BLACK SOCIAL HISTORY Papa Wemba
Papa Wemba
Papa Wemba in December 2015
Background information
Born
June 14, 1949
Lubefu, Belgian Congo
(today the Democratic Republic of the Congo)
Died
April 24, 2016 (aged 66)
Abidjan, Ivory Coast
Genres
Soukous
Associated acts
Zaiko Langa Langa, Viva la Musica
Website
www.papawemba.info
Jules Shungu Wembadio Pene Kikumba, commonly known as Papa Wemba (14 June 1949 – 24 April 2016) was a Congolese
rumba (later known as soukous) singer and musician. He was one of Africa's most popular musicians, prominent in world music,[1]and a fashion icon[2] who popularized the Sapeur look and style through his musical group Viva la Musica.[3]
Contents
[hide]
1Musical history
1.1Zaiko Langa Langa
1.2Isifi Lokole
1.3Yoka Lokole
1.4Viva la Musica
1.5Move to Paris
2High and low times
3Cultural influence
4Death
5Discography
6Filmography
7References
8External links
Musical history[edit]
Papa Wemba's road to fame and prominence began when he joined the music group Zaiko Langa Langa. This was followed by his success as a founding member both of Isifi Lokole and then Yoka Lokole. But Wemba gained international success and status with his band Viva La Musica,[1] especially after he took them to Paris, France in the early 1980s, while mixing into the music a more "eclectic sound," [4] influenced by western popular music and a more European flavor of sounds and style.
Zaiko Langa Langa[edit]
Papa Wemba was one of the first musicians to join the influential Soukous band Zaiko Langa Langa after it was created in December 1969[5] in Kinshasa, along with many well known Congolese musicians including Nyoka Longo Jossart and Bimi Ombale, among others.[citation needed]
Papa Wemba (then known as Jules Presley Shungu Wembadio) helped contribute to the success of Zaiko Langa Langa so that, by 1973, it was one of the more successful Congolese groups with one of the busiest touring schedules. Soon its shows and concerts featured a string of their popular hits, including many that were written by Wemba. The latter included "Pauline," "C'est La Vérité," "Chouchouna," and "Liwa Ya Somo."
Zaiko Langa Langa had gained a strong and popular following even in a Congolese musical world dominated at the time by various musical acts including Franco Luambo and his band TPOK Jazz, or Tabu Ley Rochereau's Afrisa, and (at the time) new musical acts such as Bella-Bella and Empire Bakuba.
Isifi Lokole[edit]
This section does not cite any sources. Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (April 2016)
In December 1974, at the pinnacle of their fame (and just a month after the Rumble in the Jungle between Muhammad Ali and George Foreman in Kinshasa), Shungu Wembadio (Papa Wemba), along with Evoloko Lay Lay, Mavuela Somo and Bozi Boziana (who had joined the group a year earlier), left Zaiko Langa Langa to establish their own musical ensemble Isifi Lokole. Wemba later claimed that ISIFI was an acronym for "Institut du Savoir Ideologique pour la Formation des Idoles," a claim that has still not been given total credence. In July 1975, Shungu Wembadio officially adopted the soon-to-be-well-known-worldwide name Papa Wemba. The "Papa" (father) part of his name was added as an allusion to the demanding family responsibilities that Wemba assumed at very young age. This was because Wemba was the first son in a family where both parents were now deceased: Wemba's father in 1966, followed by his mother in 1973.[1] Isifi Lokole would only last a year together as a group. with the single "Amazone" as its biggest commercial "hit" record.
Yoka Lokole[edit]
This section does not cite any sources. Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (April 2016)
In November 1975, Papa Wemba, Mavuela Somo and Bozi Boziana abandoned Isifi Lokole to create the group Yoka Lokole (also known as The Kinshasa's Wa Fania All-Stars). Yoka Lokole wasn't as popular as Isifi Lokole, but contributed to he African pop music wave with their hit songs including "Matembele Bangui", "Lisuma ya Zazu" (Papa Wemba), "Mavuela Sala Keba", and "Bana Kin" (Mavuela Somo).
