Thank you Mfumu for the history of Anti-Terro. I don’t like the generique Anti-Terro but this album does have some good sebene. Pathy Moleso did his thing. Was BCBG not getting visas due to   The Papa Wemba trial? Alain Mpela was missed as he was the only good singer in BCBG at the time in my personal opinion.

No, the Ngulu-Affaire of Papa Wemba started in 2003, while the problems of visa's with BCBG started in 2002. According to people in the game, rivals started to team up with concertpromoters and went write letters to embassies, snitching that Wenge BCBG were doing human trafficking (ngulu's), which made them everytime getting rejected. It became harder when they were doing their best to finish those problems with the best lawyers, because some politicians that didn't like JB also got involved and BCBG ending up by getting a 5 years ban for the Schengen-Area. The ngulu-affair of Papa Wemba only had a bit of influence when they tried to plan the Zenith of July 2003. Maison Mere almost got blacklisted for schengen, for what happened during the tour of double zenith, but they were really lucky for getting visa's after Alerte Generale

Many bands got victim for snitching in that period. Zaiko saw their demand for visa's getting rejected in 2002. The same for Wenge Tonya Tonya in 2003 for LSC, Adolphe being furious and going hard on Koffi along with his musicians, claiming that it was because of him

No, the Ngulu-Affaire of Papa Wemba started in 2003, while the problems of visa's with BCBG started in 2002. According to people in the game, rivals started to team up with concertpromoters and went write letters to embassies, snitching that Wenge BCBG were doing human trafficking (ngulu's), which made them everytime getting rejected. It became harder when they were doing their best to finish those problems with the best lawyers, because some politicians that didn't like JB also got involved and BCBG ending up by getting a 5 years ban for the Schengen-Area. The ngulu-affair of Papa Wemba only had a bit of influence when they tried to plan the Zenith of July 2003. Maison Mere almost got blacklisted for schengen, for what happened during the tour of double zenith, but they were really lucky for getting visa's after Alerte Generale

Many bands got victim for snitching in that period. Zaiko saw their demand for visa's getting rejected in 2002. The same for Wenge Tonya Tonya in 2003 for LSC, Adolphe being furious and going hard on Koffi along with his musicians, claiming that it was because of him

Why would a band leaders risk access to Europe by bringing ngulu's? How does that process work, are they bribed by the fans trying to immigrate to Europe? Or are the ngulu's typically family members and close friends? I can't imagine someone like JB or Werra risking legal troubles to sneak random people through the Schengen-Area; especially if they're making money from donors, touring, and beer sponsorships.

Maybe JB should have returned to Europe by himself to record Anti-Terror with PPU because the reserve team was already a complete band. Also, he doesn't have to wait on the embassies to approve 20+ visas to complete the album, but I'm guessing the old guard talked him out of it. If he couldn't enter Europe at all, he should have hired JP Kyss to record the album; just listen to the quality of Alerte Generale and Quatre Coins Kandala.

Also, why did Bikou le Brun and Richard Mukena leave BCBG?

It was not only to complete an album, they wanted to get visas to make their fans in Europe happy with concerts. These Europe-tours were the only way for bandmembers to gain properly money, cars, etc. because since the late 1990s, Kinshasa concerts became peanuts. It was said that JB was afraid to go to Europe on his own at that time, because he thought that he could get arrested because of the ngulu-affair.

Quatre Coins Kandala is not of good quality. Anti Terro itself has a much better sound (drum, guitar, etc.) than Quatre Coins Kandala, which sound is very poor. The sound engineer of Kinshasa did a good job on Anti-Terro and they worked on mobile-studio with the materials coming from Europe.  If you listen to Anti Terro you would think that it was recorded in Europe. When people used to wait for Anti Terro in 2003, many were afraid that it would have a bad sound like A La Une, Bouclage, Cocktail and co that were recorded in Kinshasa.

Bikou le Brun left because he was in conflict with JB Mpiana about dancer Anya Star, who was dating both guys at the same time. About Richard Mukena, I don’t know, but at that time he had already a relationship with his wife Bibi Sucre and Bibi already became old and wanted to stop dancing. So after Dock Eiffel 2006, she ran away and Richard Mukena doing the same thing. They had probably both the plan to stay in Europe.

Congolese music was not that lucrative like it was today. When artists would tour in Europe during the 1980s and 1990s, they would not stay in hotels but just rent a house. In the 1980s many popular musicians just used to rent houses in Kinshasa or still live in their parents house. Only Tabu Ley, Franco and Verckys had a decent life that was corresponding to their fame. Things started to change slowly when tobacco and beer companies started to sponsor artists and start giving villa’s as rewards. But it was not that bandleaders became millionaires. The boom of “Bana Lunda” in the early 1990s and the determination of Congolese people living in Europe to change the life of musicians in Kinshasa by helping them out financially and by buying/stealing cars and expensive clothes for them, also the boom of “Bana Londres” and later “Bana Schengen” due to chekula, made artists upgrade their way of being compared to how they were before. Also with the years coming, Europe would become more and more important.


