It was 20 years ago that the longest music concert in Congolese music history took place. On 20 August 2005, the bands Wenge BCBG and Wenge Maison Mère held their fara-fara at FIKIN, which was interrupted by the police. Both concerts unofficially started in the evening, but, like almost all concerts of that time, they officially began at 2 AM, when bandleaders Werrason and JB Mpiana took the stage and performed until 2 PM. The fara-fara ended up becoming one of the fiercest events in the history of Congolese music.
Background;
Since the split of Wenge Musica 4x4, a rivalry started between Wenge Musica Maison Mère, led by Werrason, and Wenge BCBG, led by J.B. M’piana. Both artists and bands confronted each other through fara-faras, spectacular events and battles aimed at proving supremacy. They also competed over who would release the best songs, best albums, the most trophees, etc. This competition not only created their creativity pushed both bands to innovate and elevate their performances to unprecedented levels.
From 2002/03, the rivalry began to slow down. JB Mpiana was struggling to obtain visas for the Schengen Area, dealing with private issues and had not released a new album since Internet. Artists like King Kester Emeneya even claimed on television that JB Mpiana and Werrason did not really have problems with each other, but that they were afraid to reconcile publicly, since they were both benefitting from the rivalry.
Despite the release of the singles Tindika Lokito and Pelisa Ngwasuma, the fara-fara at FIKIN in 2003, and the fara-fara event in July 2003 of JB Mpiana performing at l’Esplanade du Stade des Martyrs and Werrason at l’Esplanade du Palais du Peuple, the run of crowds between the shows of both artists at Boulevard Triomphale on 27 December 2003 (JB Mpiana’s concert de fidelité) and 3 January 2004 (Werra’s event), people started to doubt if the rivalry was still alive. The questions grew when JB Mpiana released Anti Terro, where he mentioned Werrason in the song Esau and started to speak openly about him in interviews.
However, in 2005 the rivalry came back again when Werrason signed with Bralima, the same company that had JB Mpiana under contract. People were also wondering if they could co-exist in Bralima and if one artist wouldn't be eliminated spiritually. In summer 2005, Werrason released the single Changement de Fréquence, while JB Mpiana would not long later release the single Bolongwayi.
The event:
On 6 August 2005, the 2005 edition of FIKIN officially opened. The sponsors Bralima, Vodacom, and Bracongo, each hosted different artists and bands on their stages. In the previous weekends, Bralima had already featured Werrason and Felix Wazekwa at their village. For the weekend of 20 and 21 August, Bralima scheduled JB Mpiana for a double event. Since that Werrason had already enjoyed huge success at Village Bralima, performing there three times since its opening, Vodacom invited him to perform at their stage on 20 August, the exact same day JB Mpiana was scheduled to perform for Bralima.
In the days leading up to the event, both bands, Wenge BCBG and Wenge Maison Mère, would attack each other on television when talking about their fara-fara.
D-Day:
On the day of the event, both artists, Werrason and JB Mpiana, had their bands start the show by performing different songs during their entrances, while the public chanted in attack of their rivals. Both artists made spectacular entrances and delivered impressive performances.
During fara-fara confrontations at FIKIN, the losing artist usually leaves by 6 in the morning, but this time neither of the two artists gave up. They kept performing through 6 AM, 7 AM, 8 AM, and 9 AM. People watching from home wondered when the event would finally end. It was said that the fans of both bands were threatening them to not stop performing. Both Maison Mere and BCBG nearly performed their entire musical catalogue. At one point, Maison Mère even played their advertisment track for Cowbell.
Around 2 PM, the police arrived. They first went to Village Bralima and used a megaphone to ask Wenge BCBG to stop the show, but fans started throwing stones and projectiles. The police responded with tear gas to disperse them. Instead of sending agents to cut the electricity, they started firing rubber bullets and tear gas towards the stage, causing dancers to fall 4 meters down. In the chaos, Wenge BCBG was chased out of FIKIN by the police followed by some fans.
Afterward, the police moved toward Village Vodacom. On their way, Maison Mère fans heard that BCBG's show had been interrupted and started celebrating, singing the chant “Werra Champion”, which they had been singing for hours along with Wenge Maison Mère. At Village Vodacom, police sent agents to the sound engineer to cut the electricity, while fans started to threw stones at them. The police dispersed the crowd and Werrason asked his fans to stop throwing stones. Instead of firing rubber bullets or tear gas on the stage, they simply asked Werrason and his band to leave the stage. After that Werrason went home.
