kinshasa he started to prepare Longue Histoire. After that he went back to Europe with the prerecording and producers who wanted to produce his album, wanting to release the album for summer 1999. However, when meeting those producers he disagreed with the amount of money they wanted to give and the contracts. So he decided like Mboka Mboka to do the album on his own with his friends. In meantime he released the EP "Never Again Plus Jamais" which flopped. After that he went again to Kinshasa to finish the album, adding the new dance Kiwanzenza, the songs going from 13 to 15 tracks. When coming back to Europe, his staff in Kinshasa said that there was a new dance called "Tchaku-Libondas". Emeneya didn't want to miss the opportunity to not have that dance in his album like in Mboka-Mboka (when finishing Mboka Mboka there was a new dance called "Pain na Pain" which all bands danced but Victoria Eleison being the first to make the dance known. However they weren't able to put the cri in the album because of the album already being mixed which made them only dance it in the clips). After getting the call Emeneya went once again back to Kinshasa to add those cri's in the album and adding 3 new songs (Basali Nteke, But na Filet, etc.). This made the album being released in June 2000 after postponing the release date for 1 year (everytime he kept pushing it for 3 months). People had first doubts before the album came out, but when it came out it took Kinshasa by storm and it used to be n1 in the musicharts of historic panafrican radio Africa N1.
Probably because he didn't had money to let them return back to Kinshasa. Often bandleaders abandon their musicians in African countries when they are scammed by concert-promoters or when a concert goes wrong. The bandmembers (and dancers if they are present) collect money by getting sidechicks (dancers finding a boss) or finding someone with a good heart and them paying tickets on their own to return back to Kinshasa. But the musicians of Victoria were not being able to do that, having an angry CEO of a hotel wanted his money back and still believing that Emeneya would return and bring them to the US but him ending up by staying for like 6 months abroad. Because before things went wrong Emeneya told them that they would perform in Kenya first before joining Guy Moller and co who were abadoned in the US (the question is if he would really let his musicians go the US and him also having the problem with the tourpromoter of the US because of not respectingthe contract and running away without giving any concert). Emeneya and Victoria didn't enjoy the succes of Longue Histoire which is really sad because they spent all the time abroad when the album had crazy succes in Kinshasa. The hype of the album was already over when they came back, because back then Force de Frappe & A La Une came out. They did one concert at Cinemax after 8 months of absence but nobody showed up because of bad promotion and those newspapers again writting bad about Emeneya. But they quickly erased that bad image by performing the following week at a packed YMCA. There was alot of frustation in the band because of hard times they went through in Kenya and Tanzania. Also because they were meant to perform at La Madeleine in Brussels and tour in Europe which was organised by tourpromoter José Kapesa, them having to join Europe from Tanzania where they were staying. But Emeneya decided to cancel the tour on the last minute and all bandmember being mad. When coming back to Kinshasa there was still alot of frustration and they were paid peannuts/nothing for the time they spent abroad. The trip Emeneya did in 2001 to Europe was to finish the clips of Longue Histoire and bring them on the market also to sign new contracts for upcoming tour but he ending up by staying months long. In meantime some of his musicians decided to leave the band. When Emeneya finally signed the contract for Zenith those who left didn't believe it and thought that it was to lure them back. Emeneya himself returned two months prior to Zenith back to Kinshasa, to prepare the show and recruit news musicians. He did his best to convince all members who decided to leave to come back. But they kept all refusing, even when their parents, girlfriends or familymembers got involved. When they would accept the offer they always getting lured back into Dream Team.
Yes, his ex’wife Liliane used to live in France along with her children and the children Emeneya had with his first wife Francine (Afimiko, Yannick and Samantha). Btw Liliane’s dauthger Marily Emenya got recently married to JB Mpiana’s son Abraham. Here you can see Emeneya with his two sons Kevin & Miles Emeneya in a barbershop when being interviewed by Addy Londolefrom 27:25 minKevin Emeneya sadly became paralysed in war of Afghanistan. He was shown in a documentary on the French television. Miles Emeneya often appears in anniversaries of Emeneya death to represent the children. He also appeared a few times in the media to attack Lolo Mutima. I dont think that his ex’wife Liliane pushed him to stay in Europe. I think that Emeneya himself was not really motivated to spent a lot time in Kinshasa to fight against Papa Wemba, Koffi Olomidé and co for the n1 spot although making alot of noise on tv. But the same Emeneya would a few years later ending up by spending more time in Kinshasa than Europe. Emeneya was barely touring abroad when being in Congo. He was mostly spending time in Kinshasa. He was not the only one, most of these Kinshasa-based artists were spending most of the time in Kinshasa. In a year they would apart Brazzaville just go to 1 or 2 african countries in a year (on rare occasion 3 in a year). It were only Koffi Olomidé and Defao who would go to multiple African countries. Apart from the concerts in Kenya, Tanzania & Zambia in 2000. Emeneya only went to Mbanza-Kongo in Angola and Brazzaville in 2001. In 1999 he gave a concert in Pointe Noire.You will never go forwards financially by performing in Kinshasa. Some of these concerts in the early 2000s were organized by bandleaders themselves to still exist. It were those tours in Europe, the ngulu’s and donors/fans of Europe that were saving bandleaders and the big amount of money they were getting from diamond businessmen based in Lunda. Its only when giving concerts at l’Esplanade de Palais du Peuple, Stade 20 Mai or Stade des Martyrs that there were opportunities to get some big money. Most of these concerts also generated peanuts. In the era of LD Kabila, most artists didn’t had contracts anymore with beercompanies like Unibra (Bracongo later) and Bralima like it used to be in time of Zaire, them only collaborating for some shows. Its from 2003 that it started to come back and bandleaders being able to breathe a little bit more, especially that the success of europe-tours started to become less.
