Thereafter we started seeing the same format from the likes of Arlus Mabele and Loketo, Kassav and other session musicians developing what was called internationally 'Soukouss'  ....

You mean to tell me Zaiko are the ones to blame for Kanda Bongo Man and his peers??

hat album though was perfect for Western audiences, particularly those who just learned about the band or even African music in general. I agree it takes out the soul of Zaiko, if that was what you were alluding to... it’s like a movie with non-stop action scenes rather than a slow intriguing buildup

Yeah I understood the concept and it's subsequent popularity.  It's just one of those albums that I rarely go to.  Same goes for Franco's Animation Non Stop, Sam Mangwana's Megamix and any song Pepe Kalle re-made to fit into the soukous format.

Clan Zaiko were very instrumental in Modern Congolese music from the introduction of the keyboards in sebene -- Pepe Manuaku (Nzenze Mogengo w/Grand Zaiko); atalakus to Papa Wemba introducing the lokole.

Little known fact but...the genre "Soukous" dates back to 1959. I'll do a thread on the history of Soukous and the different types of Rumba. Will also add guitarists that changed the game (era).

@mvulusi96

I'm glad Zaiko answered their critics strongly with the generique; too many people were dismissing them as irrelevant!

1999 was a good year for Congolese music

Not really. Nous Y Sommes was played in all bars and was a succes with those new animations "cimitiere ya kintambo", "lisolo ya niama zamba" & "oyo akolia bonne annee te". It was just that Koffi was mocking them that they were local and only performing at the Roint Point Kimpwanza in Kasa-Vubu, while he was getting awards performing at Olympia & Zenith, which pissed Nyoka Longo off and the song Roint Point making it worser. This all made Nyoka Longo do his best to bring Zaiko back to Europe. He was later on invited at Festival des Cannes, but people in Kinshasa & the Congolese diaspora didn't notice it, since that he doesn't talk alot like Koffi and the leaders of Clan Wenge.


Beside the generique and Willy's song I doesn't really like Poison. There was not something new or a thing to say wow, like albums of Clan Wenge, Quartier Latin and Nouvelle Ecriture.

Some Poison tracks like Top Premier were better in live:



They should have recorded something closer to the live version instead. This way those songs are only a nice collection of ideas.

Wow really? I loved poison that's the last zaiko album I've listened to in full, the only song I didn't like was lassa's song six mois de silence

@mvulusi96

Damn dude, you didn't like Kasu Roba or Ngolu? The sebenes, vocals, and animations were good

I was more in Clan Wengé, Nouvelle Ecriture and Quartier Latin. I started to find Zaiko’s music to old, not innovating and music of “ba tata mibimba” like my friends. Baza ko rond point kaka hahahaha.

I forgot to mention, I liked also Cele Mbonda’s song and the sebene of Monica Bussiness Women (because of papy cocaïne),  the rest of Poison was for me muehh.

@mvulusi96

That's fair criticism, Zaiko did the best they could to keep up with the times while maintaining their long celebrated sound.

The fact that they could never get ahead of the much young competition probably factored into the defections they experienced shortly thereafter.

I was more in Clan Wengé, Nouvelle Ecriture and Quartier Latin. I started to find Zaiko’s music to old, not innovating and music of “ba tata mibimba” like my friends. Baza ko rond point kaka hahahaha.

I forgot to mention, I liked also Cele Mbonda’s song and the sebene of Monica Bussiness Women (because of papy cocaïne),  the rest of Poison was for me muehh.

I think the reason that you did not find it interesting is because they have not made their studio albums for a long time similar to the Live Versions. Many of the records released since 1999 is better live than on the album. In the studio versions, the sebene melodies are shortened, they are like "trailers" of the live show. Their recent record: Bande Annoance is a step forward in this sense, because they made it very similar to how they play it on stage.

This is why most of their old albums is better to listen to, because it is very much like the stage experience.

@mvulusi96

It seems as if Zaiko and Quartier Latin like to share artists; Deo Brando, Rocky Blanchard, Willy Bula, and Lola Muana.

As for Willy Bula, why would he depart from Zaiko during the production of Poison? I heard rumors that he wanted to be a solo artist, is that true? What made Deo Brando leave Zaiko, was Koffi offering better pay or was it because of a falling out?

And lastly, where is Rocky Blanchard settled these days? I hope he is well

The most artists who went from Zaiko to QL and from QL to Zaiko took just avandatage of the beef Nyoka Longo had with Koffi and those of QL who joined Zaiko, were artists who Koffi didn't need anymore and they saw Zaiko as only band to join which a had little fame, since that they know that it would be easy to join Wenge or in Paris based Viva La Musica.

Bro if Willy wanted to be a solo artist then he would already have released a solo album, because back in those days it was easy to get a recordlabel to record an album even if he didn't had a good cv. He just left because he wanted to settle in Europe and with Zaiko coming in Europe in 1999, he took finally his chance after not being there for 5 years. Its very sad because he had an excellent song in the album called Revelation, which was seen as the best rumba of the album. Nyoka Longo was very angry when Willy Bula ran away in Europe and decided to skip Revelation from the listrack of the album on the second pressing. It very rare to see a cd with the song Revelation on that disc.

What happened to Willy Bula after leaving Zaiko ? I heard that he decided to stop music until Koffi invited him some months ago.