RhoDeo 1414 Roots

Hello,

Historically, the region of the Congo was a vast geographical area of equatorial Africa located in the tropical wet forest of Central Africa called Congolian forests. It also owes its name to the predominant ethnic group in the region, ruled by Kingdom of Kongo founded towards the end of the 14th century and extended from 1390 to 1914.

Although the span of rule of the kingdom varied, in its greatest extent, the Kingdom of Kongo reached from the Atlantic Ocean in the west to the Kwango River in the east, and from the Congo River in the north to the Kwanza River in the south. The kingdom largely existed from c. 1390 to 1891 as an independent state, and from 1891 to 1914 as a vassal state of the Kingdom of Portugal. The Congo River, its main river, flows through the region forming the Congo Basin.

Some groupings advocate a return to one Congolese homeland on the basis of the historical kingdom. Very notably, the Bundu dia Kongo movement advocates reviving the kingdom through secession from Angola, the Republic of the Congo, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Gabon. The nowadays geographic region spans across the Republic of the Congo (former French Congo), Democratic Republic of the Congo (former Zaïre/Belgian Congo), and the Angolan exclave of Cabinda (former Portuguese Congo) which lies (bizarly !) between the Republic and the Democratic Republic and produces lot's of oil. Ah yes big business making lots of money with Congolese resources.

Ok the coming weeks we're hearing about the music from this African jungle heart, it's a strange place for Westerners, life is cheap and emotions rise quickly. Religion and music deliver the much needed coherance  so for the coming 3 or 4 weeks we will present stars some of which have released many albums most of these never reached the Western public or even the great Discogs database. Today the "King of Rhumba Rock" is in the spotlights  .......N'joy

xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx

Papa Wemba, also known as the "King of Rhumba Rock," is one of Africa's most flamboyant and cosmopolitan musicians. He broke out of his native Democratic Republic of Congo to become one of the most internationally successful world music artists of the late 1980s and early 1990s. Long a hero in his native country with bands such as Zaïko Langa Langa, Isifi Lokole, and Yoka Lokole, Wemba reached superstar status there with his band Viva La Musica. After some time in Europe, Wemba set his sights on international acclaim, and achieved it with the group Molokai International. Still singing in his native tongue, he headlined Peter Gabriel's World of Music and Dance (WOMAD) tour and secured a global audience.

Papa Wemba was born Jules Shungu Wembadio Pene Kikumba on June 14, 1949, in the Kasai region of what was then known as the Belgian Congo, then later as Zaire, and now is called the Democratic Republic of Congo. He is a member Tetela tribe and was raised as a direct descendent of a long line of BaTetela warrior chieftains. He later earned full Tetela warrior chieftain status from the clan's elders for his contribution to music and culture. His family moved to the Congolese capital of Kinshasa when he was six. His mother, who died in 1973, was a "pleureuse," or professional mourner, hired to sing at funerals. Wemba counts his mother as one of his leading influences; he spent many days as a child watching her work. "If Mother was still alive, I would be rich in words and rich in melodies," he is quoted as saying on his official website. "She was my first teacher and my first audience." After his father's death in 1966, Wemba joined the choir of St. Joseph's Roman Catholic Church. He gave up religious music when he left the church, but counts it as an influence.

Wemba founded his own group, Zaïko Langa Langa, which became one of the nation's most popular youth bands of the Rhumba-rock movement. His singing style, influenced by American R&B, earned him the nickname "Presley." When President Mobutu Sese Seko launched his "Campaign of Authenticity"--modeled after China's Cultural Revolution--in 1971, Zaïko Langa Langa flourished. The campaign instituted a return to Zairian identity, and Zairians dropped their Christian names--Wemba stopped using his first name, Jules, as well as his nickname, Presley--and abandoned European-influenced music and fashion. Because Zaïko Langa Langa was thoroughly Zairian, they were supported by the president's campaign. Because they appealed to Zairian youth, they were tremendously successful and influential. On Wemba's website, the group's impact on Zaire's musical culture is even likened to that of the Sex Pistols on Britain in the late 1970s. Wemba recalled it as a heady and rebellious time, when he and his bandmates were experimenting with music. They used as many as six singers, and forsook traditional wind instruments for electric instruments and drum machines. Wemba composed many of the group's hit songs, including "Pauline," "C'est La Vérité," "Chouchouna," and "Liwa Ya Somo." The group disbanded in 1974, citing internal differences. He had brief success after founding the groups Isifi Lokole and Yoka Lokole over the next two years.

