Congo Vibes
Music => Congolese Music => Topic started by: Manzambi94 on June 17, 2025, 12:05
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It seems that music With Sebene and or traditional groups who have their main force as Seben are struggling to get the same success Rhumbas, Nigerian Music and Afro Congo/Kin House is getting, I see Seben only being popular in Chrstian Congolese gospel music, both in Europe and in Congo, what is happening? I can imagine there aren't a lot of young kids who wants to learn guitar, and most kids aren't interesting in music either
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It died.
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It’s been dead for nearly 20 years now lol
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It seems that music With Sebene and or traditional groups who have their main force as Seben are struggling to get the same success Rhumbas, Nigerian Music and Afro Congo/Kin House is getting, I see Seben only being popular in Chrstian Congolese gospel music, both in Europe and in Congo, what is happening? I can imagine there aren't a lot of young kids who wants to learn guitar, and most kids aren't interesting in music either
at this rate its painful to admit that it is dead and yes it is. I wish all these musicians knew how much impact seben music had, the atalakus are slowly becoming a myth.
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The funny thing with our artists is that they can all see how crowd go wild when they play proper sebene droit chemin,boite noire generique,loi,kibuisa and co but they prefer doing the self imposed "mood of the moment"
also the way our music became self centered influenced a LOOOOOOT the death of sebene,because there is barely any instrumentist in bands who are giving anywhere near the freedom their elders had,now any of the leader can wake up and decide that they will do an album without generique but do their own dance songs in europe with programmed stuff and so on and nobody can complain,especially as long as it gets clout to brag about
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It’s sad and I feel like Congolese failed to market the sebene in this current day and age.
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which is weird because its very popular with the most attractive market target which is the youth,you can hardly ever scroll on tiktok every day without young guys playing,dancing sebene,they are feeding the youth their other favourite music,which is those urban things to "reach international market"
imagine for example here in france i discovered recently that there cant be a party of people from the comoros island(who have a decent community in france) without loi generique playing,but koffi himself will think that that horrendous remix with programmed stuff is the way to attract them
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Its NOT Dead, BUT Turned to GOSPEL.
Now its more of GOSPEL SEBENE.
Most of the Dances and instrumentalist Turned to Gospel.
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It’s only dead when it comes to making new seben songs. They always love performing the old ones for some reason, but they never seem to want to create a new one on album for some reason. The logic is backwards but I think it’s mostly due to the donors that only want rhumba songs. If one day the donor decides that they want sebene songs, we will end up getting them back.
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Its NOT Dead, BUT Turned to GOSPEL.
Now its more of GOSPEL SEBENE.
Most of the Dances and instrumentalist Turned to Gospel.
All gospel musicians are inspired by the same band: Wenge Maison Mère. Everyone plays the same thing. It just gets noisy and inaudible.
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Its NOT Dead, BUT Turned to GOSPEL.
Now its more of GOSPEL SEBENE.
Most of the Dances and instrumentalist Turned to Gospel.
All gospel musicians are inspired by the same band: Wenge Maison Mère. Everyone plays the same thing. It just gets noisy and inaudible.
Literally, And they also recruit the same type of atalaku aka Bill Clinton photocopy to try sound even more like maison mère.
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Can anyone recommend some gospel artists that play sebene?
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Can anyone recommend some gospel artists that play sebene?
Studio Mezzo, Nk Divine,
https://youtu.be/aAHsKsz90Tc?si=Ar6kgV5ygQLO_m5q
1:23 Studio Mezzo
NK Divine
https://youtu.be/oZQ4tuPHaKA?si=vFJbT8Im_mWdoZeJ
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Its NOT Dead, BUT Turned to GOSPEL.
Now its more of GOSPEL SEBENE.
Most of the Dances and instrumentalist Turned to Gospel.
All gospel musicians are inspired by the same band: Wenge Maison Mère. Everyone plays the same thing. It just gets noisy and inaudible.
One day I will ask Gid why everyone over the age of 30 keep saying that Werra's music is noisy or it is too Makelele I will actually say is less boring then the plain old Sebene
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We the fans also don't know what we want. Lol
Why is it that we sleep on recent albums that has sebene. Case in point 242 album by Extra Musica had a number of sebene songs, Vision album by Nouvele Horizon is has about 3 sebene songs. Same with JB'S Balle de Match album it has some pretty good sebenes but we don't talk about them. It's almost like they don't exist. Maybe that's the reason Balle de Match got that Disc D'or recently because its kind of different from other recent releases.
