JULES AND THE MUSICAL LEGACY HE LEFT

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There is nothing quite as destructive and fascinating as death. Yet there is nothing that puts our mortality into perspective than the death of someone so colossal that they seemed un-human. People who  were born doing their art while the rest of us mere mortals waddled on for another five or six years, throwing tantrums as they became the forces we fawn over and revere in unceasing awe and gape. The sudden passing of Papa Wemba is what has prompted me to pen this article to celebrate an artist that we will marvel and gawk at for decades on end, as we still do Franko and Madilu System.

Papa Wemba collapsed in his chosen battlefield, the stage, early Sunday morning, 24th April 2016, at the FEMUA music festival in Abidjan, Ivory Coast and died on his way to hospital. If ever there was need for proof that death has a sense of dramatic irony, this certainly must have been it.

While I wouldn't want to pander about by claiming to be a 'big fan' of Papa or go in lengths about how his music inspired me blah blah blah, let me say that I grew up listening to the Soukous music or Congolese Rhumba by default, never by choice. My old man is a great fan of such so it was only natural that these were the songs we had to listen to whenever my father happened to prefer the great indoors. Listening to his razor sharp singing voice, then to the heavy, paternal drawls of Franko Luambo and Madilu System brought a dawn on me on just why they are revered by the generations of our fathers. They showed mastery of the art, successful not just on the commerce of it, but on the mastery of tools of trade. Wemba is one of the Lingala artist I have grown to enjoy listening to (the others being Franko, Madilu System and Pepe Kalle (R.I.P all). Whether it's the strong and danceable beats, his high-pitched voice or the beauty of the Lingala language, there is just something about Papa Wemba that made me listen whenever he hit the booth. Those times were few, but I cherish the songs I have listened from Papa with astounding passion.

A legendary journey that started in 1969, with the formation of Zaiko Langa Langa band, Papa Wemba's talent saw the band hit popular heights in the mid seventies, and in a country that had the likes of the late colossus Franko and his iconic TP OK Jazz Band and the late Tabu Ley Roshereau and his Afrisa band, that is quite something. It needs something special to nestle yourself among greats, and Papa did just that so soon after getting into the music scene, cementing his legacy not long after.

I will forever remember him for the smooth guitar strums of 'Yolele' and 'Show Me The Way', and the soothing, slow tempo of 'Ye Te Oh', on which he featured French singer and actress Ophelie Winter, and for his high-pitched voice. Just as he joined fellow legends in this churned up stretchy scape of music and fame and became a legend so has he now joined them in strumming harps in the Heavens. The legend continues indeed.

Rest in peace Jules Shungu Wembadio Pene Kikumba aka Papa Wemba. We will see you someday.

June 14th, 1949 - April 24th, 2016

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