Alain Makaba's Ya Ku Dominer is packed with excitement. Good guitar works, good percussion, and passable animation. Good rumba songs and sebenes.  I'm guessing the album failed to catch on because of the usual marketing debacle of congolese music. But just the name Alain Makaba should have this album.

What do you think was the issue with this album? Is Makaba not good enough as a solo artist? Was he not supported by his fellow Wenge Musica brothers? Pile Ou Face did better than this because.....?

Questions? Anyone knows who the atalaku is for this album? and did Ya Ku Dominer come before or after Pile ou Face? Thanks.

it came wayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy after pile ou face ... in my opinion  the Album  was a flop , why , because
1 .. the title : ya ku dominer , seriously , who names his  album Ya ku dominer .. after having a strong Title like Pile ou face ...
2- the album cover ... reallly ? Pile ou face cover was so attractive that without even knowing the name of the artist i would have bought it ..
3- a bit too much of makaba  becomes  tooo much ,i mean when you  listen to this seben  and the rest of the album it takes you back to the  90s wenge musica TT, while we were already in maison mere , bcbg , TT and latino era . he should have come out with a new style or just an upgrade  it at 90% on and should have hired  atalaku  that were hot   back then .
4- the Album should have  been  well promoted  in kinshasa. staying in Europe does not really help  and its does not mean  that all new vision are the best .. he sure had other things to do but haven not succeed at it even at 30%.
in my opinion in order for him to come out and get back to that level of success he once had . he need to be more open , forgive  and forget what happened years ago and revive his friendship with his wenge  ex colleague ...i think ,  the best thing is to create  a new wenge just like the other  have done it ( wenge  mm, bcbg, TT, el paris  or kumbela  so on)  and collabote with his peers  more ofter, or even take  massela , mpela , aimelia ,  mabiala, titina   on board and  create a wenge  mampata  or whatever  he is going to call it , but he should call it wenge . he is not a solo artist material , he need to have a group a start performing in more often in  kinshasa.



other than that.. the album has good songs , but not at the level we expected = big flop..

This album came out late '03. Little promotion led to disappointing sales relative to the grandes, however, Makaba was/is content being a producer and session artist. Its a solid album and exposition of his virtuosity - Wemina and Code moral stand out as excellent songs.

Masela and Makaba are the opposite of Werra and Jb in regards to attaining vanity, so no elaborate albums cover, polemiques, etc. Makaba fans and those who appreciate his work have this album in their collections.

In regards to Mrvibes - all the original members are very good terms like the the old days, but they've grown artistically and are comfortable with the paths they've taken. We can sit and dream about a Wenge reunion/album, but things have their place in time.

Makaba has collaborated with Mpela brothers and Amelia in the past for their solo albums. I'm quite sure if any of the original Wenge members seek assistance for studio work he would not turn it down.

indeed  i hear manda marie paul blaise and adolphe all want to collaborate with him in the future,as for jb and werra honestly i dont think it will happen because makaba when he gets involved in something artistic he wants full freedom and control and i doubt jb and werra's egos are ready to accept being under "guidance" again