In 1977 Wemba established the village community of Molokai in Kinshasa, which he set up as a type of commune for musicians. He founded his own group, Viva La Musica, soon after. As leader of the commune, he took on the nickname "Papa." The name Viva La Musica comes from an album title of the same name by New York salsa star Johnny Pacheco, whom Wemba also counts as an influence. The new group debuted in February of 1977, at the height of the Campaign for Authenticity.

Wemba's new group was obviously influenced by Western culture, as least as far as fashion was concerned. This appealed to Zairean youth, but drew attention from government censors as well. "I decided to focus on the clothes--to be very well dressed," he said in an interview with the music magazine Straight No Chaser. The band members wore banned European-designed clothes in such nontraditional fabrics as velvet and denim. Each vocalist in the group donned a different color beret, and fans would wear the color of their favorite singer. To balance their flamboyant appearance and head off a conflict with censors, Wemba added some traditional touches. The group's percussionist used a lokole, a traditional drum made from a hollowed-out log, and the group's repertoire was built on folk rhythms. Wemba was not really trying to be sneaky--he actually backed Mobutu's campaign, and was a spokesman for a return to Africanism. One of Viva La Musica's first songs was dedicated to the first wife of President Mobutu, which likely did not hurt his cause. Less than a year after forming, Viva La Musica was named Best Orchestra, Papa Wemba Best Singer, and "Mère Supérieure" Best Song by Kinshasa's daily newspaper, Elima. The next two years saw an incredible wave of popularity for the group, fueled by a string of hit songs and dances, including "Moku Nyon Nyon," "Nyekesse Migue'l," and "Cou Cou Dindon."

After a 1977 trip to Paris, Wemba became convinced there was a market for Zairian music abroad. Because only state-sponsored musical acts were allowed to tour outside Zaire, however, there was little chance of finding it. So in 1979 Wemba took a six-month break from the band and headed to Paris to join the group Afrisa International. The collaboration produced such successful singles as "Ngambo Moko" and "Levres Roses." Wemba performed with Afrisa International on Zairian state television and toured with the group to Senegal, Germany, and France, building European connections all the while. "I'm speaking from the heart when I say that Paris has allowed me to go everywhere--to reach the summit of international show business."

By the time he returned to Zaire, Wemba's pro-Authenticity stance had changed--he had gotten a taste of Europe and liked it. He launched the youth movement Sapeur, or SAPE (Society of Poseurs and Persons of Elegance) as it was commonly known, which promoted clean living and education to African youth. The movement was also controversial, as it challenged the Authenticity campaign's strict dress code to allow European imports. Wemba thrilled Zairean teens when he flouted the dress code on live Zairian television in 1981, dressed head to toe in European designer duds. Viva La Musica took fashion-worship to a new level, even writing designer names into song lyrics. The song "La Firenze" is a tribute to Italy's fashion influence. The group's fans were, in fact, fanatical about the band's snubbing of the government dress code. Wemba's music remained grounded in tradition, however. One of Wemba's most popular songs, "Ana Lengo," was sung in the KiTetela dialect and sold half a million copies in Africa. The government press criticized Viva La Musica, which only increased their popularity. The group regularly played to crowds of more than 50,000 fans. Ultimately, "I'm much more of a singer ... but I love dressing up."

Wemba's increasingly frequent trips to Europe put a strain on the band, and four members left. In 1982, he recorded solo material with two of France's leading artists, which broadened his solo appeal. He was gone so long--six months--that Viva La Musica began recording without him and rumors spread that he was dead or in jail. Fans poured into the streets of Kinshasa upon his return. He immediately recorded the popular song "Eacutevénement," and released two songs recorded in Paris, "Matebu" and "Santa." Wemba's distance from the band proved too much--in 1982, ten of Viva La Musica's 19 frontline musicians left to start their own group.

By 1983 Wemba had pieced together a new lineup for Viva La Musica. The new group released "Rumba Rock--Frenchen" which began selling well in Europe. In response to this, Wemba returned to Belgium to record his first album of non-Zairean music, Malimba. In 1984 Wemba "decided to slam the door on Zaire," as he reminisced on his website. "I said to myself, I don't want to play music only for Zaireans anymore. I am going to play music for all humanity." In 1985 Belgian television produced a documentary on Wemba called Chef coutumier de la rumba rock (Chief of the rumba rock tribe). In 1986 he appeared in La vie est belle (Life is beautiful), the first feature film made in Zaire since 1960, the year of the country's independence from Belgium. In it he plays a young singer trying to make his way in Kinshasa.

