Monde Arabe's format was in response to Karmpa's first album Je m'apelle toi love moi, which garnered high praise from Koffi's idol, Tabu Ley on national television. He stated that artists had lost plot by doing too much noisy dance music and labeled newcomer Karmpa as the heir to rhumba.

This incensed Koffi and he shot back by creating an album dominated by strong rhumbas. There were other artists who also weren't too happy about seigneur Ley's criticism.

Had SonoDisc/Next music not gone bankrupt and if Monde arabe was released a year earlier at the end of 2003, it would've had the same format as Effrakata & ADE.

It would've been better had they not taken the criticism so personally, in my opinion

This is one of the things that has killed congolese music

Monde Arabe's format was in response to Karmpa's first album Je m'apelle toi love moi, which garnered high praise from Koffi's idol, Tabu Ley on national television. He stated that artists had lost plot by doing too much noisy dance music and labeled newcomer Karmpa as the heir to rhumba.

This incensed Koffi and he shot back by creating an album dominated by strong rhumbas. There were other artists who also weren't too happy about seigneur Ley's criticism.

Had SonoDisc/Next music not gone bankrupt and if Monde arabe was released a year earlier at the end of 2003, it would've had the same format as Effrakata & ADE.

It would've been better had they not taken the criticism so personally, in my opinion

Wow really? This kills me inside. There wasn't any criticism of him destroying sebene? Was there any reaction from him?

Monde Arabe's format was in response to Karmpa's first album Je m'apelle toi love moi, which garnered high praise from Koffi's idol, Tabu Ley on national television. He stated that artists had lost plot by doing too much noisy dance music and labeled newcomer Karmpa as the heir to rhumba.

This incensed Koffi and he shot back by creating an album dominated by strong rhumbas. There were other artists who also weren't too happy about seigneur Ley's criticism.

Had SonoDisc/Next music not gone bankrupt and if Monde arabe was released a year earlier at the end of 2003, it would've had the same format as Effrakata & ADE.

It would've been better had they not taken the criticism so personally, in my opinion

Wow really? This kills me inside.

Yes Monde Arabe was supposed to have the same format as Effrakata but Koffi was very touched by the way Tabu Ley criticised him for abandoning the Tcha Tcho style so he decided to drop sebenes I learned that in this forum I was a little bit mad against Tabu Ley's past comments because indirectly it kill congolese music he also said that he was dissapointed by Papa Wemba.

Personally I think he was wrong back in those days 2003-04 era nobody was complaining because artists back then used to release strong quality albums with good songs and their rhumbas were not obscene and senseless as it is today. You had the "carré magique" The golden WMMM,BCBG, the Real (yes i said Real QLI) Quartier Latin who used to give Wenge generation hard competition, Nouvelle Écriture with Alpatchino,Apocalypse released strong albums like A La Une Mwalimu,Somo Trop even groups like Zaiko Langa Langa who had just released Eureka were still putting good albums like Poison by example.

Now when people thinks about congolese music they think about the old classics albums like Solola Bien,Loi,Titanic,Effrakata ect and people who witnessed the 80's 90's early 2000's tends to listen old songs instead of current releases. Even back then they were not complaining about the then current music because they were always quality albums being released

It makes sense that no one complained during those times. But what pisses me off is that when everyone started to complain, guys like koffi didn't do anything about it and still continued doing the same thing? They just let the genre die like that because an older artist criticized them? The level of sensitivity is too much.

Monde Arabe's format was in response to Karmpa's first album Je m'apelle toi love moi, which garnered high praise from Koffi's idol, Tabu Ley on national television. He stated that artists had lost plot by doing too much noisy dance music and labeled newcomer Karmpa as the heir to rhumba.

This incensed Koffi and he shot back by creating an album dominated by strong rhumbas. There were other artists who also weren't too happy about seigneur Ley's criticism.

Had SonoDisc/Next music not gone bankrupt and if Monde arabe was released a year earlier at the end of 2003, it would've had the same format as Effrakata & ADE.

It would've been better had they not taken the criticism so personally, in my opinion

Wow really? This kills me inside.

Yes Monde Arabe was supposed to have the same format as Effrakata but Koffi was very touched by the way Tabu Ley criticised him for abandoning the Tcha Tcho style so he decided to drop sebenes I learned that in this forum I was a little bit mad against Tabu Ley's past comments because indirectly it kill congolese music he also said that he was dissapointed by Papa Wemba.