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We the fans also don't know what we want. Lol
Why is it that we sleep on recent albums that has sebene. Case in point 242 album by Extra Musica had a number of sebene songs, Vision album by Nouvele Horizon is has about 3 sebene songs. Same with JB'S Balle de Match album it has some pretty good sebenes but we don't talk about them. It's almost like they don't exist. Maybe that's the reason Balle de Match got that Disc D'or recently because its kind of different from other recent releases.
Me personally I don’t listen to Extra Musica or Nouvelle Horizon and apart from this forum in real life I don’t know many people that do lol so that’s a different comparison. Balle De Match I listen to those Sebene songs but the album itself wasn’t well promoted apart from Zebuka, I mean how many clips from that album came out?
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Only 4 clips came out
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We the fans also don't know what we want. Lol
Why is it that we sleep on recent albums that has sebene. Case in point 242 album by Extra Musica had a number of sebene songs, Vision album by Nouvele Horizon is has about 3 sebene songs. Same with JB'S Balle de Match album it has some pretty good sebenes but we don't talk about them. It's almost like they don't exist. Maybe that's the reason Balle de Match got that Disc D'or recently because its kind of different from other recent releases.
Me personally I don’t listen to Extra Musica or Nouvelle Horizon and apart from this forum in real life I don’t know many people that do lol so that’s a different comparison. Balle De Match I listen to those Sebene songs but the album itself wasn’t well promoted apart from Zebuka, I mean how many clips from that album came out?
I hear you on the promotion of Balle de Match but my comment was based off the fact that it doesn't matter the promotion people would still prefer Mayday or Visa over Ainsi dit L'eternel of BCBG. This is because that's what the leaders of the current generation are giving us.
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It’s not just about creating sebene songs. It’s about creating GOOD sebene songs. Most of the few that came out in the last few years are just okay.
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We the fans also don't know what we want. Lol
Why is it that we sleep on recent albums that has sebene. Case in point 242 album by Extra Musica had a number of sebene songs, Vision album by Nouvele Horizon is has about 3 sebene songs. Same with JB'S Balle de Match album it has some pretty good sebenes but we don't talk about them. It's almost like they don't exist. Maybe that's the reason Balle de Match got that Disc D'or recently because its kind of different from other recent releases.
Those are albums that I listen recurrently. But we need more like these.
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I have a couple points to touch on regarding this topic:
The truth is not that sebene is completely dead it’s just not as popular secularly anymore. If you go on TikTok, Instagram and YouTube it’s still pretty popular with the youth and there are a lot of young guitarist learning to play different instruments even foreign kids (including myself). The fact of the matter is the legacy of Sebene is carried on in the diaspora with the gospel groups. Even gospel groups in Congo can’t play to the level as the newer groups in France, Belgium etc. They opt to play a style widely regarded to as Feeling popularized by Michel Bakenda and others. The best sebene and in my humble opinion Congolese instrumentalist are in the diaspora in 2025. For example:
The best guitarist in this moment who has influenced a whole new generation with his style and creativity is Manasse Imengo (son of Golly Imengo) based in Paris. He is celebrated by my generation to the extent that his guitar and his sound are an extremely sought after. He has been acknowledged by the likes of Japonais and others.
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DH4DWNsIE0I/?igsh=ZDRzaWJnenB2cno=
The best drummer who has also had the same influence as Manasse is Thierry Cap’s based out of Europe as well. He has influenced a whole generation as well with his style to the extent that there are young drummers that use his name or add it to theirs. He has been acknowledged by Papy Kakol who is regarded to by some as the best ever.
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DJhtBh-tDyg/?igsh=OGVhZnlrY3YzcjB5
There are many others including bass, rhythm guitarist, pianiste, conga players that have also made a big impact.
For Example:
Christian Bombole (Airbag)🎸:
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DKTxlErIgLI/?igsh=Ynk5Yzdlczh0emMy
Jox Diangituka🎸:
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DHO9wcfIrGD/?igsh=YmV4aGZzb3F2bDZy
Pooloow (Paul Kabeya)🎸:
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DFYVsf8tX0T/?igsh=MWJoOGRwZWRicnQxdA==
Chalom Matondo🎸🎹:
https://www.instagram.com/p/DHwDRCKol0J/?igsh=bWRsNWwyMW5sc284
Kenaan Bass🎸:
https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMSah43h4/
Max Maxwell🎸:
https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMSahu2C3/
HNK Solo🎸:
https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMSahbMD5/
Chvrlux Solo🎸;
https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMSahVq6v/
Manu Swing🎸:
https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMSakrN9B/
Jordy🎸:
https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMSak1Vwt/
NK Drum 🥁:
https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMSakSDwj/
Nathan Pongo 🥁:
https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMSakhxgE/
Jemira Mawete 🥁:
https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMSakBQan/
Dordin Rickason 🥁:
https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMSahKd5P/
Nathan le Noir 🥁:
https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMSakr3UU/
Lenny Anderson 🥁:
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DBXG4NEtizL/?igsh=MWRuZzY3cm0zN2RkeQ==
La Criim 🥁:
https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMSaky2jN/
Etinho Synthé🎹:
https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMSakV9bG/
Abdias Synthaboi🎹:
https://www.instagram.com/p/DD7S__QIWpk/?img_index=4&igsh=ZHM5ZDRrdTE4amZy
Beni Mabika🎹:
https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMSakVH3W/
and many more…
Their influence has reached beyond borders and nationalities reaching to Nigerians, South Sudan, Tanzania, Zambia and more. I think this reach has the potential of taking sebene back to its glory days through other avenues.
