i am doing my best to finish it by this weekend hopefully i will
this part will be about the origins of mabanga in congolese music its evolution,how it became a great substitute to copyright although they still believe they should have made more money than that,the phenomenon on matolo how its organized,who has the right of what,the donors and their desires towards leaders,the way leaders allow or not interaction between their musicians and some donors,the way leaders can have strong authority on donors who give them nice money...

Thanks a lot Archos we look forwards to it

Thanks bro

MABANGA


Eversince music has existed in Congo as a profession,it was always built in a format needing external support for artists to blossom
it is true that in the early days before and after independence there was a little bit of structure where artists had perception that they were getting their due rights
however from the 80's situation will start to change,with external support from friends or fans starting to reach another level
in fact in the famous "visa 80" tour the musicians will start getting more approach from fans with gifts in hope of a shoutout either in concert  or in next album
so even though elders already gave the odd shoutout here and there it reaches a new level in 1980's especially with viva la musica and sapeurs needing recognition and seeking mabanga in return of clothes so that their names are known
in the early 90's with the rise of wenge musica who have relationship with presidential family authorities and their relatives start to develop some taste for shoutout either for free as a sign of gratefulness for their help in daily life,or some already starting to pay a bit
this decade sees the birth of the paid mabanga phenomenon,with people starting to pay 100 200 300 dollars for a shoutout in a song,and artists feeling that the phenomenon is reaching a new dimension are starting to "sell" their songs,in other words somebody who wants a song to his name to get more recognition coming with an offer either of money,clothes,a car,or car fret
songs are then sold for 1000 1500 dollars unless somebody himself gives bigger
outside sapeurs,mabanga also helps diamond businessmen of angola,tshikapa,mbujimayi,kananga...attract clients to their business
in 2000's the game with completely reach a new dimension with pretty much everybody doing it in groups,from the leader to the percussionist which is considered like the lowest category of groups along with atalakus and dancers,everybody wants to add mabanga on albums
and musicians allowed to put song in group albums of their leaders start to taste the sweet mabanga money,it then evolves from 1000 1500 in 90's to 5000 for a song and 2000 2500 for band members
in mid 2000's as the demand completely rises,price goes up to 1Ok minmum for leaders and 5K for band members,politicians,businessment,sapeurs,hustlers,soldiers..everybody wants his share of glory through shoutouts or songs
especially for politicians mabanga become very very important,it is rare to find a politician who has become famous without mabanga either before they become influent politicians(like andre kimbuta),or when they are already established and want people to know their name well
after 2005 it completely explodes and the standard for a big star is minimum 15K for a song, 1000 for a shoutout,so even if they do not earn big copyright they can make up to 100k with an album
with the progressive disappearance of producers,mabanga and song selling take a super crucial part in the career of artists,as they now have to fund their albums themselves,which has forced them to make album tracklist bigger,going up to 30+ songs at time
so assuming most long studio sessions for albums can go up to 100K of studio fees having 20+ or 30+ songs 15k or more each can cover studio fees,save some money for new expensive car,or buying a house...
The most expensive song ever should have been a 80K song done by fally ipupa but the project did not go as planned with donor taking a step back,but he still holds so far the record with maria pm for 55k
as for the interaction between leaders and their musicians over mabanga,most leaders would allow their musicians maximum 10 mabanga each to be done by themselves leaders outside of what the singers would do in vocals,and for those who are given songs depending on mood leader can decide to take 50 per cent  of the money of each song or they threaten not to release the song,on some rare cases like what happened recently to ali mbonda the musician does not see a single cent of the money,not necessarily blocked by the boss himself but shared within the system behind the leader's back