Bringing people to Europe was seen by Congolese artists as a business and because the amount of people that wanted to leave Congo was growing, the business started to become even more lucrative with the years that followed. Many people also started to get scammed.

People that wanted to settle in Europe would pay artists x amount of money. Artists would then use passeports of musicians that would be left behind in Kinshasa and let those people travel with it. Back in those days you could easily remove the picture of the passeport with another picture (systeme ya bangula). Some artists were liking that business alot, that when those people arrived in Europe, they would send those passeports back to Kinshasa to the admin or sending the passeports of the artists that were already in Europe, the admin then bringing the people that were waiting for their turn and the people traveling to Europe with the same passeports. The artist that started it was Franco in the 1980s, then Ben Nyamabo of Choc Stars followed, Bozi doing the same thing with Anti Choc. Wenge was first only bringing their friends, family and people of their staff, but later also entered the business. Bozi is the artist that has brought the most ngulu’s to Europe. There was a point that he was not bringing the whole band anymore to Europe and just brining 8/9 bandmembers every tour until he got arrested in 2002.

It was not only to complete an album, they wanted to get visas to make their fans in Europe happy with concerts. These Europe-tours were the only way for bandmembers to gain properly money, cars, etc. because since the late 1990s, Kinshasa concerts became peanuts. It was said that JB was afraid to go to Europe on his own at that time, because he thought that he could get arrested because of the ngulu-affair.

Quatre Coins Kandala is not of good quality. Anti Terro itself has a much better sound (drum, guitar, etc.) than Quatre Coins Kandala, which sound is very poor. The sound engineer of Kinshasa did a good job on Anti-Terro and they worked on mobile-studio with the materials coming from Europe.  If you listen to Anti Terro you would think that it was recorded in Europe. When people used to wait for Anti Terro in 2003, many were afraid that it would have a bad sound like A La Une, Bouclage, Cocktail and co that were recorded in Kinshasa.

Bikou le Brun left because he was in conflict with JB Mpiana about dancer Anya Star, who was dating both guys at the same time. About Richard Mukena, I don’t know, but at that time he had already a relationship with his wife Bibi Sucre and Bibi already became old and wanted to stop dancing. So after Dock Eiffel 2006, she ran away and Richard Mukena doing the same thing. They had probably both the plan to stay in Europe.

Congolese music was not that lucrative like it was today. When artists would tour in Europe during the 1980s and 1990s, they would not stay in hotels but just rent a house. In the 1980s many popular musicians just used to rent houses in Kinshasa or still live in their parents house. Only Tabu Ley, Franco and Verckys had a decent life that was corresponding to their fame. Things started to change slowly when tobacco and beer companies started to sponsor artists and start giving villa’s as rewards. But it was not that bandleaders became millionaires. The boom of “Bana Lunda” in the early 1990s and the determination of Congolese people living in Europe to change the life of musicians in Kinshasa by helping them out financially and by buying/stealing cars and expensive clothes for them, also the boom of “Bana Londres” and later “Bana Schengen” due to chekula, made artists upgrade their way of being compared to how they were before. Also with the years coming, Europe would become more and more important.


Bringing people to Europe was seen by Congolese artists as a business and because the amount of people that wanted to leave Congo was growing, the business started to become even more lucrative with the years that followed. Many people also started to get scammed.

People that wanted to settle in Europe would pay artists x amount of money. Artists would then use passeports of musicians that would be left behind in Kinshasa and let those people travel with it. Back in those days you could easily remove the picture of the passeport with another picture (systeme ya bangula). Some artists were liking that business alot, that when those people arrived in Europe, they would send those passeports back to Kinshasa to the admin or sending the passeports of the artists that were already in Europe, the admin then bringing the people that were waiting for their turn and the people traveling to Europe with the same passeports. The artist that started it was Franco in the 1980s, then Ben Nyamabo of Choc Stars followed, Bozi doing the same thing with Anti Choc. Wenge was first only bringing their friends, family and people of their staff, but later also entered the business. Bozi is the artist that has brought the most ngulu’s to Europe. There was a point that he was not bringing the whole band anymore to Europe and just brining 8/9 bandmembers every tour until he got arrested in 2002.

Is the ngulu thing still as popular as before or have the conditions gotten too difficult to continue at the rate they used to? I know the War on Terrorism brought scrutiny to immigration that wasn't a high priority prior to 9/11

Doesn’t exist anymore since 2003. Bands were from that moment only bringing journalists who were reporting about their concerts in Europe on Congolese tv-channels, close friends, admins and on rare occasions familymembers. At the same time Maison Schengen wanted to see bands coming back to Kinshasa with all people that they asked visa’s for. But sadly every tour at least 2 or 3 musicians would run away. This was making Maison Schengen mad and Werrason explained it a few times in 2007 amd also 2010, when coming back from Europe. Saying that Maison Schengen  don’t see the difference between ngulu’s and musicians/journalists that decide to stay, calling them all ngulu’s and saying that bandmembers are messing up for all bands in Congo. The big amount of musicians running away in 2010 after the Zénith’s Fally and Ferre. Made Maison Schengen reject the visa’s that bands would apply in 2010 (Wazekwa, Ferre & Fally).