When Koffi Olomide released Monde Arabe did he not had an idea to tour in Saudi Arabia or go to Oman like Papa Wemba back in 2001 ? Or did he indeed receive contracts for Middle East, but Koffi's demands being to high. I remember Adolphe Dominguez claiming that he received a contract for Saudi Arabia and received visa's for his band before the 25 minutes-era, but on the end he didn't go.
Papa Wemba had to go with Nouvelle Ecriture to Oman instead of Viva la Musica "Cour des Grands", late Lambio Lambio, Alpatchino, New Jack and co would have made alot of noise about it. I'm now thinking about late Alpatchino's words after performing at Bercy "salle ya gayaaaaaard" hahahaha. Many people don't even know that Papa Wemba already performed in the Middle East during early 2000s.