JULES AND THE MUSICAL LEGACY HE LEFT

Tribute

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 in the commerce of it but in the mastery of tools of trade. Wemba is one of the Lingala artists 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

SALUTE TO FALLEN HEROES

To my fallen uncle...

An uncle but forever a grandfather,
And in forever you have been thus,
In you we found the old man we were privileged not to have.
While the time spent together might be scant,
The impact was lasting, hitting harder than a storm buffetting the wall of a lone house,
Memories not to be erased by the passage of time.

Even after death snuck up on you like a thief in the night,
Remember that we are here to keep and cherish,
The good the bad and in between memories we shared,
The history and legacy we wrote without our knowledge.

From the tasty mandazis at Christmas dawn,
To the delicious drumsticks on New Year's eve,
From the loud but comically relieving inebriated rants,
To the long unexpected wave goodbye,
We love you.

In the life you live hereafter,
May the peace you cherished be found wherever you are, just as you lived.

Until we meet again,Uncle Ambuzi,rest in peace.

MAY GOD SEE YOU IN THE AFTERLIFE SAFE AND SOUND

Words are barely enough to quantify
The magitude of sorrow inflicted by the fallen lights of a glittering life.

We knew no better comedy than you Mr Ojwang'
And we knew not of our happy times until you left our screens.

For our shortcomings and negligence, please forgive us.
Pardon the shortfall of our amnesiac memories but please take this epitaph as a deep appreciation of your incomparable humour and longevity.

Where you have set foot,
Whatever trail you have blazed,
The glitter that you have left flickering behind you,
Will forever be etched in the fond folds of our memories.

From now henceforth,twelfth of July will forever hold a reminder to us and posterity,
A reminder that in a country marred by juvenile political atmosphere and a morass of corruption,there once walked a man of integrity.

A great man to whom humour was a calling,acting a definition of.

A day that will forever remind us of when you went, hereafter, to explore the unknown lands of the afterlife.

To a father
To a husband
To a breadwinner
A provider
To a brother
A friend
To a patriot
A leader
To a legend
An Icon
To an actor
A humourist
To a national phenomenon
A collosus

Until we meet again, Mzee Benson Wanjau, rest in peace.

 1937-2015
(78 years old)