Like Isifi Lokole, the electronic-instrument-driven Yoka Lokole would not last much longer than a year. The difficultly was in keeping the musicians together long enough to establish a consistent sound and style. The constant turnover was attributed to the merger of so many big-name talents in the band's lineup. After a year of modest success, controversies within Yoka Lokole over money and prestige (complicated by Wemba's arrest and brief incarceration in Kinshasa Central prison in December 1976 for the "crime" of being suspected of having had physical intimacy with an influential army general's daughter). The band continued to tour without Papa Wemba. For Wemba this was a kind of betrayal that motivated him to, singlehandedly, form his own group in February 1977, called Viva la Musica.
Viva la Musica[edit]
This section does not cite any sources. Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (April 2016)
At his home in the Matonge neighborhood of Kinshasa, Papa Wemba structured Viva la Musica around young talented artists including the singers Kisangani Esperant, Jadot le Cambodgien, Pepe Bipoli and Petit Aziza, and various guitarists such as Rigo Star, Syriana, and Bongo Wende. The group had nearly instantaneous success with hit songs that included "Mere Superieure," "Mabele Mokonzi", "Bokulaka," "Princesse ya Sinza", and others. As time went by, it was revealed that Antoine Agbepa (currently known as Koffi Olomide), whose friends were calling "Cheri O", was the unknown writer of most of the group's hit songs. An old Kinshasa anecdote says that a college student then-named Agbepa was such an impressive songwriter that one day in 1977 Papa Wemba exclaimed, "Ooh! l'homme idee" (Oh! the idea-man!), thereby on-the-spot renaming the impressive young singer-songwriter Koffi Olomide - and the name stuck.
At the height of his success in 1977, Papa Wemba established a kind of commune for musicians. To accomplish this, he used his family home (on Kanda-Kanda street) as a place for Matonge youths to gather "à la mode" (i.e., to be cool). It was named "Village Molokai."[1] Papa Wemba assumed the moniker "Chef Coutumier" (Chief) of the Village of Molokai. That village in the heart of Matonge, included the following streets whose first letters were used to form the acronym: M-O-LO-KA-I (Masimanimba-Oshwe-LOkolama-KAnda-kanda-Inzia).
Move to Paris
Beginning in the early 1980s, Wemba (both by himself and with Viva la Musica) started traveling to Paris, believing there was a potentially wider audience for the music he had been creating for the past 15 years.
After the wave of African emigration to Europe in the 1990s, Wemba maintained one group in Kinshasa (called at times "Nouvelle Ecriture", "Nouvel Ecrita", and then again "Viva la Musica") and another one in Paris ("Nouvelle Generation," "La Cour des Grands," and now "Viva Tendance"). He also consistently maintained a high profile in world music with the hits "L'Esclave" (1986), "Le Voyageur, Maria Valencia" (1992), "Foridoles, Dixieme Commandement" (1994), "Emotion" (1995), "Pole Position" (1996), "Bakala dia Kuba" (2001), and "Somo Trop" (2003).
High and low times
THE BLACK MARTYR HISTORY COLLECTION
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). On the song "Numéro d'écrou", he recalled the day "God" paid a visit to his cell.
Cultural influence
In 1979, Papa Wemba became the unofficial leader of the Sapeur (Société des Ambianceurs et des Personnes d'Élégance, roughly translated as "the Society of Atmosphere-setters and Elegant People," or SAPE) which he promoted as a youth subculture.[3][6] Wemba said:
The Sapeur cult promoted high standards of personal cleanliness, hygiene and smart dress, to a whole generation of youth across Zaire. 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.[7]
Wemba was also known as an actor. In 1987, he played the male lead role in the successful Zairean (Congolese) film La Vie est Belle by Belgian director Benoît Lamy and Congolese producer-director Ngangura Mweze. In 2012, he had a cameo role in the Belgian drama film Kinshasa Kids.
