Congo Vibes
Music => Congolese Music => Topic started by: archos on April 15, 2014, 20:25
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PRIVATE LIFE AND PERSONALITY
jean baptiste emeneya mubiala nkwamambu was born on 23rd of november 1956 in kikwit,in the region of bandundu and died on 13th of february 2014 in paris
he was father of 11 kids(a 12th is coming as his wife is pregnant) from different mothers,some of them like afimiko who he decidated one of his first massive success songs to, or kevin who almost died as a french soldier in afghanistan
he was married to florence bandu,but had previously had two quite popular divorces with francine dembela and liliane shako which he accused his ex boss papa wemba and koffi olomide to be responsible for
there were three sides in king kester emeneya, jean mubiala a shy and serious father and person in general wanting perfection in everything, jean mabiala the ex student in politics and administration who is friend with several authorities from several countries and a big passionate of history,and king kester the musician also perfectionist like his two other sides but much more talkative and charismatic
another trait of character he had in all sides was his extreme sense of humor, so developed that he was actually impressing even comedians themselves
he loved calling people his own way,for example koffi olomide he was calling wankovia or nkovia,wazekwa he was calling nzekula or the brewery company bralima(primus) he was calling bralinkunku
he also invented langila a street language coming from lingala and replacing lingala words which some popular people's names and names of objects, of places...and developed a certain way of walking,certain gestures (all this were what he called scanten) in order to catch people's attention and also to make people laugh
throughout his life,kester suffered from asthma and instead of threatening his career it actually inspired him certain singing technique
he had several nicknames,for example emerite(taken later by werrason),mukulu wa bankulu (by jb),evala malakoze(given by gina efonge wa gina of zaiko),atari wambi,mutu ya zamani...
kester was a massive football fan( especially the team of mazembe in lubumbashi and the national team of brazil as he considers every generation of victoria musicians as members of the different generation of brazil team players) and loved playing aswell
ROLE MODELS AND DEBUT AS A SINGER
Kester's first and main model was tabu ley rochereau,the greatest of all times, with "fiesta" music he was promoting,kester often said in interviews that when testing singers or instrumentists who are into fiesta style he would stop them even before they finish their part and recruit them straight away
apart from rochereau,the second main model of kester was gina wa gina efonge of zaiko langa langa,kester was such a big fan of him that even at university he registered himself as jean isekofeta mubiala(isekofeta being the traditional name of gina)
the third model was michael jackson and the way he was moving on stage and he even paid expensive body care products in paris in order to get close to the new skin color MJ had
aged 12,kester started to sing at church with his brothers and school friends
his first contact with music in a group outside church was when aged 16 as he joined the group les anges noirs of kikwit
two years later when he finishes high school he studies political science at university of lubumbashi and performs in the group of university "les kassapards" and impresses already
he co creates group libanko there with his idol gina wa gina aswell,but in 1977, a big event happens which will take him into spotlight of top groups of kinshasa
in fact,a friend of him micha mulongo who had a good relationship with papa wemba aswell decided to take him to kinshasa and present him to wemba who had just created viva months ago
this is the birth of a future legend of congolese and african music
next step his time in viva and the birth of victoria eleison
(continues below)
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It was even not his choice to join Viva La Musica. The idea of Micha was just to let make him an Zing-Zong with Viva La Musica and go back to Lubumbashi, but Papa Wemba was so impressed of him while he and Antoine(Koffi) met him at Village Molokai. He sung that day Liwa Ya Somo(a song that Wemba to his mother) and corriged them while Antoine and Wemba where singing. So he & Micha decided to leave him behind in Kinshasa, so that he could stay working with them.
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It was even not his choice to join Viva La Musica. The idea of Emeneya was just to make an Zing-Zong and go back to Lubumbashi, but Papa Wemba was so impressed of him while he and Antoine(Koffi) met him at Village Molokai. So he & Micha decided to leave him behind in Kinshasa, so that he could stay working with them.
