{"id":104257,"date":"2022-04-12T17:19:40","date_gmt":"2022-04-12T15:19:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pan-african-music.com\/?p=104257"},"modified":"2022-04-12T17:24:36","modified_gmt":"2022-04-12T15:24:36","slug":"papa-wemba-le-voyageur","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pan-african-music.com\/en\/papa-wemba-le-voyageur\/","title":{"rendered":"PAM revisits Papa Wemba\u2019s Le Voyageur"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

For the third and final in our series on classic albums recorded in Paris in the eighties and nineties during the first coming of \u201cworld music\u201d we consider Le Voyageur<\/em> by Papa Wemba. <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

A portrait of Papa Wemba posing on a Parisian staircase provides the cover for Le Voyageur<\/em> released on Peter Gabriel\u2019s Real World label on 12th April 1992. The record that would announce Papa Wemba\u2019s arrival on the international scene and back home in Zaire put an end to rumours that Wemba had died (which had been circulating as a result of his long term residency in Europe) Le Voyageur<\/em> stands as a canonical record of the epoch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Recorded in Paris in Studio Plus XXX Le Voyageur<\/em> is an important marker in Wemba\u2019s career and would map out a personal brand of Congolese cosmopolitanism that would define a remarkable man.\u00a0To better understand this musical stop on the journey of Jules Shungu Wembadio Pene Kikumba (better known to you and I as Papa Wemba) we must return to the town of Lubefu in what was then the Belgian Congo.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Born in 1949 a decade before Congo won back its independence, Wemba\u2019s mother was a pleureuse<\/em>, (a professional mourner) and it was this melancholic vocal style that provided some of the earliest and most lasting musical inspiration for the young Jules. Coming of age in the so-called belle \u00e9poque of artistic and cultural renaissance that accompanied independence, Wemba moved to Kinshasa in the sixties a story mirrored in the semi autobiographical 1987 film La Vie Est Belle (<\/em>a sort of Congolese The harder they come) <\/em>and began his musical training proper with elders Tabu Ley Seigneur Rochereau and Jean Bosco Mwenda.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Zaiko Langa Langa<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Forming his first band Zaiko Langa Langa in 1969 Wemba would be a founding member of Isifi Lokole<\/em> and then Yoka Lokole<\/em> before forming Viva La Musica in 1979 within the musicians\u2019 fiefdom of Molokai where he received his venerable nickname of \u201cPapa.\u201d  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the forefront of what was the third generation of rumba musicians, Wemba then took a six year sabbatical in 1979 to join Rochereau\u2019s group Afrisa International<\/em> in Paris before curating a second lineup of Viva La Musica<\/em> based in France and a loose collection of session players whom would make up the personnel on Le Voyageur<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Astute and ambitious, Wemba would eventually maintain separate bands in Europe and Congo, and Le Voyageur <\/em>was thus conceived as a smoother and more polished record marketable to Europe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now signed to ex-Genesis musician Peter Gabriel\u2019s Real World Records, Wemba teamed up with Shakara Mutela (real name Mutela Kalonga) and producers Sekiji Murata and Richard Moakes and began sessions that would result in the nine songs on Le Voyageur.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Opening with the salsa vibes of \u201cMaria Valencia\u201d a montuno <\/em>or ostinato keyboard vamp sets up a groove before Wemba enters with a plaintive vocal that is answered by a humid Trumpet solo. If this first tune left anyone unsure of Wemba\u2019s star quality, then the accompanying music video (remember this was the heyday of MTV) presented Papa Wemba to the public in all his dapper regality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here we must note that by this point Wemba was celebrated at home as the king of the sapeurs and the video for \u201cMaria Valencia\u201d shows Wemba dancing in multiple outfits each sharper than the last. Le Voyageur<\/em> thus documents the synergy of fashion and music that would define this costumier in chief of the subculture of dandys know as Sapeurs<\/a> (Soci\u00e9t\u00e9 des Ambianceurs et des Personnes \u00c9l\u00e9gantes<\/em> or Society of Ambiance-Makers and Elegant People) <\/em>who uplift the streets of Kinshasa and Brazzaville with their performance art.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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