Recently,[when?] Priyan Weerappuli, leader of the Sri Lankan group Pahan Silu, referred to Wemba as being among his greatest musical influences.[citation needed]
Death
Wemba died after collapsing on stage in Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire on April 24, 2016 at the age of 66.[2]
Discography
THE BLACK MARTYR HISTORY COLLECTION
Pauline (1970, Zaiko Langa Langa)
L'Amoureux Decu (1972, Zaiko Langa Langa)
Mete la Verite, Chouchouna (1973, Zaiko Langa Langa)
Liwa ya Somo (1973–1974, Zaiko Langa Langa)
Ainsi Va La Vie, Amazone (1975, Isifi Lokole)
Matembele Bangi, Lisuma ya Zazu (1976, Yoka Lokole)
Mere Superieure, Bokulaka, Mabele Mokonzi, Muana Molokai (1977)
Princesse ya Senza, Fleur Betoko, Zonga-Zonga (1978)
Anibo, Ata Nkale (1979)
Levre Rose (1979, with Rochereau & Afrisa)
Telegramme (1979, with Simaro Massiya & OK. Jazz)
Analengo (1980), Amena (1980, duo with Pepe Kalle)
Santa, Matebu (1980, first full album in Paris)
Melina La Parisienne, Ufukutano (1981)
Evenement, Rendre A Caesar (1982)
Eliana, Bukavu Dawa (1983)
Proclamation (1984, in Paris with Ngashie Niarchos)
Destin ya Moto (1985)
L'esclave, Papa Wemba – Au Japon (live) (1986)
Papa Wemba Ekumani (1987)
M'fono Yami (1989)
Biloko ya Moto-Adidas Kiesse (1991)
Le Voyageur (1992)
Foridoles (1994)
Emotion, Real World Records (1995)
Pôle Position (1996)
Wake-Up (1996, duo with Koffi Olomide)
Nouvelle Ecriture (1997)
Molokaï (1998)
Nouvelle Ecriture dans L (1998)
M’Zée Fula-Ngenge (1999)
Muana Matebu(1999)
A La Une (2000)
Zea (2001)
Bakala Dia Kuba (2001)
Somo Trop (2003)
Muana Molokaï (2004)
Ba Zonkion (2005)
Cheeky Summer time - Collab with Father J (2004)
Attention L'artiste (2006)
New Morning, album and DVD (2006)
Notre Père Rumba (2010)
Maître D'école (2014)
Filmography
Les Habits neufs du gouverneur (The Governor's New Clothes) (2004)
Combat de fauves (1997) - The African
La Vie est Belle (Life Is Beautiful) (1987) - Kourou
Papa Wemba
Papa Wemba in December 2015
Background information
Born
June 14, 1949
Lubefu, Belgian Congo
(today the Democratic Republic of the Congo)
Died
April 24, 2016 (aged 66)
Abidjan, Ivory Coast
Genres
Soukous
Associated acts
Zaiko Langa Langa, Viva la Musica
Website
www.papawemba.info
Jules Shungu Wembadio Pene Kikumba, commonly known as Papa Wemba (14 June 1949 – 24 April 2016) was a Congolese
Contents
[hide]
1Musical history
1.1Zaiko Langa Langa
1.2Isifi Lokole
1.3Yoka Lokole
1.4Viva la Musica
1.5Move to Paris
2High and low times
3Cultural influence
4Death
5Discography
6Filmography
7References
8External links
Musical history[edit]
Papa Wemba's road to fame and prominence began when he joined the music group Zaiko Langa Langa. This was followed by his success as a founding member both of Isifi Lokole and then Yoka Lokole. But Wemba gained international success and status with his band Viva La Musica,[1] especially after he took them to Paris, France in the early 1980s, while mixing into the music a more "eclectic sound," [4] influenced by western popular music and a more European flavor of sounds and style.
Zaiko Langa Langa[edit]
Papa Wemba was one of the first musicians to join the influential Soukous band Zaiko Langa Langa after it was created in December 1969[5] in Kinshasa, along with many well known Congolese musicians including Nyoka Longo Jossart and Bimi Ombale, among others.[citation needed]
Papa Wemba (then known as Jules Presley Shungu Wembadio) helped contribute to the success of Zaiko Langa Langa so that, by 1973, it was one of the more successful Congolese groups with one of the busiest touring schedules. Soon its shows and concerts featured a string of their popular hits, including many that were written by Wemba. The latter included "Pauline," "C'est La Vérité," "Chouchouna," and "Liwa Ya Somo."