Yes i was about to start the viva part with that
i will do it tomorrow then victoria and the different episodes of its story
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Aaah okay
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What's'up with that Archos ? I can't wait the dream team dream band part (97-2001 era)
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sorry man for taking this much time,i have been unexpectedly very busy at work these days so i did not have time to advance in the biography
hopefully this week end i could do the remaining parts
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sorry man for taking this much time,i have been unexpectedly very busy at work these days so i did not have time to advance in the biography
hopefully this week end i could do the remaining parts
Ok no problem man
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when jean micha mulongo introduces kester(then called djo kester) to papa wemba,in 1977, he is so impressed that he secretly asks micha to go back to lubumbashi and leave kester behind
he then becomes a member of the recently born viva la musica and does not finish his classes(something he will regret forever,as he was just weeks away of getting his diploma)
and there he meets the guy who will become according to him his best friend in music,antoine agbepa mumba,who writes songs for papa wemba
this is when the nickname koffi olomide will appear,coming from kester and papa wemba
kester quickly becomes a key member of viva la musica and releases in the same year his first ever song miléna
one year later,he releases two songs kaba zonga and ndako ya ndelé with some parts given to him by koffi
even though he is never given chef d'orchestre role kester recruits musicians for the group and acts almost like a second leader
in 1979,he releases two songs,kayolé and ata nkalé and he really impresses with his maturity at such a young age
one year later when viva la musica are having their first ever europe tour, he is obviously on the list but almost leaves the group as his girlfriend tells him to remain in europe but he goes back to kinshasa
and releases 4 songs in the same year dikando,la runda,dembela dedicated to his girlfriend and future wife francine dembela and one of his biggest hits ngonda
kester gets and even bigger role in viva as papa wemba is gone to europe several times in 1981 and releases three songs fleur d'eté,mishueni and horoscope
in what will be his final year in viva la musica he does not release any song,and almost joins the group of langa langa stars and is beaten by some viva fans
after that,he comes back to viva with his friend,the choreographer lambio lambio and keeps contributing a lot to viva but when papa wemba returns and they have succesful concerts together,him and many other members get very little money especially kester who had done so much for the group
on 24 of december of 1982 it is the birth of the viva offshot victoria eleison(victory comes from God's hands) with several other ex- viva la musica members
kester being the main leader,includes his passion for football in the musical strategy of the group as from then each generation of victoria eleison will represent the brazil team at the world cups of those different periods
kester wins for 8 eight years in a row star of the year award and becomes most popular african musician
to be continued,until his departure in 1990 and return to congo in 97 and then later victoria dream team dream band
(continues below)
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Very insteresting
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So far so Good, thank you archos.
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Archos when you gonna post the rest of the biography ?
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Archos when you gonna post the rest of the biography ?
my word,i forgot to paste it here
i will post it by monday at worst,for sure,its on my office computer so i would need to go back at work this week end
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apart from their anger against wemba for salary issues,the massive departure of musicians of viva la musica to create victoria eleison is an operation organized by rochereau tabu ley and franco luambo in order to destroy papa wemba's career and they pariticularly treated well kester who was seen the natural leader of the group
victoria eleison's firs 4 songs are credited to kester:naya and ngabelo and okosi nga mfumu(those two songs are huge hits) in 1982 and surménage in 1983
with those 4 songs,he earns his first star of the year award and also releases in 1984 the song explosion,representing what will become "victoria's anthem" before singers arrive on stage and in this songs kester really establishes the system of mabanga with many names mentioned in the song
One year leater kester releases two songs kimpiatu where he mentions his daughter afimiko and another song willo mondo both remain until today as classics and earned kester another star of the year award
kester and victoria are touring in all areas of kinshasa,and brazzaville and progressively other big cities of the then zaire and some concerts outside congo
this earns kester another star of the year award,and he is now firmly established as a big force of congolese music,and even though there is rivalry with his former boss papa wemba it remains respectful and positive(wemba or kester being invited at some of each's concert)
In 1987 he releases two other songs ambenzo and manhattan with theusal victoria eleison style but kester being a big admirer of michael jackson's pop and of funk music decides taking a big gamble in order to take congolese music forward