MATOLO AND DONORS

like it is said above,musicians since several years had to seek support from people to make up for ever-deteriorating copyright system,but the name of MATOLO will appear in early 90's
in fact even if musicians already go to see people in offices or shops to get some financial support there was not a name for it until in early 1990's with the group wenge musica
in 1990 1991 the name of MATOLO will appear from when businessman and traditional chief david matadikibala offers 6 landplots to the 6 main guys of wenge musica
and as they have managed to build something on their own( some sort of farms)they need extra money to build nice roofs( roof in french is tole)so they have to ask for money with their donors and blaise will often say "toke luka mbongo ya ba toles,matolooo" and the expression will be spread and it will become something automatic for congolese people that if you have to go and ask to somebody for money even your own family its MATOLO
so matolo in congolese music can go from a random band member going to seek help to pay their house rent to leader wanting to buy an expensive car and going for high level matolo in office of ministers
Apart from their natural influence,leaders and employees often use witchcraft to put spells on donors to always give them whatever they ask no matter their situation
in the peak of ndombolo era some leaders even made donors agree to give them houses in nice areas like that
as for the interaction between leaders and musicians over matolo it depends,some leaders do not mind at all their musicians going to seek help with their donors even the high profile ones,some give limited access to some of their favorites,some can suspend you for having gone to their donor without asking them
and whats more surprising is that they can find a potential big donor brought by a band member then make him their own and order the donor not to give anymore to that musician unless they give them green light
another case of that type is when musicians leave big groups some leaders will threaten to blacklist a donor from mabanga knowing they still have plenty and the demand might never dry for new figures too if the donor is rumoured or proven to have supported their ex musician
the influence of donors grows depending of how rich they seem,so some donors can start from the odd mabanga in an album to the "grand chelem"(having a song by all top stars) by 5 10 years
as strange as it can seem in most cases musicians have more authority on the donors than the opposite,the only case where musicians bow down to donors easily is when  they are in need of good money and it happens that the donor also had a meeting with another artist they dont get along with,even if some overdominant artists still manage to control the donor to extent that they can influence him to blacklist for no reason the rival artist
female dancers are often used by leaders to attract donors or cement them permanently and what is not known as it has not become very common yet there is a starting phenomenon of donors wanting relationships with singers  now to give their full support to a group
most musicians could not care less whether donor gets his money through human sacrifice,blood diamond,dark business...two of the rare musicians who seem to care a little bit are felix wazekwa and karmapa,maybe because of their religious convictions

Merci @Archos. I see where the matolo comes from. Lol... I saw an interview where Blaise Bula said at his peak, he was very good at matolo kosakana te... I also saw an interview Adolphe Dominguez praising Moise Katumbi saying no one gives money like Moise. From the beginning you see Tata heaping praises on Moise.

I heard that Celeo Scram is the one who discovered Katumbi na ndenge ya mabanga, is it true?

Thank you @Archos for all this information. Do you think that if tomorrow we no longer have donors in music, how will Congolese music be financed for the musicians who have the least means (not the big leaders like Koffi, JB, Werra, Fally and Ferre..) ?

It will be very hard,it is already hard lets be honest the biggest donors care the most about the biggest leaders,which is why many guys on a rise like to have an older leader as some sort of mentor in order to get easier access to big donors
 the system like it is today is already not satisfying properly band members if crisis hit donors harder there will be massive trouble
in reality most of the guys leaders and musicians included who lived the "world war 2" era or in simpler words the peak of ndombolo had crazy money in their hands,imagine guys like celeo or brigade in their first olympia and bercy alone the guy were counting 10 15k of mabanga money and gifts,big leaders were a little bit smarter than their employees but in reality many of the guys who are seen as past it today or struggleing just did not anticipate the situation of today so they were splashing the cash in partying
otherwise,that era was generating more money than today despite price of songs having gone up and musicians were perfectly fine in groups until they have a good 50 people having to deal with in terms of problems and so on,while they also had to party and show off for the good image of the group,this is where most conflicts started from
no salary will ever be big enough to satisfy band members because they face the situation of the country
imagine lets say for example the mbonda player of but na filet,since but na filet had a couple of hits,you'll see the guy's brothers,sisters,cousins,aunts,neighbours,former childhood friends and so on already  putting mad pressure on him imagineing that with salary and mabanga he has plenty of money

Merci @Archos. I see where the matolo comes from. Lol... I saw an interview where Blaise Bula said at his peak, he was very good at matolo kosakana te... I also saw an interview Adolphe Dominguez praising Moise Katumbi saying no one gives money like Moise. From the beginning you see Tata heaping praises on Moise.

