Bill starts off with a well-composed French ballad on a serious subject matter, but for the second half of the song he switches to the “wesh” parody music he always defers to when not animating. Do guys think it’s because the public expects atalakous to not be serious composer/singers?

Historically, atalakous were the lowest ranking band members, along with the mbonda player,, as they are easily replaceable unless they were serious good (Bill, Djuna Mumbafu, Tutu, Roberto, CNN, etc).

It took Tutu Calludji a few strong rhumbas for people to get used to him as a singer and very good one at that. But even now, people associate Tutu most as an atalakou.

This as strong of a rhumba as gets, imo. He sings better than JB himself here


Another strong rhumba from Djouna, paying homage to Pepe Kalle

@Matebu
 
The first half of Bill Clinton's rhumba for Les Marquis was surprisingly really good, he held his own as a vocalist. It remains of my favorites, although I'm not sure what you mean by "wesh parody music"?

The second half of that song did get a little strange, his vocals at that point reminded me of a dancehall MC. To be fair, Bill Clinton's rough voice would make a singing career difficult, same goes for Kerozene and others with similar vocal range.

Even with your example of Tutu Caludji and CNN,  their solo careers didn't exactly go as successful as planned.

@Matebu
 
The first half of Bill Clinton's rhumba for Les Marquis was surprisingly really good, he held his own as a vocalist. It remains of my favorites, although I'm not sure what you mean by "wesh parody music"?

The second half of that song did get a little strange, his vocals at that point reminded me of a dancehall MC. To be fair, Bill Clinton's rough voice would make a singing career difficult, same goes for Kerozene and others with similar vocal range.

Even with your example of Tutu Caludji and CNN,  their solo careers didn't exactly go as successful as planned.

Wesh is a slang term broadly used mean lots of things in French, particularly things that ghetto and of comedic value. Or "what's up"

@Matebu

Thanks for the translation! Djouna Mumbafu may be the only atalaku that's transitioned into a solo artist successfully, in my opinion. Much of that may have to do with fan sympathy for Empire Bakuba when Pepe Kalle passed away, which further increased fan support of Djouna well after Kalle's death in 1998.

The impact of Tonnerre De Brest is proof of loyalist fan base over a period of time, that album was poised for success. I'm surprised he never followed up afterwards with another album...

I'm surprised archos hasn't done a biography for Pepe Kalle? He was a pretty influencial guy in Congolese music.

@Matebu

Thanks for the translation! Djouna Mumbafu may be the only atalaku that's transitioned into a solo artist successfully, in my opinion. Much of that may have to do with fan sympathy for Empire Bakuba when Pepe Kalle passed away, which further increased fan support of Djouna well after Kalle's death in 1998.

The impact of Tonnerre De Brest is proof of loyalist fan base over a period of time, that album was poised for success. I'm surprised he never followed up afterwards with another album...

I'm surprised archos hasn't done a biography for Pepe Kalle? He was a pretty influencial guy in Congolese music.

Don't blame Archos. It's a passion for him to work on biographies of our artists. Don't forget that we have alot of important things to do and it takes alot of time to work on biographies. Espcially on legends like Pepe Kalle, Koffi Olomide, Tabu Ley, Papa Wemba, Emeneya, Grand Kalle, Luambo Makiadi, Dr. Nico. Don't forget that Werrason, JB Mpiana, etc are of his generation and experienced their succes and struggels closely. So it's more easier to write a biography about them, then Pepe Kalle who started his career already in 1968 and created Empire Bakuba in 1972 with his friends Papy Tex and Dilumona

Exactly its for the same reason that i have not done koffi or nyoka longo,the guys have too much of a long and rich career lol takes quite some time to assemble all that and add a bit of your touch in writing but hopefully one day i'll get there
talking about biographies,i was thinking about doing a ndombolo trendsetters act2 thread with the likes of montana kamenga,modogo and co

@archos

I meant no disrespect. I really appreciate the hard work and high quality you give to your post, they're very informative!

Whatever you post, I'm keen to read. You always have great content!

Yea @Wenge1995, Tonnerre De Brest was such a popular album. All my Nigerian and GHanaian friends had copies of that VHS, Loi, Coupe Bibamba, & Force d'Intervention Rapide

People appreciated how he was always loyal to Pepe Kalle. They had a father-son relationship

@Matebu

Is he retired from music? I haven't heard much from him lately.

@archos

That is very true, never really realize how long Koffi's career is...

I'm surprised that there is no comprehensive documentary about congolese music, it's a rich history.

@archos

That is very true, never really realize how long Koffi's career is...

I'm surprised that there is no comprehensive documentary about congolese music, it's a rich history.

There are many. They are simply not sponsorized enough since Koffi had his prime before Social mediaz

@Matebu

Thanks for the translation! Djouna Mumbafu may be the only atalaku that's transitioned into a solo artist successfully, in my opinion. Much of that may have to do with fan sympathy for Empire Bakuba when Pepe Kalle passed away, which further increased fan support of Djouna well after Kalle's death in 1998.

The impact of Tonnerre De Brest is proof of loyalist fan base over a period of time, that album was poised for success. I'm surprised he never followed up afterwards with another album...

I'm surprised archos hasn't done a biography for Pepe Kalle? He was a pretty influencial guy in Congolese music.

For me Pepe Kalle is in top 3 all time great

My top 10 is like this

1 Luambo and Tabu, I cant decide who is the best
3 Pepe Kalle
4 Emeneya the true King
5 Papa Wemba and Koffi, same I cant choose one day it is Koffi next day it is Wemba.
7 Grand Kalle
8 Kanda Bondo
9 Awilo
10 Madilu

Sorry I may forget some of them.