It's a shame that after 25 years, there's still no full footage of Wenge Maison Mère performing at La Madeleine in 2000. Back in 2021, I had some hope when EmiloDj posted the cover of the VHS on his story, but like other VHS covers of rare cassettes he shared, he never uploaded them to YouTube.

Before that, I saw Cyprien Wetchi filming some clips of that concert on Facebook to comment on that era. Since there were no videos of that show on YouTube at all, I made some screen recordings during the moments he wasn’t talking and uploaded them to YouTube. A few people asked me to upload the full footage, not knowing that I had simply taken the clips from Cyprien Wetchi’s Facebook page.

I also included a part from Alimia Mongala’s Devoir de Mémoire, where he talked about the golden era (1998–2002), how our music declined after that period, and the time leading up to the rise of the combattants. I thought that by uploading these clips, someone might eventually have the courage to share the full concert on YouTube, but that still hasn’t happened.





The event at La Madeleine, was Wenge Maison Mère's first concert after performing at Bercy. When Congolese bands do their Zenith, Olympia or Bercy, they usually take a one-month break before starting their European tour. But Maison Mère almost took two months to start touring. I don’t know if it had to do with the issues they had with the concert promoter who brought them to the U.K., Canada, and the U.S., maybe they wanted to start there but didn’t have the possibility or if it was something else. Because former manager Claude Maluma, claimed that they signed a 3 years exclusivity contract with the concertpromoter, but that after doing their first concert in London, Maison Mere doing a second concert with late Tonton Jacques and Boda Bodack in Tottenham and when organising the third event at the same venue, not the same amount of people coming like the previous concert, which angered the concertpromoter, since that he lost money and the contract not being respected, which made him sue Werrason.







Anyway, on November 4, 2000, Maison Mere finally performed at La Madeleine in Brussels. There was a lot going on during that period between Adolphe and Werrason. There were several rumors about Adolphe having left Maison Mère after Bercy. There stories spread about fan clubs and influential staff members trying to reconcile them. However,  it had been said that the fans and staff members who were pro-Werra would insult and attack Adolphe in private, accusing him of trying to split up Maison Mère and him apparently also being beaten. Some even claimed that Werrason himself had left. But during the show at La Madeleine, Adolphe and Werrason were still together.

The show also marked the return of Patient Kusangila, who had suffered a stroke in Kinshasa and missed out at Bercy. It would also be his last performance with Maison Mère, since that he decided to leave the band after the show. At La Madeleine, Aimelia Lias would do his first full show as bandmembers, since that he was only been presented  at Bercy, where just sung a small part and made comments next to Zacharie Bababaswe, since that he wasn't involved in the show's preparation that were done in Kinshasa.




The concert at La Madeleine was a huge success and the group continued their tour, they performing in Lausanne the following week and went after that to South Africa for the Kora Awards.  Meanwhile, the press kept reporting on the supposed conflict between Werrason and Adolphe, though both men continued to deny any problems within Maison Mère when asked by journalists

It's a shame that after 25 years, there's still no full footage of Wenge Maison Mère performing at La Madeleine in 2000. Back in 2021, I had some hope when EmiloDj posted the cover of the VHS on his story, but like other VHS covers of rare cassettes he shared, he never uploaded them to YouTube.

Before that, I saw Cyprien Wetchi filming some clips of that concert on Facebook to comment on that era. Since there were no videos of that show on YouTube at all, I made some screen recordings during the moments he wasn’t talking and uploaded them to YouTube. A few people asked me to upload the full footage, not knowing that I had simply taken the clips from Cyprien Wetchi’s Facebook page.

I also included a part from Alimia Mongala’s Devoir de Mémoire, where he talked about the golden era (1998–2002), how our music declined after that period, and the time leading up to the rise of the combattants. I thought that by uploading these clips, someone might eventually have the courage to share the full concert on YouTube, but that still hasn’t happened.





The event at La Madeleine, was Wenge Maison Mère's first concert after performing at Bercy. When Congolese bands do their Zenith, Olympia or Bercy, they usually take a one-month break before starting their European tour. But Maison Mère almost took two months to start touring. I don’t know if it had to do with the issues they had with the concert promoter who brought them to the U.K., Canada, and the U.S., maybe they wanted to start there but didn’t have the possibility or if it was something else. Because former manager Claude Maluma, claimed that they signed a 3 years exclusivity contract with the concertpromoter, but that after doing their first concert in London, Maison Mere doing a second concert with late Tonton Jacques and Boda Bodack in Tottenham and when organising the third event at the same venue, not the same amount of people coming like the previous concert, which angered the concertpromoter, since that he lost money and the contract not being respected, which made him sue Werrason.







Anyway, on November 4, 2000, Maison Mere finally performed at La Madeleine in Brussels. There was a lot going on during that period between Adolphe and Werrason. There were several rumors about Adolphe having left Maison Mère after Bercy. There stories spread about fan clubs and influential staff members trying to reconcile them. However,  it had been said that the fans and staff members who were pro-Werra would insult and attack Adolphe in private, accusing him of trying to split up Maison Mère and him apparently also being beaten. Some even claimed that Werrason himself had left. But during the show at La Madeleine, Adolphe and Werrason were still together.

The show also marked the return of Patient Kusangila, who had suffered a stroke in Kinshasa and missed out at Bercy. It would also be his last performance with Maison Mère, since that he decided to leave the band after the show. At La Madeleine, Aimelia Lias would do his first full show as bandmembers, since that he was only been presented  at Bercy, where just sung a small part and made comments next to Zacharie Bababaswe, since that he wasn't involved in the show's preparation that were done in Kinshasa.




The concert at La Madeleine was a huge success and the group continued their tour, they performing in Lausanne the following week and went after that to South Africa for the Kora Awards.  Meanwhile, the press kept reporting on the supposed conflict between Werrason and Adolphe, though both men continued to deny any problems within Maison Mère when asked by journalists