Franco actually should have sang songs with this man from the generation of Zaiko age. I am not speaking about Zaiko stars but one man that I feel never got his due.
I am saying Soki Vangu. Franco and Soki Vangu are the singers that I enjoy listening to. Sometimes when I listen to Franco's songs with Madilu or even Youlou Mabiala, I think of Soki Vangu. Sometimes when I hear songs with the voice of Soki Vangu, I feel like sometimes Franco would have fitted with Soki Vangu.
Don't forget Madilu System and Soki Vangu sounded very alike. I am not kidding, I actually thought the songs with Soki Vangu were Madilu himself singing. Of course it turns out that they did work together on a band that went no where in grounds. Maybe it turns to be good for Madilu who goes to sing for OK Jazz and Soki Vangu who would continue his success with Bella Bella since his brother Emilie Soki was an great adventurer.
I know Franco and Soki Vangu would be a an ideal couple for three reasons.
1) Franco loved many singers from the Veve label
2) Soki Vangu was very diverse with his voice
3) Bella Bella's music was much more into OK Jazz rather than Zaiko Langa Langa
Those three reasons are why I think Franco and Soki Vangu would be a perfect couple in songs. Not only one song but several songs. I can imagine some of Franco's classic songs having the voice of Soki Vangu. I can also imagine Soki Vangu songs having Franco's strong voice alongside with him.
Franco and Soki Vangu would be the ideal duet out of all the duets I made so far in my opinion.
This post is in the 5th year anniversary death of Madilu special.
I remember back in time when I was listening to Bella Bella, I always thought the original singer was Madilu System. My dad told me that the singer that was singing was Soki Vangu. I felt that early in his career that Madilu System was the younger version of Soki Vangu.
Turns out that I was right somewhat but it is just more that Madilu and Soki Vangu sounded alike. They actually did some musical things together. What turns out that after Madily had lost his luck with his own band Bakuba Mayopi, he and Soki Vangu met up decided to form a band together. That band was called Pamba Pamba. This band was formed in 1976. This band did have some promise because after all, Soki Vangu was a big name at the time and Madilu was a on slow rise as his own too. These two men thought becoming a force together would help them both become a major force in the Congolese music scene. But it turned out that this was a failed project. Despite some success, it did not help them continue and this activity only lasted a year or so.
But after this, fates were affected. Madilu was join Tabu Ley before he joined OK Jazz where he would become one of the big singers of Franco during the mid and late 1980s. Madilu would have a great solo career for 18 years. Soki Vangu had a different ending as he eventually lost his Bella Bella band and he would only live 13 more years after this band Pamba Pamba did not exist. Soki Vangu was only 42 years old when he died. Either way, this is a interesting thing that both of them actually worked together. Also they are both gone. RIP to both of them.
Now let me get going with another song from Bella Bella. This song is no like other songs that I have heard from this band. This band can be somewhat a great old legend band that came on this earth.
Bella Bella made a great song that stands out. The song that I am talking is the song called Zamba Zamba. This song is something that I have always found some value in hearing. Soki Vangu is someone who knew how to make some great masterpieces. This song is one of them. After all, he composed this great song.
This song has some excellent singing. Zamba Zamba means Bush Bush. Soki Vangu is singing about being part of a bush and how a bush can bring some refreshment to this society. Later on, Soki Vangu sings the known music genre MAKOSSA. What is Makossa if you wonder. Well it is a genre that was created by former African Jazz saxophonist Manu Dibango. Soki Vangu really loved that genre quite a bit. The great sebene and great bass playing by Shaba Kahamba made this song so unique.
I would argue that this actually Bella Bella's best song that we have seen for a long time. This is the record that made Soki Vangu, SOKI VANGU.
There was a known song from Bella Bella. This song was no like other songs that came out in the 1970s era. This song was something that some Kinshasa folks want to sing in their own ways whether it is rap or even mantaining soukous music. People think of this name because it is something unique.
I am speaking of the name KIN. Well KIN is short of the great place in Democratic Republic of Congo. That place is called Kinshasa. Kinshasa is always chanted by lots of Congolese people who love and enjoy Kinshasa. My dad lived in Kinshasa for some time. Kinshasa brings a major blessing to the world.
