Fans of African music will be saddened by this news. His album Foridoles was one of the best of the 1990s. Very interesting article from the BBC site.
Papa Wemba R.I.P.
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Musings on the byways of popular culture
A great loss. Thanks for the article, Alias. It filled in several pieces in the jigsaw for me.
Congolese soukous is stupendous.
Let’s have a taste of the great man.
Oh that’s desperately sad news. Saw him at WOMAD many years ago and he was a magnificent live performer. The ‘Emotion’ album from which KFD’s clip comes has been a family favourite in the BB household for years – one of those records that our daughters love as much as we do and take us right back to summer days and good times together. RIP.
He was one of those frustrating artists that changed their music when playing to Western audiences. Rather than get hard core soukous you would often get some synth heavy thing and half the band being Frenchman in black t-shirts and pony tails.
The movie La Vie Est Belle set in Kinshasa with Papa Wemba as a struggling artist is great to watch, for the music and just the insight into everyday life and living conditions in Kinshasa
That’s the name of it! I tried to remember when I commented on the Obituary thread, but it was gone.
Very funny film, and great music.
The two Papa Wemba albums I have aren’t like that, but I know exactly what you mean. It used to make my heart sink when an African band would come on stage with a long haired guitarist in leather trousers and a Les Paul, you knew you were in for an evening of heavy metal guitar solos.
Thanks Junior. I’d not heard of that.
Gosh. I wanted the trailer but here it is, in its entirety.
Its a real slice of Africa. Takes me back.
Very interesting documentary about Sapeurs and Papa Wemba here:
http://features.georgeamponsah.com/video/78965998
Thanks BJB. That looks fascinating.
I liked your comments about “leather trousers and a Les Paul”, Alias. There’s a whole thread to be had talking about how African artists have adapted themselves to a non-African audience.
An example of what happens when this is not the case.
A friend and I attended an African gig more than a few years back here which was marketed primarily to the non-Swedish audience. It turned out to be an all-nighter and the way that the set was put together bore no resemblance to the ritual of a “normal” gig.
The band came on and played a longish set. The singer (sorry, at this point, I can’t remember his name but I think it was Koffi Olomide) came on and did one set. Part of this consisted of the audience coming forward and throwing money at him. The support band played some more. The singer came back did another set and more money was thrown, Then he left. The band played for an hour more.
The sound system was pretty naff. And there was no merch table!!
Sorry, I’m not doing a very good job of explaining how totally disorientated I felt as a non-African. But it was a very enjoyable night out.
I have seen audience members get on stage and press money on the musicians so I know what you mean. Those sort of culture shocks can be anything from thrilling to intimidating and thinking what am I doing here.