Today marks exactly 25 years since the release of Longue Histoire Volumes 1 and 2 by Congolese music legend King Kester Emeneya. Released on June 5, 2000, the double album marked a powerful comeback for the artist.




Before its release, Emeneya had been facing a lot of criticism. Fans and journalists alike claimed he was finished, that he was no longer relevant, only making noise to attack Koffi Olomidé and Papa Wemba, or talking about his past in Viva la Musica. The album had been announced after the release of Mboka Mboka in 1998, but its release was repeatedly postponed in 1999 and 2000.The succes of Longue Histoire, when it got released,  turned out to be a clear response to his critics. It reaffirmed Emeneya’s status in Congolese music. In the music charts, Longue Histoire replaced Solola Bien by Wenge Musica Maison Mère at number one in different music charts. Only to be replaced by JB Mpiana’s solo album TH, 3 weeks later. 



Before the release of the album, Emeneya released a VHS to show how to dance the new dances/cri Tchaku Libondas and Kiwanzenza, presenting the creators as well. Since 1996, Ndombolo had dominated the dancefloors as dance, but that era came to an end with Longue Histoire, that came with the new dances Kiwanzenza and Tchaku Libondas. The dances were already before adopted by all bands before the release of the album.


Despite the huge success of the album in Kinshasa, Victoria Eleison was absent. The band had been stuck in Kenya since April 2000, after a trip that went completely wrong. Meanwhile, Guy Moller, Zoé Bella, and Mbuta Bass were in New York following a cancelled U.S. tour, and Emeneya being in Paris.It was only when Emeneya received contracts for a European tour starting in December 2000 that he rejoined the band in Kenya and there being joined by Guy Moller and Zoe Bella. From there, he brought them to Tanzania to shoot the VHS Mutu wa Zamani, which was meant to announce the upcoming tour and also served as the basis for music videos released in early 2001.



Unfortunately, Emeneya decided to cancel the Europe tour, leading to major discontent within the band, them waiting to finally get in Europe since 1998 and being for years mocked by their rivals of Nouvelle Ecriture and Quartier Latin. After a few concerts in Tanzania, Zambia, and Lubumbashi (where they were joined by dancers from Kinshasa), they finally returned to Kinshasa in December 2000. However, by then the hype around the album had already faded, as public attention had shifted to the musical rivalry between the albums À la Une and Force de Frappe.

Were the Longue Histoire clips shot in both Europe and Kinshasa?

Were the Longue Histoire clips shot in both Europe and Kinshasa?

Most of the part were shot in Tanzania, some parts in Brussels and the part were the female dancers were recorded in Kinshasa at Emeneya's house King Ranch.

Today marks exactly 25 years since the release of Longue Histoire Volumes 1 and 2 by Congolese music legend King Kester Emeneya. Released on June 5, 2000, the double album marked a powerful comeback for the artist.




Before its release, Emeneya had been facing a lot of criticism. Fans and journalists alike claimed he was finished, that he was no longer relevant, only making noise to attack Koffi Olomidé and Papa Wemba, or talking about his past in Viva la Musica. The album had been announced after the release of Mboka Mboka in 1998, but its release was repeatedly postponed in 1999 and 2000.The succes of Longue Histoire, when it got released,  turned out to be a clear response to his critics. It reaffirmed Emeneya’s status in Congolese music. In the music charts, Longue Histoire replaced Solola Bien by Wenge Musica Maison Mère at number one in different music charts. Only to be replaced by JB Mpiana’s solo album TH, 3 weeks later. 



Before the release of the album, Emeneya released a VHS to show how to dance the new dances/cri Tchaku Libondas and Kiwanzenza, presenting the creators as well. Since 1996, Ndombolo had dominated the dancefloors as dance, but that era came to an end with Longue Histoire, that came with the new dances Kiwanzenza and Tchaku Libondas. The dances were already before adopted by all bands before the release of the album.


Despite the huge success of the album in Kinshasa, Victoria Eleison was absent. The band had been stuck in Kenya since April 2000, after a trip that went completely wrong. Meanwhile, Guy Moller, Zoé Bella, and Mbuta Bass were in New York following a cancelled U.S. tour, and Emeneya being in Paris.It was only when Emeneya received contracts for a European tour starting in December 2000 that he rejoined the band in Kenya and there being joined by Guy Moller and Zoe Bella. From there, he brought them to Tanzania to shoot the VHS Mutu wa Zamani, which was meant to announce the upcoming tour and also served as the basis for music videos released in early 2001.