Quote from: Mfumu Vata on May 31, 2023, 01:49Yes, his ex’wife Liliane used to live in France along with her children and the children Emeneya had with his first wife Francine (Afimiko, Yannick and Samantha). Btw Liliane’s dauthger Marily Emenya got recently married to JB Mpiana’s son Abraham. Here you can see Emeneya with his two sons Kevin & Miles Emeneya in a barbershop when being interviewed by Addy Londolefrom 27:25 minKevin Emeneya sadly became paralysed in war of Afghanistan. He was shown in a documentary on the French television. Miles Emeneya often appears in anniversaries of Emeneya death to represent the children. He also appeared a few times in the media to attack Lolo Mutima. I dont think that his ex’wife Liliane pushed him to stay in Europe. I think that Emeneya himself was not really motivated to spent a lot time in Kinshasa to fight against Papa Wemba, Koffi Olomidé and co for the n1 spot although making alot of noise on tv. But the same Emeneya would a few years later ending up by spending more time in Kinshasa than Europe. Emeneya was barely touring abroad when being in Congo. He was mostly spending time in Kinshasa. He was not the only one, most of these Kinshasa-based artists were spending most of the time in Kinshasa. In a year they would apart Brazzaville just go to 1 or 2 african countries in a year (on rare occasion 3 in a year). It were only Koffi Olomidé and Defao who would go to multiple African countries. Apart from the concerts in Kenya, Tanzania & Zambia in 2000. Emeneya only went to Mbanza-Kongo in Angola and Brazzaville in 2001. In 1999 he gave a concert in Pointe Noire.You will never go forwards financially by performing in Kinshasa. Some of these concerts in the early 2000s were organized by bandleaders themselves to still exist. It were those tours in Europe, the ngulu’s and donors/fans of Europe that were saving bandleaders and the big amount of money they were getting from diamond businessmen based in Lunda. Its only when giving concerts at l’Esplanade de Palais du Peuple, Stade 20 Mai or Stade des Martyrs that there were opportunities to get some big money. Most of these concerts also generated peanuts. In the era of LD Kabila, most artists didn’t had contracts anymore with beercompanies like Unibra (Bracongo later) and Bralima like it used to be in time of Zaire, them only collaborating for some shows. Its from 2003 that it started to come back and bandleaders being able to breathe a little bit more, especially that the success of europe-tours started to become less. Do those artist today still enjoy those contracts with beer companies like Primus, Skol, and so on? I don't think any of the recent concerts were sponsored by them. I haven't seen songs like Tindika Lokito or Pelisa Ngwasuma since Extra Musica had their collaboration with that water company.
Going back to the topic. I noticed that tribute tracks who are recorded in days/weeks after the of a big artists are easily forgotten compared to tribute tracks who are done 2/3/4 years after it.Seeing the backcover which is a picture of the event Megaconcert “Tokufa Pona Congo” at Stade des Martyrs, made me really being curious to see that video. It’s the first time for me to see the picture. You can see Werrason with the priest robe he wore on the cover of Intervention Rapide (I heard someone saying that he got it from late Wasenga Kipuni’s father). It’s there where the myth around him started, power of getting welcomed as an hero and getting venues empty when leaving the place. Djuna Mumbafu said in an interview that it was the first event where they performed with Delta Force but Pepe Kallé having to sing on the floor instead of stage because of his weight. But I’m surprised to see him on stage with all singers. Also where is Marie Paul on the picture, his face hidden the guy with glasses (I’m not sure if it’s Makaba) ? That day was a dark page in music-career. I would like to see that famous entrance he did with Werrason that went wrong. I really wonder if the VHS of this event got officially released on the market, the same for Gigaconcert “Hommage à Pépé Kallé” at Stade des Martyrs.
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Topic: Kabesele For Ever (Read 1252 times)