-
I have a couple points to touch on regarding this topic:
The truth is not that sebene is completely dead it’s just not as popular secularly anymore. If you go on TikTok, Instagram and YouTube it’s still pretty popular with the youth and there are a lot of young guitarist learning to play different instruments even foreign kids (including myself). The fact of the matter is the legacy of Sebene is carried on in the diaspora with the gospel groups. Even gospel groups in Congo can’t play to the level as the newer groups in France, Belgium etc. They opt to play a style widely regarded to as Feeling popularized by Michel Bakenda and others. The best sebene and in my humble opinion Congolese instrumentalist are in the diaspora in 2025. For example:
The best guitarist in this moment who has influenced a whole new generation with his style and creativity is Manasse Imengo (son of Golly Imengo) based in Paris. He is celebrated by my generation to the extent that his guitar and his sound are an extremely sought after. He has been acknowledged by the likes of Japonais and others.
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DH4DWNsIE0I/?igsh=ZDRzaWJnenB2cno=
The best drummer who has also had the same influence as Manasse is Thierry Cap’s based out of Europe as well. He has influenced a whole generation as well with his style to the extent that there are young drummers that use his name or add it to theirs. He has been acknowledged by Papy Kakol who is regarded to by some as the best ever.
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DJhtBh-tDyg/?igsh=OGVhZnlrY3YzcjB5
There are many others including bass, rhythm guitarist, pianiste, conga players that have also made a big impact.
For Example:
Christian Bombole (Airbag)🎸:
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DKTxlErIgLI/?igsh=Ynk5Yzdlczh0emMy
Jox Diangituka🎸:
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DHO9wcfIrGD/?igsh=YmV4aGZzb3F2bDZy
Pooloow (Paul Kabeya)🎸:
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DFYVsf8tX0T/?igsh=MWJoOGRwZWRicnQxdA==
Chalom Matondo🎸🎹:
https://www.instagram.com/p/DHwDRCKol0J/?igsh=bWRsNWwyMW5sc284
Kenaan Bass🎸:
https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMSah43h4/
Max Maxwell🎸:
https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMSahu2C3/
HNK Solo🎸:
https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMSahbMD5/
Chvrlux Solo🎸;
https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMSahVq6v/
Manu Swing🎸:
https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMSakrN9B/
Jordy🎸:
https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMSak1Vwt/
NK Drum 🥁:
https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMSakSDwj/
Nathan Pongo 🥁:
https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMSakhxgE/
Jemira Mawete 🥁:
https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMSakBQan/
Dordin Rickason 🥁:
https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMSahKd5P/
Nathan le Noir 🥁:
https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMSakr3UU/
Lenny Anderson 🥁:
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DBXG4NEtizL/?igsh=MWRuZzY3cm0zN2RkeQ==
La Criim 🥁:
https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMSaky2jN/
Etinho Synthé🎹:
https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMSakV9bG/
Abdias Synthaboi🎹:
https://www.instagram.com/p/DD7S__QIWpk/?img_index=4&igsh=ZHM5ZDRrdTE4amZy
Beni Mabika🎹:
https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMSakVH3W/
and many more…
Their influence has reached beyond borders and nationalities reaching to Nigerians, South Sudan, Tanzania, Zambia and more. I think this reach has the potential of taking sebene back to its glory days through other avenues.
I respect the diaspora's enthusiasm for keeping sebene alive, but almost everyone plays exactly the same style of sebene. There's no personal touch anymore. Whether it's gospel groups or secular groups that go viral on TikTok, it's all starting to sound like copy-and-paste. Back in the golden age, every band had its own flavor, every guitarist his own identity. Nowadays, you can change guitarists from one band to the next without the difference being noticeable. There's no risk, no surprise, no personality. And it's even become slow; I don't feel any punch anymore.