Sala Becool Schedule

Did You Know?

A young man of the name of Antoine Agbepa, whose friend were calling "Cheri O", was the unknown writer of most of the hit songs of the group.

Papa Wemba was born Jules Shungu Wembadio Pene Kikumba in 1949 in Lubefu (Sankuru Province - DR Congo).

In November 1975, Papa Wemba, Mavuela Somo and Bozi Boziana abandoned Evoloko Lay Lay and Isifi Lokole to create the group Yoka Lokole (also known as The Kinshasa's Wa Fania All-Stars, or Lokole Isifi, or simply Isifi), along with Mbuta Mashakado, another Zaiko Langa Langa 'transfusion.' Yoka Lokole enjoyed slightly less popular success than the original Isifi Lokole, but for a time still managed to remain at the top the African pop music wave with hit songs like "Matembele Bangui", "Lisuma ya Zazu" (Papa Wemba), "Mavuela Sala Keba", and "Bana Kin" (Mavuela Somo).Like Isifi Lokole, the electronic-instrument driven Yoka Lokole (or The Kinshasa All-Stars) would not last much longer than a year, given the merger of so many big-name talents in the band's lineup.

Jazz)Analengo (1980), Amena (1980, duo with Pepe Kalle)Santa, Matebu (1980, first full album in Paris)Melina La Parisienne, Ufukutano (1981)Evenement, Rendre A Caesar (1982)Eliana, Bukavu Dawa (1983)Proclamation (1984, in Paris with Ngashie Niarchos)Destin ya Moto (1985)L'esclave, Papa Wemba - Au Japon (live) (1986)Papa Wemba Ekumani (1987)M'fono Yami (1989)Biloko ya Moto-Adidas Kiesse (1991)Le Voyageur (1992)Foridoles (1994)Emotion (1995)Pà´le Position (1996)Wake-Up (1996, duo with Koffi Olomide)Nouvelle Ecriture (1997)Moloka௠(1998)Nouvelle Ecriture dans L (1998)M’Zée Fula-Ngenge (1999)Muana Matebu(1999)A La Une (2000)Zea (2001)Bakala Dia Kuba (2001)Somo Trop (2003)Muana Moloka௠(2004)Ba Zonkion (2005)Cheeky Summer time - Collab with Father J (2004)Attention L'artiste (2006)Notre Pà¨re Rumba (2010) Les Habits neufs du gouverneur (The Governor's New Clothes) (2004) Combat de fauves (1997) - The African La Vie est Belle (Life Is Beautiful) (1987) - Kourou.

However years later Mavuela would say that their difficulties only simply amounted to trivial foolishness over money, ambition and fame between some very-young people (that at the time they all were).Since 1977, Viva la Musica has seen both the 'defections' of musicians every two or three years and the entrée and emergence of other new talents.

in Kinshasa along with such well known Congolese musicians as Nyoka Longo Jossart, Manuaku Pepe Felly, Evoloko Lay Lay, Teddy Sukami, Zamuangana Enock, Mavuela Simeon, 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 like Les Grands Maquisards, Le Trio Madjesi, and even younger bands like 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) and "Zania" (Mavuela Somo).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), Shungu Wembadio (Papa Wemba), along with Gina wa Gina, Evoloko Lay Lay, Mavuela Somo and Bozi Boziana (who'd joined Zaiko Langa Langa a year earlier), left Zaiko Langa Langa to establish their own musical ensemble Isifi Lokole, ISIFI being an acronym for "Institut du Savoir Ideologique pour la Formation des Idoles." Yet of course, not everything that Wemba claims in earnest can be taken as gospel.