Maika Munan explains how he joined Afrisa. He says that Tabu Ley went on tour across the cities of Congo to present the show they had performed at l’Olympia. Maika Munan was part of the group that played the opening act for Afrisa, and he caught the attention of Tabu Ley’s musicians by performing their songs. After the show, he invited them to visit Lubumbashi.
Some time later, Maika moved to Kinshasa for his studies. Through word of mouth, news reached Tabu Ley, who asked his musicians to look for him. They couldn’t find him at the university, but people informed Maika that Afrisa was searching for him. Eventually he managed to meet Tabu Ley and went to one of their concerts. There he played lead, mi-solo, rhythm and bass. All the musicians, including Tabu Ley, were impressed and surprised, because it felt as if he was already a member of the band. Maika told them he was a huge fan, which is why he knew every song. Several guitarists came to audition, but they realised Maika was polyvalent and therefore more interesting. From that day one, he joined the group. However, the guitarists asked him to focus on bass. Maika had no problem with that; he was already honoured to play with them and to be around Tabu Ley. At that time, fans would carry Tabu Ley on a tshipoyi.Maika played bass until one day Tabu Ley asked him why he limited himself to that. Maika explained the situation, and Tabu Ley told him to take the red guitar that had been left aside, bring it home and practice with and use it for concerts, since that nobody was using that guitar.
Later, Afrisa went on tour in Ivory Coast. Almost all the band members left to create African All Stars in Abidjan. Tabu Ley returned only with Dino Vangu and Kiesse Diambu. So Maika, Dino and the others helped reconstruct Afrisa.
At some point Willy asked Maika when he became Tabu Ley’s favourite. Maika answered that, by force of circumstances, he entered Tabu Ley’s most restricted circle, because Tabu Ley realised that Maika understood him best when he wanted to create songs. At that time Maika also lived close to him, so whenever Tabu Ley had inspiration, he would immediately call him over to work. At Type K there were all the instruments Maika had dreamed of trumpets, saxophones, guitars, drums at his disposal. He began working with the team that interpreted foreign songs. Their shows were impressive, and they also created many new compositions, which is why Tabu Ley appreciated him so much.
Maika Munan then talked about how he left Afrisa in Europe. He said it was because of money: they had not been paid for almost a year and felt treated like slaves. When they were abroad, their passports were confiscated, and if someone was arrested, they had to contact Tabu Ley. At first Maika did not plan to stay in Europe. He wanted to return to Kinshasa. But he earned some money from a single he secretly recorded with Lita Bembo, who had a Belgian producer. Lita asked Maika if he could secretly find musicians to record the track. Maika informed Dino Vangu and Dave Makondele. They rehearsed in hiding so nobody would know. Whenever Lita saw the venue’s bodyguards, he thought they were the police and would run away because he had no papers. Later he would proudly ask them, “Did you see how I ran from the police?” and they had to explain it wasn’t the police.
When it was time to record, Maika touched every instrument in the studio. The Belgian producer was impressed and asked why he had brought so many musicians. He preferred Maika to record everything alone and gave him 15,000 Belgian francs to pay the others, because he did not want problems with Tabu Ley. The musicians were extremely happy, since they had not been receiving proper salaries. From Tabu Ley they would get only 50 francs. A meal at Chez Babin cost 50 francs, and even a bath at the hotel cost 10, so many it was comlicated. Having the choice to have a full meal at Chez Babin or just buy sandwiches. With 15,000 francs, they finally felt relieved.
After the recording, the producer was so satisfied that he gave Maika 300,000 Belgian francs. Maika remembered how they had toured Europe for nearly a year without having money. He then had the idea of returning to Kinshasa, buying several Renault 12 cars and starting a taxi company while continuing his studies. He even located where to buy the cars. But then a saxophone player from Tabu Ley’s circle broke into Modero Mekanisi’s room, took his passport and fled to Paris. From there he called Maika and convinced him not to return to Kinshasa but to join him and start a band with pianist Ray Lema. Maika changed his plans and began performing in Paris.
