Explaining his songs

This is when Tabu Ley was free to return to Kinshasa after his exile.

Why he was in exil ?

This is when Tabu Ley was free to return to Kinshasa after his exile.

He returned already in 1997 and somewhere in 1999 restarted his career.

I thought he stopped playing music until 2002 and was involved in government.

Why he was in exil ?

Because back in 1990 he sung a song against Mobutu called Trop c'est Trop. The song made the governement ban from then all Tabu Ley-songs and albums in Zaire.


Then when he was a Paris, some Mobutu-supporters said that they had beautifel picture for him (a picture of a killed  person cut into pieces) and that Mobutu said that he would do that to him if he would return. It scared him alot and he didn't even want to watch to the picture. Then in 1993 he released the album Exil-Ley which had some songs against Mobutu's regime. The song "Le Glas a Sonne" became very famous when he returned in 1997. In the time that he was living in Paris (1990-1993) before going to the United States, he made alot of interviews against Mobutu's regime.



That exil kind of killed his career and his fame. People say that its because Franco's death that Tabu Ley lost his fame, but they forgot that he was in exil some months after his death and that all his albums were forbidden in Kinshasa.



People said that Koffi Olomide, Werrason, J.B. Mpiana, Fally Ipupa, etc. had to sing against Joseph Kabila, but they forgot that nobody support supported Tabu Ley when he was in exil and he wasn't even rewarded by L.D. Kabila's regime for having fought against Mobutu's.

I thought he stopped playing music until 2002 and was involved in government.

He stoped in 2005, when he became Vice-Governor of Kinshasa. He wanted to stop already in 2000 and made a big event for it at Grand Hotel de Kinsasa called Jubi-Ley. But people supplied him to not stop with singing. In 2009 he re-started his career and went to Cuba, then after performing there he got a stroke and never became the same person he used to be.

Very risky to be in the Mobutu regime but at least Tabu Ley managed to bring the whole afrisa to Europe.

Very risky to be in the Mobutu regime but at least Tabu Ley managed to bring the whole afrisa to Europe.

Tabu Ley was already in Europe when he sung the song. He was busy with touring in the United States if I remember well before returning to Paris again. If he sung the song in Kinshasa then he would have been already put in prison or death, he wouldn't have been able to go to Europe, because they would block those visa applications.

I think that the event of 24 April 1990 made him think like many other peoples that Mobutu would resign from his fonction as president very soon and that Etienne Tshisekedi would become the new president. But things went very different with that "Conférence nationale souveraine"  taking 2 years long (1990-1992) and Mobutu staying president until 1997.



I think that we wouldn't have the problems we have today if Mobutu decided to resign from his fonctions in 1990.

Very risky to be in the Mobutu regime but at least Tabu Ley managed to bring the whole afrisa to Europe.

Tabu Ley was already in Europe when he sung the song. He was busy with touring in the United States if I remember well before returning to Paris again. If he sung the song in Kinshasa then he would have been already put in prison or death, he wouldn't have been able to go to Europe, because they would block those visa applications.

My mum told me sometimes Tabu Ley would return to Africa is that true during the exile?

I think that the event of 24 April 1990 made him think like many other peoples that Mobutu would resign from his fonction as president very soon and that Etienne Tshisekedi would become the new president. But things went very different with that "Conférence nationale souveraine"  taking 2 years long (1990-1992) and Mobutu staying president until 1997.



I think that we wouldn't have the problems we have today if Mobutu decided to resign from his fonctions in 1990.

Is it how the 1991 riot started?

No, that was about soldiers being angry for not being paid. Some people said that it was an idea from the Mobutu-adivors to put the country more in the crisis to control the country better like they did in 1973 with the Zairianisation. Then it restarted again in 1993 because of soldiers being paid those 5 millions Zaire-banknotes (they made new banknotes), but those economic operators refusing it and the soldiers started those riots again.



It make me always angry when people say that Mobutu was the best president ever. He killed the economy, our army and the education for his own power. He killed the whole polictial class and now we have only politicians who only care about themselves, who doesn't have any patriotism and are easy to corrupt, since they only want money.

It's really horrible he destroyed the country.

It's really horrible he destroyed the country.

Yeah, with Jospeh Kabila making it worser. I think that it was because of him getting advisors of Mobutu around him from 2002/03 when Belgium advised him to do that. With guys like Leon Kengo Wa Dondo, Mokolo Wa Pombo, etc. returning to DR Congo after being in exil since 1997.