Congo Vibes
Music => Congolese Music => Topic started by: Franco Pepe Kalle on April 20, 2026, 23:32
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I want to do a debate about Papa Wemba as we celebrate 10 years of his unfortunate tragic death. I want to talk about one controversy in his life. It is about him with Kester Emeneya. I want to ask y'all if you guys believe that Papa Wemba was better off with Kester Emeneya leaving him and creating Victoria Elesien.
I ask this question because I have been watching this interview led by Marcel Landu on the channel Sekele which he spoke to Verckys. Verckys was saying indirectly that he did Papa Wemba a big favor by getting Kester Emeneya away from him and giving him a group of his own called Victoria Elesien. He also said that Papa Wemba would become an international star due to no longer having Emeneya around him.
Here is the interview
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pys0-5XT8gY
44:20-46:20
Verckys was basically implying that Papa Wemba would never become a big star if Emeneya had stayed in Viva La Musica
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For me, I would lean on saying yes but I will say why Papa Wemba was better off with Kester Emeneya leaving him in 1982 with creating his band Victoria Elesien and why Papa Wemba was not better off with Kester Emeneya leaving in 1982 with creating his band Victoria Elesien.
Why Papa Wemba was better off with Kester Emeneya leaving him
- Papa Wemba had to learn to develop more confidence and learn also how to truly get his musicians with him. Because during his early time, he was not always consistent which explains why musicians easily rebelled like what happened in the first year with musicians forming Karawa Musica or when he decided to collaborate with Tabu Ley which angered Franco so deeply that it lead to Franco pressuring Tabu Ley to help him and Verckys get Kester Emeneya a band of his own band Victoria Elesien years later. Papa Wemba needed to truly work hard to get his name out there and people know him for he was as a special singer he was.
- Papa Wemba was able to get new faces like Lidjo Kwempa who was a close friend to Emeneya and Luciana Demingongo as well as of course Reddy Amisi. Also, he got to see more of Maray Maray who was already considered a rival to Emeneya to some crew members of Papa Wemba. Papa Wemba found out that he was able to redefine himself with Lidjo Kwempa, Reddy Amisi, Cele le Roi, Fafa de Molokai, Luciana Demingongo and Stino Mubi. These men proved to valuable assests to Papa Wemba and he felt less inclined to focus so much on doing nzonzing affairs. This was evident when he went to Japan and his name started to get bigger bit by bit. So much some international folks wanted Papa Wemba to come to Europe but only with a few folks.
- Papa Wemba had his favorite singers. They were Luciana Demingongo, Reddy Amisi and Stino Mubi. These men oozed Papa Wemba the most with their voices. Luciana confirmed that Papa Wemba wanted to do Molokai interantional with him, Reddy and Stino however he refused to join which he argued was a good thing. But I know Papa Wemba wanted Luciana. Wemba saw Luciana as a photocopy of himself. My bet was that Papa Wemba wanted to focus on doing mostly lead vocals with choir set by Luciana singing tenor while Reddy singing baritone and Stino singing bass. However since Luciana refused to join, Papa Wemba obligated to also do the choir vocals which he sang tenor of course.
- Papa Wemba was able to now have multiple versions of Viva La Musica. We would see that Papa Wemba was able to create different versions of Viva La Musica due to his international affairs and different concerts. Of course, I am speaking about Viva La Musica Nouvelle Ecriture and Viva La Musica Cour des Grands. He was able to show different kind of singers like Pompom Miyake, Stino Mubi, Bendoson, Reddy Amisi, Lidjo Kwempa, Patcheko, Cele Le Roi, Gloria Tukhadio, etc. When Papa Wemba was at a youth event, he had Nouvelle Ecriture with him but when he was at more adult event, he had Cour des Grands. Later on, he also created Viva Tendence which had Fiston Mamale, Guy Guy Fall, Petit Bokul, etc.
- With all these situations, it proved that Papa Wemba was able to continue his great career after Emeneya went to be his own man with his band Victoria Elesien.
Why Papa Wemba wasn't better off with Kester Emeneya leaving him
- Papa Wemba never liked the fact that Kester Emeneya was shining so much during the 1980s era and he had to deal with folks telling him about the greatness of Kester Emeneya
- Papa Wemba always said that Victoria Elesien was the second version of Viva La Musica. He was implying that Kester was doing songs that would have a great fit for him and Viva La Musica
- Papa Wemba had to learn to now compete with his former singer Kester Emeneya. Kester was getting a lot support from folks who used to be big fans of Wemba.
- Ironically Papa Wemba would become attached to Reddy Amisi and Stino Mubi due to their vocal resemblance to Kester Emeneya. Don't forget, Emeneya, Amisi and Mubi are from Kikwit, Bandundu. Likely one of the reasons why Papa Wemba loved singing with Reddy and Stino the most was because it gave him memories on how he used to sing with Kester in the early days of Viva La Musica.
- Reddy and Stino would prove that they would be their own artists and not just sound similar to Kester Emeneya with their solo albums. Papa Wemba was happy to sing with these men on their solo albums but I am sure sometimes Papa Wemba was imagining on how it would have been had Emeneya remained with him.
- Later on, Papa Wemba would do molokai international with other musicians excluding Reddy and Stino when he originally played with them alongside other Molokai International musicians during the late 1980s and early 1990s.
- Also Papa Wemba never truly capitalized on his international success. Part of the reason was that Papa Wemba wanted to also focus on trying to do a duet album with Kester Emeneya since he missed his voice so much and Reddy and Stino were never able to fill that void. As we know, the duo album between Emeneya and Wemba due to money issues in 1991 and ego issues in 2002.
- Papa Wemba always had the greatest joy of singing sometimes when he performed with Kester Emeneya. Example, when they performed together in 1991 which Papa Wemba also included Bana Victoria on the song Ngonda.
- This was likely the reason why Papa Wemba got Anthony Sampio into Viva La Musica La Nouvelle Ecriture as he saw him as the Emeneya photocopy that he was dying to have for a longtime. Sampio would be with the band for about 4 or 5 years before he left.
- Papa Wemba and Kester Emeneya would have likely performed together again in a few shows had both men been alive today. I am sure Guy Moller would have the one to get Emeneya and Wemba to sing together again for the public to enjoy.
That is my take. What do you guys think?