Zaiko Langa Langa had gained a strong and popular following even in a Congolese musical world dominated at the time by various musical acts including Franco Luambo and his band TPOK Jazz, or Tabu Ley Rochereau's Afrisa, and (at the time) new musical acts such as Bella-Bella and Empire Bakuba.
Isifi Lokole[edit]
This section does not cite any sources. Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (April 2016)
In December 1974, at the pinnacle of their fame (and just a month after the Rumble in the Jungle between Muhammad Ali and George Foreman in Kinshasa), Shungu Wembadio (Papa Wemba), along with Evoloko Lay Lay, Mavuela Somo and Bozi Boziana (who had joined the group a year earlier), left Zaiko Langa Langa to establish their own musical ensemble Isifi Lokole. Wemba later claimed that ISIFI was an acronym for "Institut du Savoir Ideologique pour la Formation des Idoles," a claim that has still not been given total credence. In July 1975, Shungu Wembadio officially adopted the soon-to-be-well-known-worldwide name Papa Wemba. The "Papa" (father) part of his name was added as an allusion to the demanding family responsibilities that Wemba assumed at very young age. This was because Wemba was the first son in a family where both parents were now deceased: Wemba's father in 1966, followed by his mother in 1973.[1] Isifi Lokole would only last a year together as a group. with the single "Amazone" as its biggest commercial "hit" record.
Yoka Lokole[edit]
This section does not cite any sources. Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (April 2016)
In November 1975, Papa Wemba, Mavuela Somo and Bozi Boziana abandoned Isifi Lokole to create the group Yoka Lokole (also known as The Kinshasa's Wa Fania All-Stars). Yoka Lokole wasn't as popular as Isifi Lokole, but contributed to he African pop music wave with their hit songs including "Matembele Bangui", "Lisuma ya Zazu" (Papa Wemba), "Mavuela Sala Keba", and "Bana Kin" (Mavuela Somo).
Like Isifi Lokole, the electronic-instrument-driven Yoka Lokole would not last much longer than a year. The difficultly was in keeping the musicians together long enough to establish a consistent sound and style. The constant turnover was attributed to the merger of so many big-name talents in the band's lineup. After a year of modest success, controversies within Yoka Lokole over money and prestige (complicated by Wemba's arrest and brief incarceration in Kinshasa Central prison in December 1976 for the "crime" of being suspected of having had physical intimacy with an influential army general's daughter). The band continued to tour without Papa Wemba. For Wemba this was a kind of betrayal that motivated him to, singlehandedly, form his own group in February 1977, called Viva la Musica.
Viva la Musica[edit]
This section does not cite any sources. Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (April 2016)
At his home in the Matonge neighborhood of Kinshasa, Papa Wemba structured Viva la Musica around young talented artists including the singers Kisangani Esperant, Jadot le Cambodgien, Pepe Bipoli and Petit Aziza, and various guitarists such as Rigo Star, Syriana, and Bongo Wende. The group had nearly instantaneous success with hit songs that included "Mere Superieure," "Mabele Mokonzi", "Bokulaka," "Princesse ya Sinza", and others. As time went by, it was revealed that Antoine Agbepa (currently known as Koffi Olomide), whose friends were calling "Cheri O", was the unknown writer of most of the group's hit songs. An old Kinshasa anecdote says that a college student then-named Agbepa was such an impressive songwriter that one day in 1977 Papa Wemba exclaimed, "Ooh! l'homme idee" (Oh! the idea-man!), thereby on-the-spot renaming the impressive young singer-songwriter Koffi Olomide - and the name stuck.
At the height of his success in 1977, Papa Wemba established a kind of commune for musicians. To accomplish this, he used his family home (on Kanda-Kanda street) as a place for Matonge youths to gather "à la mode" (i.e., to be cool). It was named "Village Molokai."[1] Papa Wemba assumed the moniker "Chef Coutumier" (Chief) of the Village of Molokai. That village in the heart of Matonge, included the following streets whose first letters were used to form the acronym: M-O-LO-KA-I (Masimanimba-Oshwe-LOkolama-KAnda-kanda-Inzia).
Move to Paris
Beginning in the early 1980s, Wemba (both by himself and with Viva la Musica) started traveling to Paris, believing there was a potentially wider audience for the music he had been creating for the past 15 years.