Wemba then returned to music with the Viva La Musica album L'Esclave, on which he addresses slavery and racism. The releases appealed to both Wemba's diehard Zairian fans as well as his growing European base. Viva La Musica's 1986 Japanese tour expanded the group's audience into that region, as well. In Wemba's opinion, several of the Zairian musicians in Viva La Music were unable to adapt to the group's new international profile, and cuts were made. He believed, according to his website, that many Zairian musicians were "limited in their abilities to work with other non-African, musics. The only handicap of Zairian musicians is that they don't listen to music from outside of Zaire, like music that is done in Europe, the United States or other African countries."

After Wemba signed a solo worldwide management deal and he and several core Viva La Musica members relocated to Paris in 1987. His first solo world music album, Papa Wemba, was released in 1988. Fans and the remaining band members believed his solo career would eclipse that of the group, and that Viva La Musica's days were numbered. Indeed, Wemba formed a group of non-Zairian musicians he first called Viva, but later changed to Molokai International. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, the international spotlight began to shine on African music, and African artists such as Youssou N'dour and Baaba Maal found worldwide appeal. 1989 saw Wemba onstage in London and New York with Molokai International, and then on a world tour with Peter Gabriel's successful WOMAD tour. Wemba signed a solo record deal with Gabriel's Real World record label in 1991 that produced Le Voyager (1992), Emotion (1995), and Molokai (1998). Emotion was produced by Stephen Hague, who has produced records for such British pop acts as the Pet Shop Boys, Erasure, and New Order. Wemba was the opening act on Gabriel's 1993 Secret World tour and also performed on a string of charity concerts and recordings. He also has worked with an international cast of musicians that includes Gabriel, Eric Clapton, Stevie Wonder, Youssou N'dour, Lucky Dube, and South African vocalist Brenda Fasi. Despite his ever-widening appeal, Zairian purists criticized the watered-down crossover music he was making.

Wemba returned to Kinshasa in 1996, just before the fall of President Mobuto Sese Seko. He maintained the Europe-based members of Viva La Musica and Molokai International for his work abroad, but founded a new group of Zairian musicians, called Viva La Musica-Nouvelle Ecriture. "My original group is there for my Zairian fans who come to hear typical African sounds," he told Straight No Chaser. "But ... I formed another group to appeal to a different public." He earned an award for Best Artist at the first-ever All-African music awards in 1996, and later added the prefix "M'zee" (wise man) to his name. In 1999 Nouvelle Ecriture, Molokai International, old and new lineups of Viva La Musica, and even some members of Zaïko Langa Langa, played onstage together in Brussels and Paris. Also that year, Wemba was named chieftain of the Democratic Republic of Congo's Mongo ethnic group for his contributions to Congolese music and culture. He released M'Zee Fula-Ngenge in 2000 and Bakala Dia Kuba in 2001.

On 18 February 2003, suspected of being involved in a network that has allegedly smuggled hundreds of illegal immigrants from the Democratic Republic of Congo (former Zaire) into Europe, Papa Wemba was arrested at his home in Paris. He was eventually found guilty at some level in June 2003 and spent three and a half months in prison, an experience that, on his release after a €30,000 bail was posted, he declared had had a profound psychological effect on him. The singer claimed to have undergone a spiritual conversion in jail and even recounted this episode on his album Somo Trop (released in October 2003). Since he's released Muana Molokaï (2004), Ba Zonkion (2005), Cheeky Summer time - Collab with Father J (2004), Attention L'artiste (2006) and Notre Père Rumba (2010)


xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx

The word "Zaiko" is a portmanteau for the lingala phrase Zaire ya bankoko, meaning "Zaire of our ancestors", the meaning of the phrase "Langa Langa" is controversial; according to the band's website, it means "marvelous" or "almighty". Founded in the early 1969 , Zaiko Langa Langa survived into the 2000s (decade), and have been largely popular through the decades. Because of their "rebel" and "hippie" attitude, and their innovative approach to soukous, they became a symbol of the new generations of post-independence Zaire, and are sometimes compared to the Rolling Stones for their appeal on the Congolese youth.

The original lineup was composed of Papa Wemba, Mavuela Somo, Evoloko Lay Lay, Teddy Sukami, Oncle Bapius, Zamuangana le meilleur and Manuaku Waku (also known as Pépé Fely) and N'Yoka Longo. The sound of Zaiko Langa Langa was revolutionary with respect to the soukous tradition. They adopted a more up tempo beat, abandoned wind instruments and emphasized snare drums and lead electric guitars (and eventually also synthesizers). The percussion rhythms were adapted from traditional Congolese music and the sebene became more prominent.

