PAPA Wemba is such an important figure in Congolese music that it is nearly impossible to compete with him.
Regardless of the popular hits and artists of the moment, the first name that comes to mind when thinking about Congolese music and rumba is Papa Wemba.
With songs such as “Analengo”, Papa Wemba is not only one of the most popular artists in Africa, but also a prominent figure in world music.
Born Jules Shungu Wembadio Pene Kikumba on June 14, 1949, Papa Wemba, was a rebellious, prolific, style icon.
At times notorious, but always innovative, he was well known as one of the pioneers of modern Congolese soukous music. But he was very clear about how he wanted to be remembered, according to the sleeve notes from his 1995 album, “Emotion”.
“When people talk about Papa Wemba, I don’t want them to say I am an African singer, or a world music singer,” he said. “I would like people to say just ‘singer’. “Because that’s what I am: A singer. Full stop.”
Papa Wemba entered the competitive world of Congolese music in December 1969, ten years after his country gained independence.
It had been a traumatic era of civil war, assassinations and political instability. Yet the music created there, a potent blend of Cuban, Latin American and traditional African sounds, made Kinshasa the music capital of the continent.
Rumba was all the rage; it crossed boundaries and swept across Africa with the likes of Franco and TPOK Jazz, Tabu Ley Rochereau and Dr Nico driving its popularity, their big dance orchestras harking back to the euphoric days of independence.
Then Papa Wemba and a group of forward-looking high school kids formed Zaiko Langa Langa, a band that was to revolutionise rumba music and lay the foundations for the new era of soukous to come.
HIP REBELLIOUS
Influenced by Western pop and rock combos of the 1960s and no doubt a lack of money to buy instruments, Zaiko Langa Langa went against form; they stripped out the horn sections prevalent in the rumba orchestras of the time and pushed the electric guitar and snare drum to the fore.
The band was hip rebellious and became legends of the genre.
They featured several singers singing in harmony, and tinkered with the sebene, the fast improvised instrumental section of soukous music.
The name Zaiko is a contraction of “Zaire ya bokoko (the Zaire of our ancestors)”; the langa langa refers to an ethnic group from the equatorial region.
How prescient, President Mobutu Sese Seko was to change the country’s name to The Republic of Zaire in 1971. The officially sanctioned authenticity movement which followed also directed the band to look more into African heritage for musical inspiration.
In 1974, a month after Muhammad Ali and George Forman fought in Kinshasa’s “Rumble in The Jungle”, artistic differences and money squabbles prompted Papa Wemba, along with fellow band members Bozi Boziana and Evoloko, to leave the band and form the successful “Isifi Lokole” and later “Yoka Lokole”.
But it was when he put together his band, “Viva La Musica” in 1977 that Papa Wemba really came into his own.
Always innovative, he introduced the lokole into the mix, a traditional instrument made out of a hollowed-out tree trunk and hit with sticks.
There was more emphasis on his distinctive mournful falsetto vocals which were inspired by his greatest musical influence, his mother, a professional funeral dirge singer.
He was amazingly popular at home, where his house became a hang-out for the cool youth who followed his music and style.
LA SAPE
He became the leader of La Sape, short for Societe des Ambianceurs et des Personnes d’Elegance or Society of Ambiance-ists and People of Elegance, whose members, the sapeurs, were known for their elegant style of dress.
“The Sapeur cult promoted high standards of personal cleanliness, hygiene and smart dress, to a whole generation of youth across Zaire,” Papa Wemba was once quoted as saying.
“When I say well-groomed, well-shaved, well-perfumed, it’s a characteristic that I am insisting on among the young. I don’t care about their education, since education always comes first of all from the family.”
To his dismay, the movement that started out as a means of establishing an identity for the youth at home and abroad was taken to extreme lengths, and sapeurs begged, borrowed or stole to buy designer clothes they could not afford.
When he formed “Viva la Musica”, he began to source and nurture a steady stream of the most talented musicians, including the young Koffi Olamide and Reddy Amisi, who would become household names in the world of soukous.
Papa Wemba was hugely ambitious but conflicted; he wanted to break into the World Music genre, and sought the stature enjoyed by the likes of Youssou N’Dour and Salif Keita.
But at the same time, he wanted to preserve the sound he had worked hard to develop, so he maintained a band in the Democratic Republic of Congo to play his trademark brand of soukous so as to keep his African fans happy.
He did later find global recognition, and his 1995 “Emotion” album, released by Peter Gabriel’s Real World records, sold more than 100,000 copies; but it was just one of his more than 35 recordings.
On the morning of Sunday, April 24, 2016, Papa Wemba, the King of Rumba Rock, died on stage in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, doing what he loved best. He was 66. And the last thing he heard as he lay dying was his own music being played. (Excerpted from BBC)