Unfortunately, Emeneya decided to cancel the Europe tour, leading to major discontent within the band, them waiting to finally get in Europe since 1998 and being for years mocked by their rivals of Nouvelle Ecriture and Quartier Latin. After a few concerts in Tanzania, Zambia, and Lubumbashi (where they were joined by dancers from Kinshasa), they finally returned to Kinshasa in December 2000. However, by then the hype around the album had already faded, as public attention had shifted to the musical rivalry between the albums À la Une and Force de Frappe.

Looking back, were there mistakes that Kester could have avoided to keep the momentum of his comeback going strong? In my opinion, he made two – canceling the concerts of New York, Kenya, La Madeleine and LSC. To this day, I don't know why he did such a radical move because that album was so popular upon release.

For whatever reason, he sold out Zenith and Olympia but never could continue success with his group aside from that album from 2007...I forget the name.

What in your opinion was his biggest mistake of that era? I remember you mentioned he wasn't initially worried about the departure because he figured the contract for Zenith of 2001 would lure them back but he was wrong...I guess he left them behind too many times that they didn't believe the promise of a European tour anymore

I remember this album shaking the charts that summer - great album. The momentum carried through to Zenith, which, for me is on my top 5 favorite concerts all-time

Looking back this is probably the best album recorded in bad conditions post-99/2000. Back then the big guys wouldn’t go near Studio N’diaye before the N’gulu affaire for solo albums

@Wenge1995 - the 2007 album was Le Jour Le Plus Longue or “Prison break” as he liked to say. One of the best albums from the 2000’s

It’s a shame we will never hear the ill-fated “This is Me” album

I remember this album shaking the charts that summer - great album. The momentum carried through to Zenith, which, for me is on my top 5 favorite concerts all-time

Looking back this is probably the best album recorded in bad conditions post-99/2000. Back the the big guys wouldn’t go near Studio N’diaye before the N’gulu affaire for solo albums

It's crazy how time flies, now Studio N’diaye is one of the most reliable studios while Harrison and others have closed their doors

Today marks exactly 25 years since the release of Longue Histoire Volumes 1 and 2 by Congolese music legend King Kester Emeneya. Released on June 5, 2000, the double album marked a powerful comeback for the artist.




Before its release, Emeneya had been facing a lot of criticism. Fans and journalists alike claimed he was finished, that he was no longer relevant, only making noise to attack Koffi Olomidé and Papa Wemba, or talking about his past in Viva la Musica. The album had been announced after the release of Mboka Mboka in 1998, but its release was repeatedly postponed in 1999 and 2000.The succes of Longue Histoire, when it got released,  turned out to be a clear response to his critics. It reaffirmed Emeneya’s status in Congolese music. In the music charts, Longue Histoire replaced Solola Bien by Wenge Musica Maison Mère at number one in different music charts. Only to be replaced by JB Mpiana’s solo album TH, 3 weeks later. 



Before the release of the album, Emeneya released a VHS to show how to dance the new dances/cri Tchaku Libondas and Kiwanzenza, presenting the creators as well. Since 1996, Ndombolo had dominated the dancefloors as dance, but that era came to an end with Longue Histoire, that came with the new dances Kiwanzenza and Tchaku Libondas. The dances were already before adopted by all bands before the release of the album.


Despite the huge success of the album in Kinshasa, Victoria Eleison was absent. The band had been stuck in Kenya since April 2000, after a trip that went completely wrong. Meanwhile, Guy Moller, Zoé Bella, and Mbuta Bass were in New York following a cancelled U.S. tour, and Emeneya being in Paris.It was only when Emeneya received contracts for a European tour starting in December 2000 that he rejoined the band in Kenya and there being joined by Guy Moller and Zoe Bella. From there, he brought them to Tanzania to shoot the VHS Mutu wa Zamani, which was meant to announce the upcoming tour and also served as the basis for music videos released in early 2001.



Unfortunately, Emeneya decided to cancel the Europe tour, leading to major discontent within the band, them waiting to finally get in Europe since 1998 and being for years mocked by their rivals of Nouvelle Ecriture and Quartier Latin. After a few concerts in Tanzania, Zambia, and Lubumbashi (where they were joined by dancers from Kinshasa), they finally returned to Kinshasa in December 2000. However, by then the hype around the album had already faded, as public attention had shifted to the musical rivalry between the albums À la Une and Force de Frappe.