in fact,he decides using keyboards and computers to reproduce the sound from the famous funk songs coming from america,and the result is a bomb
he there signs one of the biggest success of the history of african music with album nzinzi released in 1987 and tours in every single region of zaire
one year later,he is invited alongside pepe kalle and ivorian singer francois lougah to the first ever zenith concert of a congolese artist,by female star abeti masikini
after that concert,he tours in several countries including some where congolese stars rarely had concerts like portugal,italy,spain
whenever he comes back to zaire for a serie of concerts,he is treated like a king,with a plane at his total service,with his home employees touring with him,he is then very rich
kester then got three otherstar of the year awards and goes on to record another big pop/funk influenced hit mokusa in 1990 adn the same year he performs a legendary concert at palais du peule(the congolese parliament) with a great show heavily influenced by michael jackson's choreographies
after this,kester returns to europe and decide to settle in paris as he has proven evrything already in zaire and with the aim of continuing to take congolese music to another level
one year later he releases album Djo kester with remixes of some older songs and album polo kina (both albums being more of victoria's traditional style) and follows other"clan zaiko" groups(zaiko langa langa,viva la musica and rumba ray) with a concert in japan and also for the first time in North america
one year later,in 1993 he reverts to the pop style with album everybody which is a great success aswell and continue touring in europe and america until 1996/1997 with the release of albums pas de contact and succes fous who are not as succesful as previous albums
nevertheless, kester's fans of the soon to be DRC are eagerly waiting for the return of the King but before his arrival a group of young guys are recruited to promote his songs in some concertsamong them atelé kunianga,papy kalombo of the group of fally ipupa,and fally himself who makes one appearance with them or also boguys bompema)
the King finally returns to kinshasa in october 1997,welcomed by his "nephew" fellow musician marie paul and an estimated 30 000 fans at airport;kester having returned with only few musicians has to recruit new musicians
and after a serie of tests picks the team which will be labelled dream team dream band with singers zoe bella,guejo star,sampaio,sankara wewa,swet elese,guitarists willy ebondaki,adé lokela,atalakus eric masudi and guy moller....
three weeks after his return, he becomes the first congolese artist to perform in the huge stade des martyrs and gives a great show as usual,which the crowd actually singing some songs louder than the group themselves
the King is back, as it's said some newspapers...and they record album mboka mboka,vith victoria adopting the ndombolo style set by wenge musica,album contains many old songs remixed and is well appreciated
one year after,kester releases album never again, plus jamais where he sings a song in tribute to pepe kallé and adds some new musciians to dream team dream band like singers azzaro sisco and abel de charmes
they record in difficult conditions album longue histoire at studio ndiaye of kinshasa (with the presence of artist manda chante who even paid one or two sessions as a sign of love for kester) with the dances kiwanzenza and tchaku libondance,massive success which leads to the group getting contracts for zenith in 2001 where kester starts his concert by interpreting the song asamba lela from his idol tabu ley
kester stuns his fans as little time before his zenith many key members leave the group to form dream team and take with them very young atalaku bercy muana who just joined the group
and one year late he fulfills his dream of playing in the mythic hall of olympia,like did his idol tabu ley,and this time even has the honour of having him as a guest
kester being extremely perfectionist decides to rework those concerts in studio in order to make the sound even better and correct the little mistakes (even though the concerts were already very good"
and just after olympia,kester performs in switzerland in front of over 10 000 fans which is a record for congolese artists
he knocks the door of sony bmg production and is promised a contract depending on the sales of his future album( in order to have an idea of his potential), he records album nouvel ordre with the dance tchalufu and for once lets his musicians decide almost everything artistically and sticks to his singing role,album is not well received and he does not reach the 10 000 cd sold he was asked and does not get that contract
from then on,he decides he would not follow other artists and release every year an album in order to show he is the king and he can't act like them
four years after nouvel ordre,he sings for beer skol but does not get a contract because their older partner werrason refused him (like i have explained many times in skol and primus its impossible for an artist to join them without agreement from those who were there before)
his close staff gives him the idea of creating another version of victoria with out of favour experienced musicians like alain mpela,manda chante,lola muana... but the project is not taken to execution
finally he decides accelerating his studio work for a new album 5 years after the previous and releases in 2007 album le jour le plus long(the longest day,in reference of omaha beach in the 2nd world war)
album is fairly well received and allows him to perform at olympia a second time with an almost completely new dream team and they also tour in notrh america