I heard that Celeo Scram is the one who discovered Katumbi na ndenge ya mabanga, is it true?

Yes and co. Marie Paul already mentioned his name in 2001, in the song Etienne Mundele. Back in those days he hadn't the money that he started to get in the mid 2000s. Celeo Scram discovered him in 2006, when he was an influent member of PPRD and was voted as national deputy. Celeo was really close to the whole PPRD-cartel when he was in Maison Mere, something that didn't please Werrason. Sometimes I wonder how if Werrason didn't order them to blacklist Celeo, like Didi Kinuani did. Because after Nzoto na Nzoto he became broke and started to struggle. I thought first that he would be one of the rare G5-artist to sing for Joseph Kabila in the 2011-elections, but it were only the only old guard who sung for him.

yes they all got ordered to block him including miterrand champagne who he brought in,which is why he often said in last months sikoyo na recuperer mutu na nga ,he then had to create relationship with some equateur donors,which were for most also controlled later and told not to help anymore
thats why sometimes he loses it when he thinks about things like that and he says it himself(he is not the only one look at lobeso's rage for example)
 before it is taken too personal,all leaders do that,when they want even the new generations like fabro and co

yes they all got ordered to block him including miterrand champagne who he brought in,which is why he often said in last months sikoyo na recuperer mutu na nga ,he then had to create relationship with some equateur donors,which were for most also controlled later and told not to help anymore
thats why sometimes he loses it when he thinks about things like that and he says it himself(he is not the only one look at lobeso's rage for example)
 before it is taken too personal,all leaders do that,when they want even the new generations like fabro and co

This is why you must take your donors for you and keep them from the leaders never share your donors with the leader. Like Chikito says when you are a musician the leader is like a Guru and whatever he says you do, but the leader also will soon drop you even if you haven't done nothing bad (Lobeso, Celeo, Brigade, Heritier and many many others) Celeo should left after temoignage and start his solo career. I mean Fally was still on QL and friend with Celeo, Temoignage was well received by everybody with the live performance in South Africa at the Kora's and everyone was waiting for him to leave. I don't remember if Cele had a song on Temoignage but I guess it was a Werra album and not a group one. Werra gave small hints that he wanted to replace him, Roi David super hyped up by Werra and the Group on Alerte Generale despite Celeo making 90% of the cries on the generique and the Miss Margo Sebene. Plus the hype up of Kene Kene and Roi David as a duo on Temoigange despite Celeo making all the cries even though Ilo Zapata by Kene Kene was a very solid crie.


Why Werra never liked Celeo? I have never understood it Celeo was the prototype of the perfect musician Can sing every tone serious with his work ethic and great writing ability. I could understand getting Celeo sidelined but with Roi David and Kene Kene I would expect him to take the lead

yes they all got ordered to block him including miterrand champagne who he brought in,which is why he often said in last months sikoyo na recuperer mutu na nga ,he then had to create relationship with some equateur donors,which were for most also controlled later and told not to help anymore
thats why sometimes he loses it when he thinks about things like that and he says it himself(he is not the only one look at lobeso's rage for example)
 before it is taken too personal,all leaders do that,when they want even the new generations like fabro and co

But why do Fabro, Deplick, Heritier, Ferre and many others ex Wenge members can have the access to donors but members like Lobeso, Celeo etc. Can't what changes?

yes they all got ordered to block him including miterrand champagne who he brought in,which is why he often said in last months sikoyo na recuperer mutu na nga ,he then had to create relationship with some equateur donors,which were for most also controlled later and told not to help anymore
thats why sometimes he loses it when he thinks about things like that and he says it himself(he is not the only one look at lobeso's rage for example)
 before it is taken too personal,all leaders do that,when they want even the new generations like fabro and co