Personally I think he was wrong back in those days 2003-04 era nobody was complaining because artists back then used to release strong quality albums with good songs and their rhumbas were not obscene and senseless as it is today. You had the "carré magique" The golden WMMM,BCBG, the Real (yes i said Real QLI) Quartier Latin who used to give Wenge generation hard competition, Nouvelle Écriture with Alpatchino,Apocalypse released strong albums like A La Une Mwalimu,Somo Trop even groups like Zaiko Langa Langa who had just released Eureka were still putting good albums like Poison by example.

Now when people thinks about congolese music they think about the old classics albums like Solola Bien,Loi,Titanic,Effrakata ect and people who witnessed the 80's 90's early 2000's tends to listen old songs instead of current releases. Even back then they were not complaining about the then current music because they were always quality albums being released

no man, there where alot people complaining, saying that Generation Wenge killed the Congolese-music. Kester was criticising Koffi, for not more being the poet he knew in the Tcha-Tcho du Sorcier and Le Etudiant le Plus Celebre du Zaire-days and that Generation Wenge had killed the Congolese Music by only thinking about dancing and that songs where about nothing but only mabanga's and the artists where only thinking about buying cars and building villa's. Also Wemba, who was saying indirectly in interviews that he didn't really like that jump-music and was more fan World-music and the real Viva-music and  also saying that despite the succes of Congolese Music in africa and playing at concerts halls like Zenith, Bercy and Olympia that the music was dying. Koffi himself was also not a real fan of the music he was creating from Magie till Affaire d'Etat, but he had not a choice because he wanted to be ahead of the Wenge-Generation.

Koffi took Tabu Ley's critism not to personal, he was on the other side also happy. Because he could then finally go back to his roots, making real love-music. Something that he loved to do instead of making the whole time ndombolo. I remember after getting the gold-record of B.E.K., he said that he was happy to make those kind of music again and that he left that scream music (he allez keba, bloque) to his Ivorians brothers.

If the Congolese music declined, then it is not Koffi's fault. But the fault of Generation Wenge was stupid to fall in Koffi's trap, instead of stepping their game up or creating another style, like Tabu Ley in the past who was scared of the Les Maquisards-succes (Dalienst Ntesa, Kiesse Diambu, etc.) and decided to create the Soum-Djoum music-style. It is also the fault of the Congolese-governement by not investing-money in the Congolese music-Industry. Because after the closing of Veve, there was not more a real Congolese-music label who could promote new Congolese-musicians, which gave "Le Carre Magique" to much power and ability to reign for more than 20 years a kill potential shoot-off bands like Academia, Les Marquis, Nouvelle Ecriture de l'an 2000, etc.

Another fact is the Congolese governement killing Soneca (not wanting to see musicians take away their girls, Dr Nico, Tabu Ley, Franco, etc. ans starting gaining until the mid-70's alot of money) with in the end-80's big artists going to affiliate to Sacem or Saban and preferring to work with foreigners like JPS Production, SIPE, Sonodisc, etc. instead of Zairan producers like Tonton Mayala, Rigo Makengo, etc who where more local.

If you watch this video you will understand more why Congolese music declined

Thats interesting. If koffi didn't like the music he did from magie up until Affaire d etat, then I really thank him for creating the music for the people and not for himself those yrs. I see your point with wenge generation. They basically let koffi take over and change everything. Then they followed him. Also what do they say in that video because I cannot understand it.

To say he didn't like the music would be an overstatement; he wanted to the audience to allot more time to his own tcha tcho and rhumba rather than the 50%- up to 80% sebene at concerts and albums. In some concerts you'll notice him standing around during sebene, almost out if boredom because the audience wants to keep dancing, whilst he wants to sing a rhumba.

The video is about Congolese artists, well-known producers (like Jimmy Mukelenge, Jose Kapesa) and other journalists/figureheads (like Turbo Nganga of Bruxelles) becoming aware of the excesses (too much dance, big concert contracts, foreign producers, oversized bands, mabanga, polemics, flashiness, etc.) and how it wasn't sustainable. "Vanité des vanités" - Kester . Lack of oversight at this time is mentioned by all the speakers

Perfect example; whilst the highly respected older artists (Papa Wendo, King Kester, Pepe Felly Gina wa Gina, Reddy) like were lamenting on excesses, here is Werra standing outside Hotel Conrad in Paris next to a horse with fan club MM bragging about his stay and his upcoming Palais des sports concert.

Similarly, JB is interviewed at a swanky hotel with his entourage years later.

Very nice compilation by Les amis de Wetchi