he plans to wait for another 5 years to release another album and starts spending a bit more time in kinshasa with his group and having concerts in DRC,angola and brazzaville
two years after,in 2009 he starts planning a maxi single match d entrainement before his album match eza bien,with the dream of having a concert in bercy,the only massive hall he had not played in in paris
but he starts having many health problems,first with his asthma,and since his financial situation has gone down a lot does not have enough money for the most advanced treatments
months later in 2010 he recovers and restarts working in studio but he suffers setbacks which delay his return to kinshasa
he finally arrives in mid 2011 and after performing in his hometown kikwit plans a big concert at stade des martyrs with jb mpiana and ferré but he quickly has other setbacks
and in 2012 when he recovers he announces album this is me featuring jb mpiana and ferré which he considers as top level tenorists(tenorando like he says) who wouldcombine well with his powerful baritone (kundulu like he calls it) and decides going back to electronic music in order to teach a lesson to the emergeing ghanain and nigerian musicians(p square and co)
he participates to francophony festival in kinshasa and falls on stage while dancing which leads to polemic over whether he restarted concerts too early or he was spiritually attacked by other musicians
he goes back to europe to continue working on album and keeps receiving treatment
the death of his idol tabu ley is a huge blow for his heart and his health gets much much worse he is kept in hopital for several months and dies on 13 february 2014 from a cardiac arrest
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Very good biography archos. :)
But I always wanted to know why Guy Moller,Sampayo and ect left the band because Longue Histoire was a huge hit back then. Did they release an album with dream team dream band ?
And I didn't know that Bercy Muana was with them back in the day I think he was only 14.
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Yes bercy was 14 but already much in the street so he was "in advance" to guys of his age, they recruited him to be trained by moller and moller took him with them as their atalaku as he became a singer
those guys left kester because they felt they were not paid enough and their lifestyle was way behind the one of the fally,ferré mpela and co
but also,the fact they were produced/managed by mambo de panama one of the guys who organized the tests for kester and just had a conflict with him made kester think it was a coup with papa wemba behind to destroy his career
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Did they release an album ?
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Did they release an album ?
Yes,they released one album, but it quickly disappeared,i remember it had in the generique some parts koffi used in generation bercy generique of effrakata,which created some polemic back then
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I would like to hear that. What's the title of this album ?
I only know that in 2002 sampaio left and joined Viva and in 2003 Zoe Bella,Swet Elese and Eric Masudi returned to Victoria.
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Archos..i dont know how to thank you for this Comprehensive bibiliography, I am so shocked to learn that this kind of exodus of musicians from their mother band began long time ago...Franco and Tabu Ley involved! So, the genesis of spells and musicians sleeping with other musicians wives started long ago. I am really suprised i never thought Tabu Ley and Franco would end up fighting papa.
I am amazed, Kingkester Should be a billionaire from this Bibiliography you just gave us, poor management of Funds? I see after Papa Slept with Kester's wife he stole some powers that is why "Show me the way" was a success? (imagining)
Franco's death if you go deeper could have been as a result of this kind of acts, someone knew of the condition of the Lady he banged and got infected with HIV. same script he must have been set up( School of thought)
Kester to me is more of a Legend on the inovative world of Music in Congo. If his music was marketed well in Africa , we Would be talking of something else.
Lastly Achos , you did not answer and help me understand. which Methods, techniques and means do this musicians use to sleep with wives of their competitors. How do they lure thos already maried women?
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That fall King Kester took at the Franchophone concert was pretty funny,when are they planning to release the album he was working on before he died?
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There was a an albam which I don't remember its name but featured the song Dandy, it was well received here in East Africa, and its still one of classic songs still featuring in most functions, can you tell us about it?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SXXm1zPxF8Y
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The one I have posted above is not the original one, its a remix
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The name of the album is Polo Kina
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Archos..i dont know how to thank you for this Comprehensive bibiliography, I am so shocked to learn that this kind of exodus of musicians from their mother band began long time ago...Franco and Tabu Ley involved! So, the genesis of spells and musicians sleeping with other musicians wives started long ago. I am really suprised i never thought Tabu Ley and Franco would end up fighting papa.