The song that was chanted that I am presenting is the song done by Bella Bella. Their song is called Mouvement ya Kin. It means that it Kin Movement. It is a song where Soki brothers (Soki Diazenza & Soki Vangu) sing about the movement of the Kin people to have people understand the uniquessness of Bana Kin. It really seem that they were passion from the soki brothers as they kept singing. I mean I found it so unique.
Mouvement ya Kin is a song where you see some great importance and some great movement of singing. I enjoy this song qutie a bit.
Now I am looking at a song that is a classic song but it comes at a time when the band is about to end. Also a band that is on a dying state and its making its last effort to least end in a good note.
That is the case with the great band Bella Bella. Bella Bella was at a state where they were basically falling apart. This was also the period that there was one personnel. That was Soki Vangu. Soki Diazenza was hiding in Kinshasa when this band was going in the dumps. This period was in 1980-1981 period. This was when many bands were going down. Bella Bella was one of them. So as result, Soki Vangu decided to make a song that sort make that clear but provide hope for one reason. That was his daugter Zizina. He made a song called Petite Zizina.
This song here Soki Vangu sings about that Zizina needs to carry the torch. Soki is convincely saying that he is dying and he is no longer important. I althoguh I feel that Soki was always important but I understood Soki. Soki Vangu was seeing his band crumpling as many of them joined major bands espcially Afrisa International de Tabu Ley. Soki Vangu was saying that he was never going to be able to be what he once was. Sadly he was right. After this song, Soki Vangu lost Bella Bella and only a decade later, he died. But Soki Vangu still managed to be great in this song and Soki Vangu was grateful for life he had.
Soki Vangu was someone who was able to show though he felt something and he wanted to make it clear. Soki Vangu felt that he was going down but he felt that he had a great life and he wanted his daughter to have a better life.
I have been looking a bit more now into the band that my dad loves a lot and I have come to sort of like. I am speaking of the band Bella Bella. This band had two brothers. They were the Soki Brothers.
I am going to focus on one man that I considered to be the most valuable member of Bella Bella and the one I said had leadership of Bella Bella this time and i felt that was really the responsible Soki and the better singer to me. No, I will not focus on Soki Diazenza. This man actually gave some help towards two great Zaire stars Nyboma and Pepe Kalle. I am going to give my own analysis on Maxime Soki better known as Soki Vangu.
Why Soki Vangu? He is my favorite Bella Bella character. Also, I had thought that Soki Vangu was Madilu System. Also I was always charmed by how Soki Vangu sang.
I already a post about Bella Bella (). I will not speak everything on Soki Vangu too much since I sort of talk about that on the Bella Bella.
Now I am giving my opinion on Soki Vangu.
What I see in Soki Vangu was a responsible man who wanted to make proper music and was a always a team player. Soki Vangu could have really done his own thing but he liked to have people around him to enhance his great talent. For example, Soki Vangu getting Diasi Kadi, Pangon Mananga, and Shaba Kahamba were musicians that helped complement Soki Vangu as well as his erratic kid Soki Diazenza. One good example was the song Horoscope. This song showcased Soki Vangu's greatness with the help of Pangon Mananga, and Diazenza's wild voice led the song to be so classic and Soki Vangu was able to be more creative.
Another thing about him was that he was a family man. He wanted to sing with his family and he was close with his young brother Soki Diazenza that they had a thing for music which led the formation of Bella Bella. No matter how erratic his brother was, Soki Vangu always wanted his brother to comeback to him and he sometimes got his luck. Because of that, Soki Vangu would be able to sing some great songs with Soki Diazenza. Also he made a song about his daughter. That song was called Petite Zizina meaning Little Zizina, Soki tells his daughter to grow up and understand that he is struggling and he wants his daughter to grow and be a responsible person.
Soki Vangu was a man who loved having other singers with him. One particular example is Nyboma and Pepe Kalle. Nyboma and Soki Vangu had known each other because they both were members of Orchestre Negro Success de Bavon Marie Marie. They came together after Diazenza became another person. Nyboma and Soki Vangu were so perfect together as singers. One particular song was Sofele. You just saw the goodness of those two men. But Soki Vangu added Pepe Kalle to further spice up Bella Bella. That example would the song Mbuta. We hear Soki Vangu and Nyboma backing up with Pepe Kalle on lead vocals.
What I am doing is giving my take on the man Soki Vangu himself. I am telling you how important he was during the Congolese music scene. He is one man who could have been a good solo act and a good collobrator. For example, on Sam Mangwana's Megamix song, he appears and still sounds great. Despite Soki Vangu's great talen, he was not able to advance as he should of. Regardless Soki Vangu was a dynamic star. I will do some youtube posts soon on Soki Vangu as well as Bella Bella.
I am going to speak on the interesting info on one band that I intially found nothing special but now I realize the importance of this group. I mean afterall, we had some notable songs I am aware come from this band. Also, this band made some songs that are not so forgettable.
The focus here is Bella Bella. This band was a great band born into the spotlight. This band was formed the Soki Brothers. It was Emilie Diazenza Soki and Maxime Vangu Soki. These two men were brothers. Soki Vangu was born in 1948 while Soki Diazenza was born in 1955.
Soki Vangu had a unique beginning. Actually it turns out that Soki Vangu had sang for Le Negro Success under the leadership of Franco's young brother Bavon Marie Marie before it died in 1970 after Bavon died in a car accident.
Soki Diazenza was a guy who never made it much to school and was always wanting to be in the spotlight. Well he won a singing contest in 1969.
From there, the brothers met and wanted to start a music career. They decided to come together and form a band together. They formed the band Bella Bella which means in spanish I think Beautiful Beautiful. But if so, it describes the band perfectly with some their classic songs.
They started doing hot by making some notable songs like Mado and Musoso. These songs helped rise the band Bella Bella and it started to become somewhat a good challanger to OK Jazz de Franco and Afrisa de Tabu Ley.
However when they joined the Veve Label, that is where all the problems started. Many musicians left the band however it leads to notable additions including Tonton Ricos, Manzenza, Michael, and Shaba Kahamba. Also another person joins them which is Nyboma. There now Bella Bella had four singers in Soki Diazenza, Soki Vangu, Mulembu Tshibau, and Nyboma. These four singers would shine for Bella Bella. But soon, Soki Diazenza had become very egoistic and was making Vangu mad. As result, Soki Diazenza left to do his own short lived attempt to do Bella Mambo. Soki Vangu felt he needed to get someone to come with him for a short stint. He found his luck.
While this situation was going on, there was another band in the block that had some notice. This time, Empire Bakuba was going on action to show their stint. They made some early songs like Nazoki, and Nabokula Ya Sabina. This band had the trio "KADIMA" who were Jose Dilu "Dilu Dilumona", Matolu Dode "Papy Tex" and Kabasele Yampanya "Pepe Kalle". However this band was not really going anywhere money and it seems that they were making occassional songs. This reason is why Pepe Kalle felt the need to sing with other people. He already had appeared on Vercky's controversial song Nakomitunaka. So he decided to join Bella Bella for a few months. As result, Bella Bella made two signifcant songs which were Mbuta and Lipua Lipua with establishing the trio of Nyboma, Pepe Kalle, and Soki Vangu.
But Bella Bella got back to its original shape when Soki Diazenza but they left Veve and many musicians stayed with the label which led to the formation of the band Lipua Lipua. But Bella Bella was getting on track once again and it found itself having the high time during the periods of 1973-75 with producing songs like Zing Zong, Horoscope, Houlex Houlex, and Zamba. Thes songs help make Bella Bella a major force to be reckon with.
But in late 1975, the described erratic Diazenza relaunched the Bella Mambo which also had the personnels of Diblo Dibala and Kanda Bongo Man. This led to a incredible slowdown for Soki Vangu but he continued to perform without his brother being around him. This was around the time when Bella Bella still had popularity though not many new songs were coming out.
Then around 1978, the brothers come back together but it was too little too late. Soki Diazenza seemed to have no interest in making music and Soki Vangu must have felt so much pain emotionally seeing his brother not that into music. Soki Vangu received his final blow in 1980 when his brother as well as Shaba Kahamba, Ponig Mananga, and Diadi Kasi left the band. Shaba went to join Afrisa International de Tabu Ley. Before the departure of Shaba, Soki Vangu had released a few songs like Soki Vangu Aye and Petitie Zizina which is a tribute to his daughter Zizina. Bella Bella was pretty much no more by 1981.
Soki Vangu did some occassional performances in Europe and sometimes visited Kinshasa. Soki Diazenza was singing in bars for money singing his old songs. Both of these brothers died in 1990. First was Soki Diazenza and later was Soki Vangu. Vangu was 42 years old and Diazenza was 35 years old.