The band has experienced several personnel changes, and a number of prominent soukous musicians have been in their lineup; examples are Bozi Boziana, Dindo Yogo, Evoloko Jocker, N'Yoka Longo and Bimi Ombale. Several soukous band formed as spin-offs of Zaiko Langa Langa; these include Isifi Lokole, Yoka Lokole, Viva La Musica, Langa Langa Stars, Zaiko Familia Dei, Basilique Loningisa, Choc Stars, Anti Choc, and Zaiko Nkolo Mboka. This large group of related bands is sometimes referred to as "Clan Langa Langa" (i.e., "the Langa Langa family").

In 2000, Zaiko Langa Langa were awarded by the Congolese Media Association as the best Congolese musical group of the 20th century. Despite new internal quarrels and personnel changes with the departure of Evoloko, Bozi and Djo Mali in 1981 to form Langa Langa Stars, Zaiko Langa Langa were successful throughout the 1980s. The band was touring Europe and Africa regularly and was the first Zairian band to visit Japan. At the end of the decade at the height of their glory and having establish themselves as legends in Zaire, the band experienced another major split, between the two leaders of the group Nyoka Longo and Bimi Ombale. The band was divided in two with every musician choosing his camp between the two leaders who were part of Zaiko since it creation. With Meridjo, Bapius, Matima, Zamuangana who were part of Zaiko from it creation staying with Nyoka Longo followed by Dindo Yogo and the band was called then Zaiko Langa Langa Nkolo Mboka, and was considered as the original Zaiko, to differentiate it from the band of Bimi Ombale which was called Zaiko Langa Langa Familia Dei and had Lengi Lenga, Ilo Pablo, JP Buse and the rest of the musicians that came in the 1980s. Later on, N'Yoka Longo's group reacquired the original name "Zaiko Langa Langa", which has maintained until today. N'Yoka Longo is still the leader of the group.

Zaiko Langa-Langa - Zaire-Ghana (flac  423mb)

01 Zaiko Wa Wa 8:36
02 Saloti 9:15
03 Bomwana 9:19
04 Astrida 9:35
05 Ma 9:17
06 Ngeli Ngeli 9:16
07 Zaiko Balawukidi 9:18

Zaiko Langa-Langa - Zaire-Ghana (ogg 153mb)

xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx

Wemba is probably the most famous and certainly the most flamboyant of the many graduates of Zaiko Langa Langa, the band that turned rumba into soukous with hard guitar and traditional rhythms and structures in the early '70s. His high, harsh voice cuts like it's serrated, and the harmonies are almost acrid sometimes, just like Nguando Milos's lead guitar lines, which break away from the merely engaging competition both sonically and melodically. An admirer of the old discursive song forms, Wemba milks soukous's bipartite conventions for something very much like drama--more than once I've assumed a piece was ending only to have it break into a perfectly inevitable aftermath.

Papa Wemba - L'Esclave (flac  501mb)

01 Esclave 9:08
02 Dieu voit tout 8:59
03 Mukaji wanyi 6:57
04 Zonga zonga 10:03
05 Efreka mandundu 6:57
06 Rendre a cesar 8:32
07 Bukavu dawa 10:58
08 Ufuku tanu 7:18

Papa Wemba - L'Esclave  (ogg 196mb)

xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx

At his New York dates of the past few years, the soukous sapeur seemed both enervated and inflated by the labor of Anglophone crossover, and he puts out so many records in Paris that some doubt he can remember one from the other. But here, at greater length than on any '80s album, he rings in his 50th year with superabundant pizzazz. The new touch--there's generally a new touch--is a xylophone. The old touches are the now sweet, now rich, now cutting leads, the varisized choruses, the assured shifts of tempo and mood, the synths emulating flutes and horns and innerspring mattresses.

Papa Wemba - M'zée Fula-Ngenge (flac  511mb)

01 Fula-Ngenge 7:10
02 Abu-Pia 6:48
03 Rubbin, Sephora Et Ruth 5:35
04 Bonjour Daddy 2:47
05 Phrase 4:58
06 M'Odikenda 5:37
07 Moperewe 7:07
08 O'koningana 3:35
09 Etaleli 5:48
10 Elongi Ya Jesus 6:04
11 Maria 4:38
12 Martina-B 6:16
13 Bibi, Muana Ya Shaba 6:16

Papa Wemba - M'zée Fula-Ngenge (ogg 175mb)

xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx