Classic Ambiance Flashback

Monday, August 31, 2015

My take on Kester Emeneya, Koffi Olomide, and Papa Wemba together







Hello my followers. I am back a little bit. Just got back in the mood of school and it will take more time for some while. I am going to cover the trio edition of three stars that did sing together during their earlier careers and one was clearly the star of the trio. 

I am speaking the trio-ship of Kester Emeneya "King Kester", Koffi Olomide "Mopao Mokonzi" and Papa Wemba "Vieux Bokul". These three stars of DRC Congo "Zaire" are very known in the Congolese Community of today in Congo and Diaspora alike. However some have no idea that actually they were all together at one point. 

Papa Wemba has had his group Viva La Musica since 1977. When Papa Wemba was 28 years old. He was a member of Zaiko Langa Langa before doing Yokele and eventually doing his home base of Viva La Musica which is Spanish for Music Lives or Long Live Music or Live Music. Two of the many members of this band are known legends today. 

Kester Emeneya and Koffi Olomide. Both came to the band in 1977. Well Kester came from University of Lubumbashi and Koffi was a struggling songwriter who was not accepted by his idol Tabu Ley and Franco. Once they came to Viva La Musica, they were big in the group. In fact they contributed the most compare to other important members like Djuna Djanana, Dindo Yogo, Esperent Kisangani, Fafa de Molaki and Debaba. Kester Emeneya went on to form his band Victoria Elesien. Koffi Olomide and Debaba would come to form Historia Musica before Koffi found his base with Quartier Latin. But unfortunately these three stars's relationship was never the same and they would enter into big conflicts. Kester Emeneya, Koffi Olomide and Papa Wemba all had a fallout with each-other. But Kester and Koffi had strong hatred for Papa Wemba. 

KOFFI OLOMIDE VS PAPA WEMBA
Koffi Olomide and Papa Wemba, it is known that they are not good friends anymore and have not since 1996. Their feud started when Koffi claimed that Wemba took all the money of the success of their album Wake Up. Of course Wemba was rightfully mad. Also Koffi was spreading rumors that Wemba envied him and wanted to be him. Papa Wemba had enough and harshly attacked him on his album "Fula Ngenge" where he got the name "Mzee Fula Ngenge". Koffi responded on the album Attenant which the generique mocked him and others as well. Their feud never and has not ended at all. In fact recently in 2009, A Koffi Olomide person sued Papa Wemba over "defamation" and money issues. Koffi Olomide and Papa Wemba were fighting in court several times. They resolved in late 2009. But clearly as far as having friendships, it is pretty much over and they will stay as enemies. 

KESTER EMENEYA VS PAPA WEMBA
Kester Emeneya and Papa Wemba were beefing primarily because Papa Wemba was becoming adventurous and Wemba was not focused on being the leader. I mean that must have been the feeling of Kester Emeneya. After all, Djuna Djanana and Dindo Yogo left to join Langa Langa Stars of the overrated star Evoloko Jocker. When Wemba did his adventure with Franco and Wendo Kolosoy, Kester Emeneya decided to make his group with other unhappy Viva La Musica musicians to form Victoria Elesien. But for Wemba, Kester's departure was little to none as he got other singers that would be more useful in Wemba's eyes. They were Luciana, Stino Mubi, and Remmy Amisi. In fact Stino Mubi and Reddy Amisi would become the important faces of the Viva La Musica when Papa Wemba would not be around. However their relation never improved. In fact I personally believe that Kester Emeneya's song Okosi Ngai Mfumu is a reference to Wemba. It is the idea that Wemba deceived him into believing that everything would be great when it turned out to be total mess. Kester Emeneya must have held a big grudge for Papa Wemba. He had some good reasons. As it turns out that one of the ex wives of Kester slept with Wemba. Oh boy. For years, Kester would throw some jabs at Papa Wemba. But Papa Wemba never responded. In fact Wemba tried to reconcile several times. But it had no success. Kester never wanted to reconcile with Wemba since he felt that Wemba hurted him so bad. They ended in pretty bad terms. When Kester died, Papa Wemba made a tribute song for him called Blessure. It must have hurted Wemba since he could never reconcile truly with his singer Kester Emeneya. 

KESTER EMENEYA VS KOFFI OLOMIDE
Although this one is minor, there was a definite fallout between Kester Emeneya and Koffi Olomide. After Koffi began to get fame around 1988 period, it seemed that their relation slowly but surely began to take a wrong turn. Koffi Olomide attacked many artists in general in his song Attenant. Though Kester was never mentioned, it did not help that Koffi became more arrogant. He accused all Congolese Artists of envying him. Kester Emeneya clearly saw Koffi as an enemy as well. Some years before his death, he diced both Wemba and Koffi. As he said that their music is rubbish and they have evilness in their heart. 

FPK'S OPINION 
My opinion is this: I am not surprised to see this story. As we know, many artists have big egos and they allow their egos to take over them. Kester Emeneya, Koffi Olomide and Papa Wemba had big egos and believed that they were superior to one another. As result, they entered into a big conflict. It is sad because I could have imagined that they had better control of their egos, I could have seen more songs of them together. All together. 

Regardless, I loved the fact that Kester Emeneya, Koffi Olomide and Papa Wemba sang a few songs together. 

1 comment:

  1. thank you i didnt know much about the beef between koffi and papa wemba but you gave me more info about the beef i appreciate it dawg

    ReplyDelete