I never knew about this album. I discoverd the album in 2013. The first time I heard about this album was in 2010, when Malembe Chant made an interview on Congomikili attacking King Kester Emeneya very strongly and saying that the album made him get a conflict with Emeneya because of Emeneya's staff coming with stories that the title "Opposition Radical Ngomane" was an attack towards him, adding that he would never reconcile and talk with Emeneya again.

Zozo Malaba (R.I.P.) and Willy Ebondaki did a good job on the album. I liked the way they played on this album. That was the style all guitarists used to play from 1996 until 2001.I also liked the animations of Eric Masudi, Spino La Djatence and Guy Moller. Guy Moller used to be one of my favorite artists. It was a big mistake to leave Victoria Eleison. What a waste of talent. Emeneya must have been very pissed when Koffi Olomide recruited Guy Moller & Spino La Djatence in 1999. Luckily for him that he managed get Guy Moller back in Victoria Eleison, otherwise we wouldn't have heard Kiwanzenza. CNN must have been very happy with his departure, animating his cri in Nul n'est Parfait "pesa nga modele nga na bonga na vie".



I wonder how Longue Histoire would be if Emeneya accepted Jean Pierre Saah's (JPS Production) contract and recorded it in 1999. I liked the sebens of Willy Ebondaki alot. I noticed that his sebenes were heavenly influenced by the Mongo-rhythm. Used he to be in a Mongo-folklore band before joining Victoria ? Zozo Malaba "Eau Potable" was also a good solist. I've the feeling that Zozo Malaba was very underrated andthat Willy Ebondaki got all the credits for the sebenes of Victoria. For me Zozo was a better guitarist then Willy.

Was the 1999 Never Again Plus Jamais CD was a official album or just a single as a preview of Longue Histoire. Because i always found weird that it's written Victoria Eleison Dream Team Dream Band while we don't hear Guejo, Zoé Bella, Sampaio, Guy Moller  and co was it recorded in Europe or in Kinshasa ?

Never Again Plus Jamais was a mini album of 4 songs with 2 instrumental songs. It was not a real preview of Longue Histoire, it was just to pay tribute to Pepe Kalle and also to please his fans since that in those days they were releasing every year albums and his fans complaining about him not releasing every year. The album was recorded in Europe with the women who used often to sing with Victoria Eleison and also sung in Succes Fous (i forgot her name), Auguy Lutula and some session musicians.

I saw in Mboka Mboka booklet that Longue Histoire was announced since 1998 why he took Emeneya 2 years long to release it was because of finding a label or other reasons ?

Congolese man are too slow to release anything. I miss every year albums.

The way I see it, Emeneya released Longue Histoire two years after Mboka Mboka, the previous major Victoria album, because he had label issues. Remember, he released Mboka Mboka, Never Again and Longue Histoire under 3 different labels for each album.

To answer your question @mvulusi96, had Emeneya signed to JPS, Longue Histoire may have been released around the same time as Solola Bien, Poison, Shalai etc. It would have better sound quality since Maitre Saah would have brought most of Victoria to Paris to record it, it would've been a standard 10-track album and Kiwanzenza/Tshaku Libondas may have gained popularity later.

After the release of Mboka Mboka in May 1998, they had to go on tour in Europe but they didn't go. I don't know for what reasons, I guess that Emeneya didn't agree with the tour-promoters. We all saw how Bana Ok, Blaise Bula, Wenge EL Paris got problems when they brought their bands in Europe. I remember how some Victoria Eleison were jealous and pissed off when they saw Nouvelle Ecriture coming back from Europe with cars, etc. Then in 1999 Emeneya like Werrason he signed with JPS Production and announced Longue Histoire for October 1999, but for some reasons they didn't work together. In meanthime the members of Victoria Eleison in Kinshasa started to get desperate, because of Emeneya being in Europe months long with the staff of Emeneya (King Boys) giving them a hard time and some starting to leave. Then Emeneya returned to Kinshasa late 1999 and they started to record Longue Histoire with his own money after that he went with Guy Moller, Zoe Bella, Mbuta Bass to the USA for a tour and them met Defao & the Big Stars who were there also for a tour. But for some reasons Emeneya didn't agree with the tour-promoter with the whole tour getting cancelled without even having performed one concert. Emeneya then abandoned Zoe Bella, Guy Moller & Mbuta Bass in the US. Zoe Bella, Guy Moller & Mbuta Bass were than forced to do some jobs to survive. Zoe Bella started cleaning windows, Guy Moller started to work in a sneakershop and living with a sugarmom,... Then Emeneya went back to Kinshasa and continued the recordings of Longue Histoire and then released the album somewhere in mid-2000.

The way I see it, Emeneya released Longue Histoire two years after Mboka Mboka, the previous major Victoria album, because he had label issues. Remember, he released Mboka Mboka, Never Again and Longue Histoire under 3 different labels for each album.

To answer your question @mvulusi96, had Emeneya signed to JPS, Longue Histoire may have been released around the same time as Solola Bien, Poison, Shalai etc. It would have better sound quality since Maitre Saah would have brought most of Victoria to Paris to record it, it would've been a standard 10-track album and Kiwanzenza/Tshaku Libondas may have gained popularity later.

Longue Histoire was already planned to have 18 songs, because Emeneya wanted to release a double volume-album. Its not for nothing that he called the album Longue Histoire. They started already animating Kiwanzenza in 1999 with Emeneya presenting those shegues who created that dance on tv. Then Koffi saw it and quickly took the dance and brought it to Bercy. Emeneya was furious about that, because he didn't official present the dance and hadn't released Longue Histoire yet. So they came with the a new dance Tchaku Libondas.