After the wave of African emigration to Europe in the 1990s, Wemba maintained one group in Kinshasa (called at times "Nouvelle Ecriture", "Nouvel Ecrita", and then again "Viva la Musica") and another one in Paris ("Nouvelle Generation," "La Cour des Grands," and now "Viva Tendance"). He also consistently maintained a high profile in world music with the hits "L'Esclave" (1986), "Le Voyageur, Maria Valencia" (1992), "Foridoles, Dixieme Commandement" (1994), "Emotion" (1995), "Pole Position" (1996), "Bakala dia Kuba" (2001), and "Somo Trop" (2003).
High and low times
THE BLACK MARTYR HISTORY COLLECTION
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). On the song "Numéro d'écrou", he recalled the day "God" paid a visit to his cell.
Cultural influence
In 1979, Papa Wemba became the unofficial leader of the Sapeur (Société des Ambianceurs et des Personnes d'Élégance, roughly translated as "the Society of Atmosphere-setters and Elegant People," or SAPE) which he promoted as a youth subculture.[3][6] Wemba said:
The Sapeur cult promoted high standards of personal cleanliness, hygiene and smart dress, to a whole generation of youth across Zaire. 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.[7]
Wemba was also known as an actor. In 1987, he played the male lead role in the successful Zairean (Congolese) film La Vie est Belle by Belgian director Benoît Lamy and Congolese producer-director Ngangura Mweze. In 2012, he had a cameo role in the Belgian drama film Kinshasa Kids.
Recently,[when?] Priyan Weerappuli, leader of the Sri Lankan group Pahan Silu, referred to Wemba as being among his greatest musical influences.[citation needed]
Death
Wemba died after collapsing on stage in Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire on April 24, 2016 at the age of 66.[2]
Discography
THE BLACK MARTYR HISTORY COLLECTION
Pauline (1970, Zaiko Langa Langa)
L'Amoureux Decu (1972, Zaiko Langa Langa)
Mete la Verite, Chouchouna (1973, Zaiko Langa Langa)
Liwa ya Somo (1973–1974, Zaiko Langa Langa)
Ainsi Va La Vie, Amazone (1975, Isifi Lokole)
Matembele Bangi, Lisuma ya Zazu (1976, Yoka Lokole)
Mere Superieure, Bokulaka, Mabele Mokonzi, Muana Molokai (1977)
Princesse ya Senza, Fleur Betoko, Zonga-Zonga (1978)
Anibo, Ata Nkale (1979)
Levre Rose (1979, with Rochereau & Afrisa)
Telegramme (1979, with Simaro Massiya & OK. Jazz)
Analengo (1980), Amena (1980, duo with Pepe Kalle)
Santa, Matebu (1980, first full album in Paris)
Melina La Parisienne, Ufukutano (1981)
Evenement, Rendre A Caesar (1982)
Eliana, Bukavu Dawa (1983)
Proclamation (1984, in Paris with Ngashie Niarchos)
Destin ya Moto (1985)
L'esclave, Papa Wemba – Au Japon (live) (1986)
Papa Wemba Ekumani (1987)
M'fono Yami (1989)
Biloko ya Moto-Adidas Kiesse (1991)
Le Voyageur (1992)
Foridoles (1994)
Emotion, Real World Records (1995)
Pôle Position (1996)
Wake-Up (1996, duo with Koffi Olomide)
Nouvelle Ecriture (1997)
Molokaï (1998)
Nouvelle Ecriture dans L (1998)
M’Zée Fula-Ngenge (1999)
Muana Matebu(1999)
A La Une (2000)
Zea (2001)
Bakala Dia Kuba (2001)
Somo Trop (2003)
Muana Molokaï (2004)
Ba Zonkion (2005)
Cheeky Summer time - Collab with Father J (2004)
Attention L'artiste (2006)
New Morning, album and DVD (2006)
Notre Père Rumba (2010)
Maître D'école (2014)
Filmography
Les Habits neufs du gouverneur (The Governor's New Clothes) (2004)
Combat de fauves (1997) - The African
La Vie est Belle (Life Is Beautiful) (1987) - Kourou
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