http://baobab.a.la9.jp/wenge%20family.html
http://baobab.a.la9.jp/wengemusica.html
http://baobab.a.la9.jp/wengeBCBG.html
http://baobab.a.la9.jp/wenge%20MMM.html

Same case for Zaiko, TPOK, Empire Bakuba, Afrisa, and Viva La Musica catalogues. I'm not sure there isn't a Congolese equivalent for  Western and African markets.

http://baobab.a.la9.jp/wenge%20family.html
http://baobab.a.la9.jp/wengemusica.html
http://baobab.a.la9.jp/wengeBCBG.html
http://baobab.a.la9.jp/wenge%20MMM.html

Same case for Zaiko, TPOK, Empire Bakuba, Afrisa, and Viva La Musica catalogues. I'm not sure there isn't a Congolese equivalent for  Western and African markets.

There is a very large following of Lingala music in Japan.
The compilations here are rather complete, in fact there are a few CD's I am yet to see.
I just hope that the musicians benefit from the sales of this large market, otherwise someon is benefitting from
the sweat and creativity of the musicians.

Great marketing of the music though.

http://baobab.a.la9.jp/wenge%20family.html
http://baobab.a.la9.jp/wengemusica.html
http://baobab.a.la9.jp/wengeBCBG.html
http://baobab.a.la9.jp/wenge%20MMM.html

Same case for Zaiko, TPOK, Empire Bakuba, Afrisa, and Viva La Musica catalogues. I'm not sure there isn't a Congolese equivalent for  Western and African markets.

There is a very large following of Lingala music in Japan.
The compilations here are rather complete, in fact there are a few CD's I am yet to see.
I just hope that the musicians benefit from the sales of this large market, otherwise someon is benefitting from
the sweat and creativity of the musicians.

Great marketing of the music though.

This shop gets the CDs and DVDs directly from the production house (production codes included on top left of each album). If we Africans had a established vendor like this with full catalogues directly from the production house I bet a lot of the off-shoots artist would be faring much better than they are now.

Indeed they big fans of the genre. Fan Club Viva Japon and fan club Zaiko are still in operation after over 30 years. If any of the artists, whether lead or mbonda decides to visit Tokyo, they take good care them there. Stino and Wemba used to frequent - that's how he got his MJ outfits.

One of the reasons the older artists loved Yamamoto so much was because their Japan fan clubs were sending them the latest collections.

Thats interesting! Never knew the Japanese were huge fans of our music like that. Makes me wonder why guys like koffi and werrason never performed there in the 2000s.