Congo Vibes
Music => Congolese Music => Topic started by: archos on February 12, 2014, 19:36
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Zulema started music in the early 80"s in his locality of Mombele in various street groups but his family was against him becoming a professional musician
like many who ended up as professional musicians, he had to sacrifice school sometimes for his passion of music.
In 1991 when his family settled in Brazzaville, he met Jules kibens who introduced him to the group folk stars in which he was chef d'orchestre and soon after, the President of the group died, Kibens became group leader,meanwhile, both were composing and selling songs to kinshasa artists like JB Mpiana,Werrason,Ben Nyamabo,Defao and so on.
In 1996, there was a leadership conflict between them and Zulema went back to kinshasa until they reconciled 6 months later.
A year after, civil war broke out in Brazzaville, at this point, kibens went back to Kinshasa and was offered a role in Wenge BCBG whereas Zulema abandoned the group and became a trader in order to survive and along the way of street life, he started taking drugs until he met friends with whom he created the band Watikanya.
While in that group,he still contributed as a composer for kinshasa groups(two of his contributions are Chai Ngenge's famous parts in the song Papito remix and the song Pragmatisme of Lola Muana whom he met in Brazzaville in the year 2000 when he was sent by koffi olomide to lure singer Papyjah from the band Extra Musica)
The group Watikanya got a contract with JPS Production and went on a long European tour and as a result Zulema earned himself some popularity as a singer and atalaku and seduced fans with his particular style of singing and composing which is often likened to the one of Lidjo kwempa of viva la musica.
After two albums released with the euphoria of success the group couldn't resist from leadership wars and meanwhile Zulema got himself into serious trouble as he became a drug addict addiction and trafficker and got jailed for 6 months.
After being released from jail,Zulema received several death threats from people directly or indirectly involved in that drug traffic affair and left Paris for a smaller French city and kept dealing in drugs to survive. The group Watikanya returned to Africa without Zulema who stayed over in Europe. It was not long before he was caught by police in illegal activities and was sent back to Africa particularly cameroon where he rejoined Watikanya but he disappeared shortly after and went back to kinshasa and where auditioned at Wenge Maison Mere and impressed but his unpredictable attitude made it hard for him to break through,especially since the group already had a tough case in singer Adjani another drug addict.
Zulema felt belittled and ignored and was rarely allowed to sing even at La Zamba when they did public rehearsals but he wass appreciated by many Maison Mere members and contributed in many songs on the album A la queue leu leu.
Fed up of not having his chance and with help of Jules Kibens, Kibens by passed the BCBG rehearsal place and went straight to JB Mpiana's house and auditioned in the eyes of an impressed JB who straight away accepted and presented him to fans in the same week.
Once again his particular singing with a bit of humour and the originality of the themes he uses in his vocals,he quickly seduced fans and JB himself
but his compositions are not limited to humour,he can also write love songs and have a more conventional writing style and he proposes almost 50 songs which include the future hit zadio.
Zulema's popularity grew among BCBG fans and was warmly applauded at every of his apparition but quickly his unpredictable behaviour struck again, he started coming to rehearsals and concerts whenever he wanted and missed some studio sessions and was going to Brazzaville and often appeared at concerts high on drugs.
Despite him still being very popular,his behaviour was not what was expected in the group and for breaking the rules of the group, he is often on suspension several times. Sometimes JB just ignores his misdeeds as he really appreciates Zulema and is one of his favourite singers especially after the departure of Alain Mpela.
JB tries so hard to put Zulema in the right path and give him some sense of discipline and in 2012 his efforts finally paid off as Zulema started calming down on drugs and is more regular at rehearsals, slowly,he's getting more and more time in the group and will release the first song as part of BCBG this year.
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I hope he does well, the guy has a very good voice..Drugs has claimed a lot of talent in Africa.
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Thank you for the Bio Archos.
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I hope he does well, the guy has a very good voice..Drugs has claimed a lot of talent in Africa.
Not just Africa but the whole world :-\ :'(
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sometimes ago I posted his video on joining BCBG ...
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Thank you archos.
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Good info archos,thanx
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Archos, good work. Thanks for the info.
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thanks alot molakisi archos for the info. now i know why zulema when he sings in bcbg concerts the fans and fellow musicians are always amused by his chants
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massive thanks to you all and especially the person who re-wrote my text,it looks better
planning to do the story of adjani soon aswell
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massive thanks to you all and especially the person who re-wrote my text,it looks better
planning to do the story of adjani soon aswell
No worries, I had to edit as I always like to save such information, they help end debates when there is an argument. I studied history at school so I like such stuff,Zulema is an icon at BCBG so we need all this great information you have provided about him, thanx once again archos for the great piece of info.
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Zulema also dances quit well.....hear when JB is rapping .."zulema abina ....."