Looking back, were there mistakes that Kester could have avoided to keep the momentum of his comeback going strong? In my opinion, he made two – canceling the concerts of New York, Kenya, La Madeleine and LSC. To this day, I don't know why he did such a radical move because that album was so popular upon release.

For whatever reason, he sold out Zenith and Olympia but never could continue success with his group aside from that album from 2007...I forget the name.

What in your opinion was his biggest mistake of that era? I remember you mentioned he wasn't initially worried about the departure because he figured the contract for Zenith of 2001 would lure them back but he was wrong...I guess he left them behind too many times that they didn't believe the promise of a European tour anymore

I don’t see the cancellation of his show in New York as a mistake. If he had accepted it, he could have ended up like Defao. Touring in the US at that time was basically a waste of time.
The contract that Emeneya was about to sign involved touring all states of the US and receiving a 10-year visa. It was essentially the same contract that Defao had.Since the release of Mboka Mboka, Emeneya had been consistently turning down contracts for tours in Europe. His refusal of the US contract risked causing internal conflict within the band, who were already frustrated about not touring Europe. So, he accepted the US deal, which included visas for the whole band.However, in the end, he chose to only bring Guy Moller, Zoe Bella, and Mbuta Bass, with the intention of touring alongside former Victoria members Fellycko Mbuji Mayi, Huits Kilo, and some US-based session musicians. In the générique “But na Filet,” Emeneya even mentions them being in Brooklyn and Michael Jackson being in the delegation. But it was only after arriving in New York that he changed his mind, abandoning the musicians in NYC and returning to Paris. This created serious problems for the tour promoter, who had already signed contracts with his partners. When later asked in Kinshasa about the US tour, Emeneya blamed the promoter, claiming he couldn’t tour with an incomplete band, despite the fact that he himself had decided to bring only three musicians. Later he would claim that the tour-promoter wasn’t serious and only being there to bring ngulu’s.


About Kenya, according to many musicians who participated, the plan was for Emeneya to travel with the selected musicians to Nairobi for a few concerts, and from there continue on to the US. However, just as they were about to depart for Kenya, a soldier, who took the JB & Papa Wemba vs. Werra & Emeneya rivalry very seriously blocked them at the airport. As a result, they missed their flight, and only Zozo Malaba was able to travel to Kenya, where he informed the concert promoter that the event had to be postponed by a week, since the rest of the band had been held up at the airport.By the time they finally arrived in Nairobi, everything was messed up. Emeneya decided to abandon the musicians there and returned to Paris to release Longue Histoire. Meanwhile, the musicians were left for themselves in Kenya for months, surviving through playback shows and small concerts, and often getting arrested for not having a valid work permit.

Cancelling LSC and Madeleine turned out to be a blessing in disguise. If he hadn’t done it, he probably wouldn’t have performed at Zénith and Olympia in 2001. He might have had to wait until 2003, 2005 or maybe never even gotten that chance, like Bozi Boziana and General Defao. We’ll never know, after all, we’re not prophets.
Emeneya sold out Zénith and Olympia because people wanted to see the real bandleader behind the iconic dances Kiwanzenza and Tchaku Libondas, which all the bands were dancing under different names like Koko Wele, Ma Kiliba, Sous Marin, etc. Fans also finally wanted to see Victoria Eleison live in Europe. Also let’s not forget that Emeneya had a huge fanbase.



The success of Olympia and Zénith didn’t continue because Emeneya failed to capitalize on the hype following Victoria Eleison’s return in July 2003, after spending two years in Europe — and also the buzz around the dance “Enterrement,” which became a huge hit in Kinshasa (even Quartier Latin adopted it in Monde Arabe, prompting Emeneya to attack Koffi over it).
Emeneya himself decided to cancel the show that was planned at Stade des Martyrs, and he also caused the cancellation of the UK tour that had been scheduled right after their return. He insisted that the dancers should be included, even though the promoter was already in the process of securing visas for the musicians. This frustrated the tour promoter so much that he gave the contract to Werrason instead.



Because the album Nouvel Ordre, released in November/December 2002, being a flop and with no new album or EP on the market, the hype around Emeneya quickly faded after his return. He also took too long to release the then-announced Avantage ya Goal Average, which would eventually become Le Jour le Plus Long in 2005. Instead, he focused more on giving interviews where he mostly talked about his past and attacking Koffi and Papa Wemba. Meanwhile, some of the musicians who had returned with him from Zénith and Olympia started to regret their decision. They had expected to tour annually like Quartier Latin and Wenge Maison Mère.