When Afrisa wanted to return to Kinshasa, serious problems came. Maika called the police, saying Tabu Ley refused to give him his passport. The police arrested Tabu Ley and forced him to return the passports. Many extra passports were still found, which raised suspicion. They were handed to the Congolese embassy in Brussels, and Tabu Ley was given 48 hours to leave Belgium. Because the musicians still had six-month visas for France (this was before Schengen), they went to Paris. It was there that producer Tshika-Tshika launched the project Lisanga ya ba Nganga, bringing together Tabu Ley and Franco Luambo Makiadi. Michelino Mavatiku, who had left Uganda because of political unrest, also joined project, since that one of Tabu Ley’s guitarists had passed away.
Journalist Serge Kayembe insisted on the nickname “Mukubwa,” given by Papa Wemba. Maika replied that he began collaborating with Wemba at a moment when he already had a big reputation, thanks to work with artists from Mali, Niger, Gabon and Cameroon, mentioning Manu Dibango and Salif Keita. Koffi Olomidé used to complain that Maika worked mainly with West Africans, which is how they started collaborating. In the same period, Maika won the RFI Découvertes competition, which helped promote him widely. He was also one of the first musicians in Paris to own a home studio, where many artists such as Abeti Masikini and Mpongo Love came to record. Through Rigo Star, he renewed his collaboration with Papa Wemba, although they had already worked together in Afrisa.
Later Serge Kayembe asked about Papa Wemba’s period in Afrisa. Maika said Wemba did not stay more than a year. He denied that Wemba had abandoned Viva la Musica. After Afrisa’s shows at Type K, they would walk together to the bar Vis-à-Vis, where Wemba would perform with Viva. When Wemba finally left Afrisa, guitarist Eddy Mabungu followed him. Maika believes it was simply Wemba’s dream to sing with his idol Tabu Ley. After tours in Senegal and at the Horizon 80 festival in Germany, Wemba stopped collaborating with Afrisa.
Finally, Serge Kayembe asked about the rivalry between Franco and Tabu Ley. Maika answered that much of it was for television. He added that rivalry was inevitable, since OK Jazz was older, but Afrisa had advantages because it innovated constantly. Groups that remained purely in the Odemba style were disappearing, citing Co-Bantous, Johnny Bokelo, Veve and Sosoliso.Franco himself understood he had to blend Odemba with fiesta influences when OK Jazz became Tout Puissant OK Jazz and included singers such as Paul Ndombe, Josky Kiambukuta and Madilu.
Maika also noted that OK Jazz initially used fewer guitars, while Afrisa performed with three plus bass; eventually OK Jazz adopted similar formulas, including cri’s and a drummer model comparable to Afrisa’s. In his view, Franco realised that to compete with Afrisa, he needed that mix of fiesta and Odemba.
After that, Willy Kayembe took a short break and gave Goss Kambala the opportunity to ask questions. Goss asked how it had been possible for Franco and Tabu Ley to collaborate despite their rivalry. Maika answered that Tabu Ley was the child of Grand Kalle and that the real rivalry had originally been between OK Jazz and African Jazz, Grand Kalle’s band. African Fiesta was only created later, in the 1960s, whereas OK Jazz and African Jazz dated back to the 1950s. Many musicians had played in both bands. Willy Kayembe mentioned Ndombe Opetum and Maika replied that he belonged to the later and that he had been referring to the rivalry between African Jazz and OK Jazz.Maika also added that the real name of Odemba was not actually Odemba. According to his research, the genre was named after a bar called Ondimba, and over time the pronunciation evolved into Odemba. Bands like Rock-a-Mambo and Bantous de la Capitale played essentially the same style as OK Jazz, since most of their musicians shared a similar musical background. Although there was a rivalry between OK Jazz and African Jazz, they collaborated at certain moments. Some vinyl records, for instance, were produced under Grand Kalle’s label, Surboum Jazz.
The idea of having Tabu Ley and Franco sing together later on came from the producer Tshika-Tshika, because they had never really recorded something before.Serge Kayembe then joined Goss Kambala and asked how Koffi Olomidé and Papa Wemba began collaborating with Tabu Ley. Maika explained that Koffi saw the excitement and prestige around Papa Wemba performing with Afrisa. After returning from one of his trips to Europe, Koffi went to see Tabu Ley, because he also dreamed of singing with him, just like Papa Wemba. They recorded a few songs and Maika played bass on those sessions, but the tracks were never released. The video then cut off at the moment when Goss asked about Jean Goubald’s statements. Maika responded by saying that Jean Goubald could not really make such claims, since opera is hardly ever performed in Kinshasa.
I will do the second part when I have time. I took me more than a hour to translate it
