Papa Wemba

From Kinshasa to Bercy Stadium!

Paris 

31/12/2001 - 

In the year 2000 17,000 music fans flocked to Bercy stadium (Paris's biggest venue) to see Congolese music star Koffi Olomidé in concert. So now that Papa Wemba, Congo's other leading music king, has touched down in France for a special New Year's Eve concert, it's only natural he should bring the house down at Bercy too!

Papa Wemba recently resurfaced on the international music scene on the Spirit of Africa AIDs fund-raising compilation (Real World). But now he's turned his attention to his own solo career once again, recording a new album entitled Bakala Dia Kuba (released on Next Music). And on New Year's Eve he's set to kick up a storm at Bercy with songs from his new album, a host of special guest stars and – as if that were not enough - the election of "Miss Africa Europe"!

On Tuesday December 11th, twenty days before Bercy D-Day, Papa Wemba left his home in Paris and flew out to Kinshasa to present a preview of his New Year's Eve show to the Congolese media. Needless to say, his arrival at the flight check-in counter at Roissy caused a furore, as hundreds of music fans crowded round to snap up one of the souvenir scarves Papa handed out as pre-Christmas gifts. Emblazoned with colourful effigies of Papa, the scarves were printed with inscriptions in French, Lingala, Swahili, Kimongo, Bokul and Kilari, proclaiming "Papa Wemba à Bercy", "Kolo histoire" (History's Creator), "Mwalimu"(The Master), Fulangenge (Star Shooter), Mzee (The Old One), Bokulaka (The Elder) and Ekumani (The Great One) - as Papa Wemba is variously known to fans in Kinshasa!

Papa's bags were also packed with stacks of souvenir plates to give to fans back home. For, make no mistake about it, the singer's trip back to Kinshasa was masterminded as a veritable comeback campaign. OK, so the Congolese music scene might currently be dominated by the likes of Werrason, J.B. Mpiana, Adolphe Dominguez, Wazekwa and Koffi Olomidé, but Papa was about to prove he was still a name to be reckoned with too! And, what's more, he had his new album and mega-show at Bercy to prove it!
Judging by the rapturous reception which greeted Papa when he touched down at Kinshasa airport, surrounded by a bevy of bodyguards and his tour team, local music fans had not forgotten him. As Papa and his entourage stepped onto the runway cheers rang out from all sides and the faces of the airport ground staff lit up like Christmas lights as they escorted Papa through customs. After a brief spot of hand-shaking and autograph-signing in the arrivals lounge, Papa clambered into a waiting car and sped straight off to Molokai, his home village in the heart of Matonge - aka "the neighbourhood that never sleeps!"

A few hours later Papa was set to get up on an outdoor stage with his team of dancers and percussionists and treat local music fans and the Congolese press to a foretaste of his Bercy concert. What's more, he was to be joined on stage by his new group Nouvelle Ecrita, made up of a team of young but impeccably talented musicians and backing singers. But alas! when the time came for the concert to kick off, the heavens opened and the African rains came down. Sticking to that old showbiz saying "The show must go on!", Papa and his entourage promptly upped sticks and set off for the house Papa had grown up in since 1954.

Singers and musicians piled into the space which had once served as the family dining-room and, pushing back a mass of tables and chairs, squeezed into position and began their concert indoors. Standing back to one side, Papa leaned against the wall, dressed in a fashionable grey denim bermuda suit and nifty white hat. But as vibrant rhythms pounded out across the room he left his ringside position and joined his band on the makeshift stage. On the dining room wall behind the drummer's head - where a photo of President Lumumba had once hung - was a poster of Papa's legendary gig at the Paris Olympia in 2000.

Meanwhile, crowds of fans had assembled in the courtyard outside Papa's house and, despite the insistent African rain, were dancing away to the band's compelling drum beats. As the concert progressed and the raindrops slowed from torrential downpour to drizzle to clear skies, Papa's dance troupe joined the crowd outside, throwing themselves into their sexy choreographed routine.

Papa's concert went on until the sun came down, after which he and his entourage were whisked off to a press conference at the Grand Hotel downtown. The conference proved to be a lively affair, journalists batting back and forth between 16 controversial questions - after all, this is a country where everyone enjoys a spot of polemic and heated debate! (And it was certainly no coincidence that that night's edition of Ndule, the national cultural news was dominated by a feud between Ferre de Wenge and Felix Wazekwa!)

Papa's press conference at the Grand Hotel certainly lived up to the Congolese love of debate. When one journalist asked why a special peace concert in Kinshasa was being organised by the United Nations, rather than a local Congolese star, Papa promptly retorted, "Look, it's about time you changed the language you use in your TV programmes and press articles, you know. Our country's going through a difficult period of transition right now and we need to stick together and present a united front!"

However, polemic and controversial Wemba rhetoric aside, Papa's return to his homeland gave everyone an excuse to get together over a celebratory PRIMUS beer (known locally as the beer of the "Popular Revolutionaries Involved in the Drunkards' Union"). After all, as the old Kinshasa saying goes: Zua yango na esprit ya bien - always look on the bright side of life!" We couldn't agree more!

Patrick  Labesse