Zaiko Langa Langa

Papa Wemba and Félix Manuaku Waku, ca. 1970

Papa Wemba was one of the first musicians to join the influential rock-rumba^[7] band Zaiko Langa Langa (ZLL) after it was created in December 1969^[10] in Kinshasa,^[1] by many well-known Congolese musicians including Nyoka Longo Jossart^[11] and Bimi Ombale,^[12] among others. He remained with the group for four years.^[10]

Papa Wemba (then known as Jules Presley Shungu Wembadio) helped contribute to the success of Zaiko Langa Langa so that, by 1973, it was one of the more successful Congolese groups. By that time, ZLL's shows and performances featured a string of their popular hits, some of them written by Wemba. The latter included "Pauline", "C'est La Vérité", "Chouchouna", and "Liwa Ya Somo".^[10]

Zaiko Langa Langa had gained a strong and popular following even in a Congolese musical world that, in those days, was already dominated by various musical acts including Franco Luambo and his band TPOK Jazz, or Tabu Ley Rochereau's various ensembles.^[1] ZLL was also vying for an audience with other (at the time) new musical acts such as Bella-Bella and Empire Bakuba.^[13]

Isifi Lokole

In December 1974, at the pinnacle of their fame (and just a month after the Rumble in the Jungle between Muhammad Ali and George Foreman in Kinshasa),^[1] Papa Wemba (usually called 'Shungu Wembadio' at this point in his career) along with Evoloko Lay Lay, Mavuela Somo and Bozi Boziana,^[13] left Zaiko Langa Langa to establish their own musical ensemble Isifi Lokole.^[1] Wemba later claimed that ISIFI was an acronym for "Institut du Savoir Ideologique pour la Formation des Idoles," a claim that has still not been given total credence. In July 1975, Shungu Wembadio officially adopted the soon-to-be-well-known-worldwide name Papa Wemba. The "Papa" (father) part of his name had already been given to him as a traditional and cultural rite because he was his mother's first-born son.^[13] But in assuming a new name and public persona, "Papa" was now re-emphasized as an allusion to the demanding family responsibilities that Wemba assumed at very young age, since both parents were now deceased: Wemba's father in 1966, followed by his mother in 1973.^[13] Isifi Lokole would only last a year together as a group, with the single "Amazone" (a Wemba composition) as its biggest commercial "hit" record.

Yoka Lokole

In November 1975, Papa Wemba, Mavuela Somo and Bozi Boziana left Isifi Lokole to create the group Yoka Lokole^[10][13] (also known as The Kinshasa's Wa Fania All-Stars).^[13] Yoka Lokole contributed to the African pop music wave with their hit songs including "Matembele Bangui", "Lisuma ya Zazu" (Papa Wemba), "Mavuela Sala Keba", and "Bana Kin" (Mavuela Somo).^[13]

Like Isifi Lokole, the electronic-instrument-driven Yoka Lokole would not last much longer than a year.^[7] After a year of modest success, controversies within Yoka Lokole over money and prestige were also complicated by Wemba's arrest and brief incarceration in Kinshasa Central prison in December 1976^[14] when he was suspected of having a relationship with army general's daughter.^[14] The band continued to tour without Papa Wemba. For whatever reason (or reasons), whether it was personal or professional (with one source speculating that he was perhaps feeling diminished in the public's eye),^[13] by 1977 Wemba had formed a new group, and called it Viva la Musica.^[13][10]

Viva la Musica

In 1977–78, back home now in the Matonge neighborhood of Kinshasa, Papa Wemba set out to create his group Viva la Musica. This new band's name was suggested to him in 1974, when he attended a concert in Kinshasa that featured the New York-based Latinos, Fania All-Stars. During the concert, one of the singers would shout to the audience "Viva La Musica!" to an enthusiastic response.^[2] Wemba's vision was to structure Viva la Musica around young, talented but largely unknown artists, including the singers Prince Espérant, Jadot "le Cambodgien" Sombele, Debaba el Shabab, Pepe Bipoli and Petit Aziza, and various guitarists such as Rigo Star, Syriana, and Bongo Wende.^[15] The new group included the traditional instrument lokole. There was also an associated dance, the mukonyonyo, as well as a fashion style.^[7]

The band achieved immediate success and, during their first year performing together, the Kinshasa newspaper Elima named the band "best orchestra" and their single, "Mère Supérieure," best song.^[10] During the following three years, Viva la Musica built on these initial accolades with more hit songs including "Moku Nyon Nyon", "Nyekesse Migue'l", and "Cou Cou Dindon".^[10] As time went by, it was revealed that Antoine Agbepa was the unknown writer of many of these songs, when Papa Wemba said, "Ooh! l'homme idée" (Oh! the idea-man!), thereby on-the-spot renaming the impressive young singer-songwriter Koffi Olomide – and the name stuck.^[16]

After his success already with three influential groups, in 1977 Papa Wemba established a kind of commune for musicians. To accomplish this, he used his family home (on Kanda-Kanda street) as a fashionable gathering place for Matonge youths. He named it "Village Molokai" and declared himself to be its tribal chief (chef coutumier).^[15]

Move to Paris

Viva La Musica during their Euro–Asia tours in 1986 in Tokyo, Japan

Beginning in the late 1970s and early 1980s, Wemba (both by himself and with Viva la Musica) started traveling to Paris,^[8] believing there was a potentially wider audience for the music he had been helping to create during the preceding decade. As Wemba biographer Craig Harris put it:

"Determined to capture a European following, Wemba and Viva La Musica guitarist Rigo Star took a six-month sabbatical from the band in 1979 to join Tabu Ley Rochereau's group, Afrisa International. Relocating to Paris in the early '80s, Wemba formed a second version of Viva la Musica."^[10]

By the late 1980s and early 1990s, Wemba's style was more readily identifiable even as it had become an amalgamation of rumba, soukous and ndombolo, Latin and rock, melded to a European-oriented pop style.^[9] But still wanting to expand their musical horizons, and move in new musical directions,^[9] Viva la Musica took on a dual-identity. Wemba now maintained one group in Kinshasa (called at times "Nouvelle Ecriture", "Nouvel Ecrita" and then again "Viva la Musica") and another one in Paris ("Nouvelle Generation," "La Cour des Grands" and now "Viva Tendance"). The group consistently maintained a high profile in world music with hits like "Le Voyageur" (1992),^[9] "Emotion" (1995),^[1] "Pole Position" (1996) and "Somo Trop" (October 2003).^[13]

By this time, Wemba's use of African, Cuban and Western influences was not only one of Africa's most popular music styles,^[17] it was crossing cultural boundaries and attracting a more diverse audience outside of Africa. In 1993, Wemba joined with Peter Gabriel for the latter's Secret World Tour,^[18] and this drew attention to Wemba's unique style and groundbreaking sound.^[19] The aforementioned Emotion album, released in 1995, showed that he was achieving a global following.^[1] This album appeared under Peter Gabriel's Real World record label, and sold more than 100,000 copies.^[1]