I agree with that. Some of those who have the capacity should do such projects. But I don't blame Prosmart studio for not having done this so far. It is Jeannot Bel who is behind it, a freelance musician, I think he simply has no chance to do such things at the moment. But maybe in the future he will try to take part in similar projects, too. I assume recently his timetable ties his hands. However if I were in Kinshasa, I would definately do such researches. It might not be that complicated, you just need to take a decent handycam and voice recorder, and try to find the persons for your video. Some years ago I wanted to make a friend in Kinshasa to do this, after I mail him a camcorder, but he moved to Morocco, so this was abandoned. Actually we could also have made money by this, by uploading the videos to a webstore. A part of that money could also be transferred back to the people who are showing things in the video, as revenue.
Maybe. However tutorials are only available at 2 shops And if someone cheks the inventory there, they will find it. I think once someone checked the DVD's available, tehy will choose accoarding to which songs they want to learn, and choose the artist who plays them. At least I do it this way. If I wanted to learn Wenge MM stuff, I would definately choose his DVD or Flamme Kapaya's. Not Diblo Dibala's or Roxy Thaimpaka's tutorial. So this is not the same competition that you have on a Jazz guitar tutorial market.
I bet you it easier to find one than a customer for that DVD...
But for international fans this is a very good source. This tutorial DVD. Like me. I have no chance at the moment to travel to Congo. So such DVD's are the only source to check things which I am uncertain about.
Anyway, without knowing this story on deeper levels, knowing Nyoka Longo is in the cultural ministry, office or whatever, means something good for me. Not only fans think Nyoka Longo is faithful to the classical elements of Congolese music, like the sebene, but he also expressed it himself that he always tried to stay loyal to the musical traditions of the Bacongo. Knowing this, having him as a coordinator means good to me. However I don't know Nyoka Longo's personality, if he becomes corrupt like politicans, that won't be good, that is sure.
That massive level of piracy is not good indeed. I don't expect it can get better in Kinshasa, I don't blame people there either, because customers simply have no cash, they do not even have for food. But abroad, in countries where conditions are better, they should sanction thisin shops. But of course it is just one more among the 'should be done' things.
However, in this circumstance, artist have to put emphasis on earning from performances and not CDs. At least it would have a benefit: in Europe and US the gap between artists and fans is too much when it comes to pop music. The band hides in the studio, fans can listen to the CD at home, they sometimes can go to see the band on a concert. In traditional music, as it is mainly for dance, the emphasis is on live performance, the CD is marginal. And this is good, becuase this way this kind of music becomes more the part of the everyday life of people who like this music. Congolese music could also benefit from this. So CD is not all. You can either focus on the CD or the live performance. Things can work either way. So this piracy is not the end of the world.
On the other hand, I think Congolese music have serious issues with the sound of live performances, especially when singers sing in polyphony, so in choruses, for example. On CDs, choruses are always in tune, and they are good, but I rarely see a band, where vocal polyphony is in tune or correct on stage. The reason can be that the singers are changing too often, and the various melody lines are not adapted correctly by new singers, and the chorus that was originally correct becomes out of tune. And I also think the mixing of vocals is not good either. They often mix backing vocals to the front on stage mixers, to the same volume that of the lead vocal, that is nonsense, it ruins the sound. These things might be overlooked in an authentic audience, but abroad this is a very big mistake. The audience don't forgive this, so if Congolese bands want to be more successful, this problem must be addressed. Correct polyphony on vocals, correct mixing of vocals and also instruments -> and trust me, it will be way much easier to catch the attention of people.
So, dear members, let's see which was the best album of 2014 accoarding to your preference? I would like to keep this topic objective, so please don't comment on other's choices, just write an artist and title. And please select only 1 album. It can either be a CD or DVD, or a live performance that was not recorded but put to Youtube.
For some reason Congolese artists are not good at promoting themselves. In a way this is an advantage, as US style music promotion methods do not do good for the artistic content of music in some aspect. But the extent of lag the Congolese music is in now because of this, caused that the music from other countries have more and more impact on it. Those foreign musicians can somehow find their way better internationally than Congolese.
I would also like to see how bands earned money in Zaire. I know Franco was a main coordinator, I guess others were in key positions too, like Verckys. I wonder where the money that bands earned came from, whether things went like in Europe, or it was more like a patronage system. Knowing this would answer many questions I think. Because it may be possible that Congolese atrists got used to earning cash in ways that is different than in abroad, and that's why they are not succesful internationally. Days of the Zairean economic and political system are over, and what they used to doesn't exsist any more. Maybe this is a key aspect in the problem. I am not sure, I am not into the history of Zaire too much in this regard.
And the music fans in Congo may also cause this by their attitude. For you as a foreigner, it may seem strange but not every Congolese favour Congolese music as much as you and me. Some actually find the new wave: Nombolo unsymphatetic, associate it with the war in Congo, some other are just more interested in foreign cultures. Actually what happened is that Zaire launched this authenticité, that was a good idea originally, but coupled with the corrupt political system, it is now just an element of the unsuccesful past. And maybe in the mind of people Congolese cultural inventions became less interesting, kind of things to forget, and they are looking to abroad, where people live better and where artists are more successful and represent a different ideology than that of Zaire. For example I have a Congolese friend who is West oriented culturally, he reads many things about what artists did in the West, history, etc., that kids in Europe and in the US learn at school. He is a devoted fan of Dr. Nico, but not interested in Franco and Zaiko that much. And it has a political reason I think. That two branch represented different ideas on politics, and the one that Nico represented is more charming now than in the times of Zaire. One thing is sure, that cultural pride that existed in Zaire doesn't exist now, so no wonder foreign styles have greater impact. It should be the role of the cultural minister to address this problem, in case he feels responsible to what Congolese artists built up in the past 40-50 years. But I doubt be would be counscious of these things that much.
I always ask myself why groups like that arent more popular among the people..
Oh, that is a totally different question. And not easy to answer. It would be totally enough to make me glad if I could experince these bands have more ambitions. But why they do not have? Maybe they don't realize the potential there is in their music. Just guessing...
Which is that gospel band anyway, that you talk about?
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