Papa Wemba first interview after his time in prison and Nouvelle Ecrita's concert at Grand Hotel as bonus. Viva La Musica and later Nouvelle Ecrita were so strong and popular and they were able to perform even without Wemba's presence. In 1984 they did 8 months without him and in 1979 he joined Tabu Ley's band for 6 months, leaving Viva in the hands of Emeneya. In 2003/04 Nouvelle Ecrita spent 16 months without Papa Wemba, but still performing in the area's of Kinshasa,in Brazzaville & Pointe Noire and pulling then big crowds. This all changed when Wemba wasn't motivated anymore with Alpatshino, Sampaio, etc. leaving Nouvelle Ecrita in 2006.

2003 was a painful year for Congolese with those big recordlabels closing down.

2003 was a painful year for Congolese with those big recordlabels closing down.

Yep 2003 was the end then Tabu Ley came with his criticism which resulted with the stupid rhumba take over, then artists got close to Kabila. then we ended up with the Europe ban and now we're getting below average album or song releases

In a result we started to see that Congolese was dying and people becoming obessed with money.

Papa Wemba first interview after his time in prison and Nouvelle Ecrita's concert at Grand Hotel as bonus. Viva La Musica and later Nouvelle Ecrita were so strong and popular and they were able to perform even without Wemba's presence. In 1984 they did 8 months without him and in 1979 he joined Tabu Ley's band for 6 months, leaving Viva in the hands of Emeneya. In 2003/04 Nouvelle Ecrita spent 16 months without Papa Wemba, but still performing in the area's of Kinshasa,in Brazzaville & Pointe Noire and pulling then big crowds. This all changed when Wemba wasn't motivated anymore with Alpatshino, Sampaio, etc. leaving Nouvelle Ecrita in 2006.

the lack of motivation from Wemba was it due to the fact he was going broke after the ngulu affair or the fact that Bazonkion EP flopped and Nouvelle Écriture was criticized ?

I guess Bendoson released his solo album in 2006 not long after everybody left. But some Nouvelle Écriture members like Apocalypse, Pacheco stayed until Wemba's death.

Nouvelle Ecriture was on its last feet.

2003 was a painful year for Congolese with those big recordlabels closing down.

Yep 2003 was the end then Tabu Ley came with his criticism which resulted with the stupid rhumba take over, then artists got close to Kabila. then we ended up with the Europe ban and now we're getting below average album or song releases

Like people are critizing Ferre Gola now about rumba's,people were then critizing Congolese artists for sebenes from 2003 with the release of Affaire d'Etat, Eureka and A La Que Leu Leu. Saying that nothing didn't change since 1997, that there was no innovation and not a real message in songs only names. Tabu Ley is just innocent. Koffi Olomide himself wanted to go back to his real Tcha-Tcho roots, but the succes of Wenge made him following their style. The same Koffi Olomide went to follow Fally Ipupa and Ferre Gola in making bedroom-songs when he saw that, that was the style which was pleasing the most people. After 2003 he their were still albums released with alot of sebene. Temoinage of Werrason, Et Apres of Wazekwa, Anti Terro of JB Mpiana, etc. It's just that those sebenes started to become something monotonious in the eyes of alot people. With rumba-albums like Je m'Appelle Toi, Monde Arabe, Temps d'Amour and later Droit Chemin & Sens Interdit sounding refreshing. Myself I started to found those sebene also boring, it looked like they couldn't deliver us something new. I guess that that has something to do with not a new generation coming and release a revolutionary album. Like Wenge came in 1991 with Kin E Bouge and changed the way of playing sebene.

With the Coupe-Decale revolution in 2003, the Francophone West-African media and nightclubs in Paris who were owned by them prefered to promote people coming from their countries more than the almost becoming legends (Koffi, Werrason, etc.).

After reading this Congolese won't change it will be just poor.

Papa Wemba first interview after his time in prison and Nouvelle Ecrita's concert at Grand Hotel as bonus. Viva La Musica and later Nouvelle Ecrita were so strong and popular and they were able to perform even without Wemba's presence. In 1984 they did 8 months without him and in 1979 he joined Tabu Ley's band for 6 months, leaving Viva in the hands of Emeneya. In 2003/04 Nouvelle Ecrita spent 16 months without Papa Wemba, but still performing in the area's of Kinshasa,in Brazzaville & Pointe Noire and pulling then big crowds. This all changed when Wemba wasn't motivated anymore with Alpatshino, Sampaio, etc. leaving Nouvelle Ecrita in 2006.

the lack of motivation from Wemba was it due to the fact he was going broke after the ngulu affair or the fact that Bazonkion EP flopped and Nouvelle Écriture was criticized ?

I guess Bendoson released his solo album in 2006 not long after everybody left. But some Nouvelle Écriture members like Apocalypse, Pacheco stayed until Wemba's death.

Wemba wanted to spent more time with his family (don't forget that he was already 56 years old at that time), another thing was that he wasn't able to bring Nouvelle Ecriture to Europe anymore hich made him to concentrate more on Viva Tendance who were based in Europe, but their album Nkunzi Lele wasn't well received.

Banzokion was 50% 50%. The generique was well received and also the rumba Penitence Na Nga, which made alot of people discover Olivier Tshimanga. It was just that the songs of the Nouvelle Ecriture-members flopped. With people then saying that they became to old and had to leave, which made them leave one by one. Papa Wemba wanted then to make a new start by creating "Bana Malongi" with them recording Kaka Yo, but that album also flopped except the song "Ye Te Oh". Wemba himself wasn't really able to promote Banzonkion in Kinshasa. Because after finishing his case in France (who blocked him 16 months in France), the Belgium-justice wanted to hear him about that ngulu-affaire which made him again being blocked for months in Europe and returing in 2006. The sad thing about that is that the USA and UK refused to let him in their countries. Because of that he missed the event for Nelson Mandela's birthday at the Wembley-Stadium in London. While his song Esclave his considered as one of the anti-apartheid songs. You know what it means for an artist to perform at the Wembley-stadium and Madison Square Garden.

Bendoson released his album Face B in 2007. He was fired by Papa Wemba in 2005 after those Maisha Parc-reunions since that he said that it would lead to nothing and many other things which angered Wemba.

After reading this Congolese won't change it will be just poor.

why ?

Congolese music today does not interest me perfer to listen classic music.