Aftermath;
After the incidents at FIKIN, JB Mpiana took his singers and dancers to one of his houses near FIKIN before bringing them to the hospital. In the meantime, journalist Djo K started interviewing the dancers and singers who had been attacked, asking them about what happened and letting them show their injuries and frustration. The images were immediately broadcast on TV, shocking the public and sparking a huge debate about the fara-fara. Despite the incidents, JB Mpiana decided to perform later the same day at FIKIN, being escorted home by thousands of fans like a hero.
Things stayed relatively quiet around JB Mpiana and Wenge BCBG for a few days, until journalist Djo K Kabengele interviewed him about the incidents. JB Mpiana pointed the finger towards Werrason, accusing him of sending the police to fire rubber bullets, as people who followed both shows on tv reported that musicians of Maison Mere started singing “beta bango masasi” (“fire them bullets”) just before the police arrived. Not long after, JB Mpiana also did an interview with the late Francis Kakonde, expressing his frustration.
Seeing the negative impact of these interviews on his reputation, Werrason gave an interview to journalist Serge Kayembe to tell his side of the story, explaining that he was innocent and that the singing of “beta masasi” was just a coincidence and a traditional song. He gave the example that when they recorded Pentagone with Wenge 4x4, it had nothing to do with the later conflict with ADFL that ousted Mobutu. He also said that they just performed with one band since that their second Operation Dragon performed elsewhere, while Wenge BCBG was using their second team (the PPU's) sometimes while they were resting. Werrason also talked about the fara-fara's of 2003, saying that his show was also interrupted by the police with the police started between his fans and JB Mpiana proclaiming himself as winner, but, which why he refused to stop performing the fara-fara of 2005, adding that he didn't complain in 2003. Werrason criticized Maisha Parc in the interview, saying that they did nothing and claiming it was part of a plot against him. In the same interview, dancers like Linda, Gisele, and others insulted JB Mpiana’s dancers.
After the confrontations, both artists continued their shows and agenda. JB Mpiana worked on Kipe ya Yo, first named Balle de Match, while Werrason introduced a new dance, Kisanola, which he officially presented to his audience during his fifth show at FIKIN.
Werrason’s FIKIN show during the fara-fara with JB Mpiana was later released on DVD by the late Jules Bavon Mwambu’s label, JBM, along with the fara-fara against Koffi.
JB Mpiana’s show was released by Arme Lourde as Massacre FIKIN 2005, including the interview with Djo K Kabengele as a bonus, as well as the following show at FIKIN. The DVD sold extremely well and created also controversy with some people in Europe wondering how JB Mpiana and Werrason had so much influence on young audiences. Many also started to say that JB and Werrason were used by politicians to distract the young generation along with pastors and that it was time to stop churches and music both Congo and the Congolese diaspora in Europe. The DVD also contributed to Werrason being framed as pro-Kabila, leading many Europeans to develop a negative perception of him. This indirectly caused his first two concerts in Paris during the long 2006-07 European tour to be canceled by activists and his following event in Brussels getting sabotaged, with Werrason performing in an almost empty hall. Without the negotiations between Werrason and activists, the concert ban in the Schengen Area, could have started as early as 2006 like in the UK
Ricardo Elumbu, through his label Ricardo Productions, also released a DVD of JB Mpiana’s FIKIN show during the fara-fara, using footage from the TV channel Attente A, with a bonus interview of JB Mpiana with Francis Kakonde and reactions from the Maison Mère camp through Celeo and Aimelia.
Not long after, JC Songo released through his label Studio Management Plus the DVD La Riposte de Werrason, which included Werrason’s interview with Serge Kayembe and, as a bonus, a show of Wenge Maison Mère at La Zamba Playa. Despite the DVD’s release, most people in Europe still sided with JB Mpiana and believed that Werrason had called the police to shoot bullets. However, within a few months, people largely forgot about the FIKIN incidents and moved on. Later in October 2005, Werrason and Maison Mère returned to finish the recordings of Temoignage, which got released in December 2005, taking DR Congo by storm. In the song Temoignage, Werrason would respond to JB Mpiana's song Esau and the incidents of FIKIN 2005 (mwana mobali alelaka te).
