Papa WembaPapa Wemba, one of Africa’s most popular musicians and self acclaimed king of Rumba genre, later known as Soukous, who thrilled an entire continent for decades has died. He was 66.
Born on June 14, 1949, the famous Congolese musician whose real name was Jules Shungu Wembadio Pene Kikumba, died last night April 24, after suffering a seizure while performing in Abidjan, Ivory Coast.
A still frame taken from Ivory Coast national television RTI 1 on April 24, 2016 shows Congolese music star Papa Wemba collapsing on stage during the FEMUA music festival in Abidjan. Papa Wemba, who won renown by helping to bring the highly popular sound of Congolese rumba to an international audience, died today aged 66. / AFP / RTI Papa Wemba
Papa Wemba was one of the very first musicians to join the influential Soukous band, Zaiko Langa Langa when it was created in December 1969 in Kinshasa along with such well known Congolese musicians as Nyoka Longo Jossart, Manuaku Pepe Felly, Evoloko Lay Lay, Bimi Ombale, Teddy Sukami, Zamuangana Enock, Mavuela Simeon, Clan Petrole and others.
In a Congolese musical world dominated at the time by Franco Luambo and his remarkable band TPOK Jazz, Tabu Ley Rochereau’s Afrisa, and by then-new musical groups such as Les Grands Maquisards, Le Trio Madjesi, and even younger bands such as Bella-Bella, Thu Zaina and Empire Bakuba, the young and talented Papa Wemba (then known as Jules Presley Shungu Wembadio) was one of the driving forces that, by 1973, made Zaiko Langa Langa one of the most-performing dominant Congolese groups, featuring such popular numbers as “Chouchouna” (Papa Wemba), “Eluzam” and ” Mbeya Mbeya” (Evoloko Lay Lay), “BP ya Munu” (Efonge Gina), “Mwana Wabi” and “Mizou” (Bimi Ombale) and “Zania” (Mavuela Somo).