RFI Musique - - Congolese music - Papa Wemba's double celebration

Papa Wemba's double celebration

60th birthday & 40 years in showbiz

Paris

17/07/2009 -

Papa Wemba, the man who put Congolese rumba on the international music map, has good reason to celebrate. The mega-star from DR Congo is about to take to the stage to mark his 60th birthday and the 40th anniversary of his career. Fans will be treated to two special one-off concerts in Kinshasa on 15 & 17 July.

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RFI Musique: What festivities are you organising in Kinshasa to mark your birthday and this landmark year in your career?
Papa Wemba: Well, I actually turned 60 last month - on 14 June - but as so many of my friends were away at the time we agreed to do these two concerts a month later. On Friday 17 July, there'll be a special gala dinner at the Hôtel Sultani where we'll be playing an acoustic set followed by an electric set. Then, on Sunday 19 July, we'll be taking to the stage for a major concert at the Hôtel de la Gombé which will be open to the public. That concert will include appearances by a number of guest stars including Koffi Olomide, JB Mpiana and Werrason…

What does it mean to you to be celebrating 40 years in the music business?
Well, I thank the good Lord for the past 40 years that I've survived without a break… The Lord can give you everything, you know, but if you don't know how to use your talent and work at things you're not going to get anywhere. Looking back over my career I realise there have been a lot of ups and downs. But I've never considered my failures to be real failures because I've always learnt something from my mistakes. I've acquired a great deal of experience as an artist now, but I still believe I have a lot to give - and a lot to learn! On my album Emotion I worked with a hot young talent called Lokua Kanza and he was the one who led my music in a new direction.

Do you remember the first time you performed live?
When I was a teenager I hung out with other music-minded kids in the neighbourhood and we used to make our own guitars. Me and my friends would go round from place to place, performing at communions or baptisms. I was the only singer in the band. Everyone called me "Petit Rossi" (Little Nightingale) because I had this delicate warbling voice back then. That was the first time I ever performed in public, but my first real concert was forty years ago with the group Zaïko Langa Langa, playing alongside Nyoka Longo, Evoloko and Manuaku Waku…

And what about your first time in the studio?
Well, that was with Zaïko Langa Langa, too. I remember it as being a totally overwhelming experience. We were due in the studio at 10 o'clock in the morning and I remember we were so petrified that we spent the entire night before sitting up together in the same room. In the morning we set off on foot, walking nearly six kilometres to the studio. We were really apprehensive about things and the first session didn't go well at all. But we went back into the studio the next day and that time round the takes were all fine.

What other plans do you have up your sleeve after these two anniversary concerts?
I'm pretty busy in the studio right now, working between Kinshasa and Paris. I'm hoping to bring out a new album, maybe by the end of this year. It's going to be called Notre terre (Our Earth) and I think that world music fans who've been waiting for something from me since Emotion won't be disappointed. It's going to be a very varied, eclectic album, a real musical voyage full of songs that suit the Papa Wemba you see before you today!