This is why you must take your donors for you and keep them from the leaders never share your donors with the leader. Like Chikito says when you are a musician the leader is like a Guru and whatever he says you do, but the leader also will soon drop you even if you haven't done nothing bad (Lobeso, Celeo, Brigade, Heritier and many many others) Celeo should left after temoignage and start his solo career. I mean Fally was still on QL and friend with Celeo, Temoignage was well received by everybody with the live performance in South Africa at the Kora's and everyone was waiting for him to leave. I don't remember if Cele had a song on Temoignage but I guess it was a Werra album and not a group one. Werra gave small hints that he wanted to replace him, Roi David super hyped up by Werra and the Group on Alerte Generale despite Celeo making 90% of the cries on the generique and the Miss Margo Sebene. Plus the hype up of Kene Kene and Roi David as a duo on Temoigange despite Celeo making all the cries even though Ilo Zapata by Kene Kene was a very solid crie.


Why Werra never liked Celeo? I have never understood it Celeo was the prototype of the perfect musician Can sing every tone serious with his work ethic and great writing ability. I could understand getting Celeo sidelined but with Roi David and Kene Kene I would expect him to take the lead

Werrason became increasingly jealous of Celeo Scram's popularity with influential donors such as Vital Kamerhe, Moise Katumbi, and Didi Kinuani. A lot of Congolese leaders don't like when their band is close to them in lifestyle; expensive clothes, cars, and buildings houses.

He couldn't get rid of Celeo, because Werrason suffering from the creation of Les Marquis. Celeo Scram gave him the animations that made Alerte Generale and Temoignage very successful, which is why Werrason had no choice but to keep him around. Once Brigade joined, Werrason had an opportunity to unsettle Celeo and replace him with someone of near equal talent.

yes they all got ordered to block him including miterrand champagne who he brought in,which is why he often said in last months sikoyo na recuperer mutu na nga ,he then had to create relationship with some equateur donors,which were for most also controlled later and told not to help anymore
thats why sometimes he loses it when he thinks about things like that and he says it himself(he is not the only one look at lobeso's rage for example)
 before it is taken too personal,all leaders do that,when they want even the new generations like fabro and co

This is why you must take your donors for you and keep them from the leaders never share your donors with the leader. Like Chikito says when you are a musician the leader is like a Guru and whatever he says you do, but the leader also will soon drop you even if you haven't done nothing bad (Lobeso, Celeo, Brigade, Heritier and many many others) Celeo should left after temoignage and start his solo career. I mean Fally was still on QL and friend with Celeo, Temoignage was well received by everybody with the live performance in South Africa at the Kora's and everyone was waiting for him to leave. I don't remember if Cele had a song on Temoignage but I guess it was a Werra album and not a group one. Werra gave small hints that he wanted to replace him, Roi David super hyped up by Werra and the Group on Alerte Generale despite Celeo making 90% of the cries on the generique and the Miss Margo Sebene. Plus the hype up of Kene Kene and Roi David as a duo on Temoigange despite Celeo making all the cries even though Ilo Zapata by Kene Kene was a very solid crie.


Why Werra never liked Celeo? I have never understood it Celeo was the prototype of the perfect musician Can sing every tone serious with his work ethic and great writing ability. I could understand getting Celeo sidelined but with Roi David and Kene Kene I would expect him to take the lead

Werrason became increasingly jealous of Celeo Scram's popularity with influential donors such as Vital Kamerhe, Moise Katumbi, and Didi Kinuani. A lot of Congolese leaders don't like when their band is close to them in lifestyle; expensive clothes, cars, and buildings houses.

He couldn't get rid of Celeo, because Werrason suffering from the creation of Les Marquis. Celeo Scram gave him the animations that made Alerte Generale and Temoignage very successful, which is why Werrason had no choice but to keep him around. Once Brigade joined, Werrason had an opportunity to unsettle Celeo and replace him with someone of near equal talent.

Thinking about it now Werrason has been stupid after Brigade and Lobeso who is the serious Atalaku who did great cries and gain great success? No one. Leaders must understand that if a musician has great success is best for the group because he will be less dependent from the group and have more money for himself without disturbing the leader