it was announced on tv that zaiko ,which is with bcbg the group which performs sometimes up to 5 times in a week,have decided to  cancel all concerts for three months but they can do exception should for example an authority invite them to perform at a wedding or a party as they have noticed they were struggling to advance with such a busy schedule
according to you guys,good idea or should they have continued to have concerts and get good money?

If that album will be fine, they must have a break if they feel so. They are the only band who are still loyal to the original Congolese kind of album "making" with much sebens added, so it is good news they will release something new.

I hope they will include many themes on it that they played on stage during sebens recently, but are not recorded yet. They could choose from many, I hope they won't miss it, those themes deserve to be on an album.

Bencuri you are correct.

What stops them from playing one day on a weekend and carrying on with studio work. The problem i have observed with Congolese musicians is that they want to change things a lot when they get in studio that's why they spend so much time in studio. Practice and modification should be done outside studio so that in studio all they correct is the pitch etc but you find that even in studio they are also changing and adding more lyrics/vocals and adding and editing mabanga.

Maybe the reason for this is that there are no experienced coordinators in recent bands. These young musicians who fill up bands recently might not have gained the required level of knowledge on how to manage studio sessions and arrange tracks properly, and maybe this is the reason why those errors occur on CDs we talked about that much: silent lead guitars, too noisy syths, etc. I have just purchased the tutorial DVD of Jimmy Yaba, the ex-rythmist of Zaiko, he is explaining through many examples how they constructed tracks for the band in old days. Watching the DVD is a revelation on why those old Zaiko classics sound that good. It is a good example that shows what a really good arranger is like, and these people are needed very much when recording in the studio. If such persons are missing, the outcome won't be the same. It is not enough if musicians are talented on playing their instruments, without proper coordination the production won't go smooth.

Yes Bencuri, most of the musicians these days do not use the services of established good arrangers. As regards sound, i think it's the duty of the responsible sound engineer during sessions to ensure they are able to get each instrument for instance i remember watching a video of Brigade Sabatini recording his generique, the Assistant Sound Engineer at Ndiaye Studio Pinos Bidenda had to intervene at some point saying he could not hear the solo guitar and some instruments so the band had to halt until the problem was rectified.

The Arrangers like Sec Bidens, Maika Munan, Al Nzimbi and others work around constructing the music together ie marrying the beats made with all instruments with vocals and ensuring each singer sings their part well and at required times on the song as often the beats is recorded first then final vocals are added later so the instrumentalists record with the singers and atalukus/rappers voices for guidance only unless they do live recordings where everything is recorded at one time and that is the most difficult to edit that's why most musicians prefer the usual recording of using different lines so they can correct individually should they notice errors in the recording.

there are two factors we should never forget,the ever growing number of solo artists and the  energy problems which studios struggle to sort out,since its a too big problem
from 1997  to generation droit chemin/les marquis,we had like 10 groups using the studios in kin or most had opportunity to do full recording in europe so it was very very rarely  possible to have group spending 2 years on one album
in the jb video we can learn that some studios even now have some limits of hours,he gives example of studio of zola tempo where they did a lot of balle de match sessions and where you could not record past 5 of the afternoon because neighbours complained about noise

in the jb video we can learn that some studios even now have some limits of hours,he gives example of studio of zola tempo where they did a lot of balle de match sessions and where you could not record past 5 of the afternoon because neighbours complained about noise

You see,that is one of the reasons i say the likes of JB Mpiana are just foolish. He gives Bill Clinton Kalondji $10,000 for clocking 20 years in music,what for? couldn't just turn up at the thanks giving concert and shower Bill with a couple of dollar notes in his face? JB has too many flash vehicles even for his own school going children, honestly by now don't you think he would have built at least two recording studios, one for his band and the other for fee paying musicians to use? The fact that he has also mentioned neighbours complain about noise makes me believe it's the musicians hanging about outside the studio drinking and talking with fans otherwise the noise levels inside the studios should be low because most are sound proof otherwise the recordings would be crap.

Yes,but you know the "bad" about it, is that people make them feel its very very very highly important to have loads of new cars(we often see journalists saying to some musicians that they are not matching the "standard" of a musician because they dont have fancy cars and stuff like that)
notice how those who are into this system  take a while to release and have often the energy "excuse",and you have a guy like wazekwa who barely changes cars in years and invests a lot into his own studio fees even without mabanga money and takes what 4 5 months to finish
its a matter of priority,you have for example koffi buying that new mercedes which could cover almost all studio fees for the 40+ songs whereas it could have gone into a very very quality studio for himself...
as long as the bling bling is most important thing,we should expect them to still go to the ndiaye,palm beach,meko and so on with its disadvantages

Yes,but you know the "bad" about it, is that people make them feel its very very very highly important to have loads of new cars(we often see journalists saying to some musicians that they are not matching the "standard" of a musician because they dont have fancy cars and stuff like that)
notice how those who are into this system  take a while to release and have often the energy "excuse",and you have a guy like wazekwa who barely changes cars in years and invests a lot into his own studio fees even without mabanga money and takes what 4 5 months to finish
its a matter of priority,you have for example koffi buying that new mercedes which could cover almost all studio fees for the 40+ songs whereas it could have gone into a very very quality studio for himself...
as long as the bling bling is most important thing,we should expect them to still go to the ndiaye,palm beach,meko and so on with its disadvantages

You see,that is why i say musicians,boxers and footballers think the same,they are quite shallow.
I don't know if it's true but i was reading the other day that 50 Cent filed for bankruptcy, these guys don't use their brains.