“I would put him in the same bracket as Fela Kuti when it comes to influence on African music,” DJ Edu, BBC 1xtra’s African Music Ambassador.
Africa and world music lovers across the globe this week mourned the death of Papa Wemba, the eminent Congolese singer and musician hailed as the ‘King of Rhumba’ who died collapsing on stage during a concert in Ivory Coast.
A man with dynamic vocals and a flamboyant personality, Papa Wemba played an essential role in the evolution of Central African music. His talent for fusing African traditions with western pop and rock influences brought him global prestige and he was pivotal in defining the genre of soukous (Congolese rhumba), which became massively popular across Africa and then in the West, thanks to it’s infectious rhythms and guitar lines.
Papa Wemba’s road to fame began in the early 1970s when he co-founded the band Zaiko Langa Langa before becoming leader of the Isife Lokole and Yoka Lokole ensembles in 1974. These bands were named after the lokole, a hollow tree trunk played with two sticks that laid the rhythmic foundation to his tracks.
He wasn’t to attract international attention until 1977 when he formed his most successful group, Viva la Musica. Their first year climaxed with Kinshasa newspaper Elima naming the band ‘best orchestra’, Wemba ‘best singer’ and their single, ‘Mère Supérieure’, ‘best song’. Extremely popular among the Congo’s youth, their music reflected an authenticity campaign launched by President Mobutu in the late 1970s and helped mould Papa Wemba into a fashion icon. He became the driving force of the Sapeur (Société des Ambianceurs et des Personnes d’Élégance) movement that emboldened young Congolese men to spend lavishly on designer clothes. With his baggy, pleated trousers, hemmed above shiny brogues, and hair clipped close at the sides, Papa Wemba and his Viva La Musica entourage became idols for Congolese musicians both in terms of attire and musical performance. Over the following years, the group continued to record hit singles, including ‘Moku Nyon Nyon’, ‘Nyekesse Migue’l’, and ‘Cou Cou Dindon’.
In the early 80s Papa Wemba relocated to Paris and formed a second version of the Viva La Musica band. This group took a more Westernized approach, whilst the original band continued to perform indigenous-based music. With one band for the Zairian fans and one for a western audience, he was able to build his international rapport and was soon brushing shoulders with leading pioneers of world music. In the 90s Papa Wemba made recordings for Peter Gabriel’s Real World Records and toured as the opening act for Gabriel’s Secret World tour in 1993 as well as establishing himself as a festival favourite when he headlined WOMAD in 2000. By the time he recorded what was to be his most popular album; ‘Emotion’ in 1995, he had already made somewhere in the region of 25 records. This album, featuring hit tracks such as ‘Yolele’, ‘Show Me The Way’ and a cover of Otis Redding’s ‘Fa Fa Fa Fa Fa (Sad Song)’, was released on Real World and produced by Stephen Hague of Pet Shop Boys.
Along with the late, legendary Congolese guitarist Franco Luambo Makiadi, Papa Wemba helped inspire a generation of Congolese musicians and influenced the development of seminal artists such as soukous singer, dancer and producer Koffi Olomide. With his glorious, easy-going voice and his mastery of the twisting, hip-grooving rhythms of soukous, Papa Wemba’s legacy as a dancefloor hero and fashion icon across Africa and Europe burns brightly.
Written by Orlando Del Maestro