I am amazed, Kingkester Should be a billionaire from this Bibiliography you just gave us, poor management of Funds? I see after Papa Slept with Kester's wife he stole some powers that is why "Show me the way" was a success? (imagining)
Franco's death if you go deeper could have been as a result of this kind of acts, someone knew of the condition of the Lady he banged and got infected with HIV. same script he must have been set up( School of thought)
Kester to me is more of a Legend on the inovative world of Music in Congo. If his music was marketed well in Africa , we Would be talking of something else.
Lastly Achos , you did not answer and help me understand. which Methods, techniques and means do this musicians use to sleep with wives of their competitors. How do they lure thos already maried women?
yes maybe poor management but also kes' was too generous he paid a lot of things to people around him,even for some street kids he gave them money to start some business and now those guys are here in europe or america
also with his two divorces he lost a lot of money as he had to give a part of his wealth to the women since they had children
it's sad how broke he became because unfortunately sometimes in his last year of life he just had barely enough to pay some food(since his wife was in france and him in studio between kinshasa and paris) and had to seek help for his studio fees....
as for the technique i will stick to example of kester with koffi and wemba
since both were very close to him , they became like his brothers his wife would cook for them even if he's not at home and stuff like that
it's even when he was touring with victoria that,koffi slept with his wife and when kester was informed they fought
the other case of several musicians sharing the same girl,is when the girl is not ofificial the girlfriend of any of them so she does what she wants
there is a girl,for example(no need to say her name),who is mentioned in almost all albums and who has slept with almost all them,including some of the chef d'orchestre,some spokesmen....
since the girl earned herself a reputation after sleeping with some of them,the others made sure they could get her for a night or a couple of nights(which was quite easy since the girl is easy to convince) and some of them used it for witchcraft
there are other girls like that one,and the guys made sure after sleeping with the rivals she kept the condom which would later be used for ceremonies
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Brother Archos am totally Shocked... what you Just explained is so bad. You can't believe it is happening in this world we are living in. Thanks for clarification. May Kester Emeneya Soul Rest in peace. A nice guy.
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nobody in the congolese music industry is a nice man, everybody had done bad things even Emeneya.
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This has no appropriate answer,......... for it is a hard question.......i hope u find one.
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nobody in the congolese music industry is a nice man, everybody had done bad things even Emeneya.
What bad things did Emeneya do ?
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archos at what times did Zoe Bella leave Victoria to join Les Mineurs du Quartier Latin and then leave Latin to go back to Victoria?
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archos at what times did Zoe Bella leave Victoria to join Les Mineurs du Quartier Latin and then leave Latin to go back to Victoria?
In 2006-2007 and when he was brought by koffi to zenith he stayed in europe and one year later rejoined victoria
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I feel that his peers did everything they can to eliminate him. The way Fally is traumatising Koffi now is karma for all the evil he has done. RIP King
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I feel that his peers did everything they can to eliminate him. The way Fally is traumatising Koffi now is karma for all the evil he has done. RIP King
I always get the feeling that a lot of people here are anti Koffi but this is the Game of congolese music. This is how system work there!
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Personally, I’m not anti-Koffi. But the thing is,
it’s not for no reason that he is at the centre of loads of problems. Although they’re not innocent themselves, loads of the big guys (King, Papa Wemba, JB, Fally) seem to have a problem with him on a personal scale. Thats a lot of people just within the industry. Surely something ain’t right with his character if that’s the case. Wonderful musician, awful human being.
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Personally, I’m not anti-Koffi. But the thing is,
it’s not for no reason that he is at the centre of loads of problems. Although they’re not innocent themselves, loads of the big guys (King, Papa Wemba, JB, Fally) seem to have a problem with him on a personal scale. Thats a lot of people just within the industry. Surely something ain’t right with his character if that’s the case. Wonderful musician, awful human being.
Oh ok…. how many of these Congolese artist talk positive about Fally, JB or Werrason…..?They are all the same but i would say that from character, Koffi is not worser then any of them. JB is pedophile, who had something with a 14/15 old child or something but i don‘t see anybody always saying that he is an awful person. Its more about Koffi here…