Dream Quartet: Abby Surya, Barbara Kanam, Faya Tess, Mbilia Bel

 

 

One Congolese post of the great female Congolese singers. I am very honored to do this. I got four great Congolese female singers that are alive for everyone's joy. 

I am speaking of Abby Surya, Barbara Kanam, Faya Tess and Mbilia Bel. These women are great singers in their own right. Abby, Faya and Mbilia have sung together in the past but they have yet to sing with Barbara Kanam. 

For those who may not know about Barbara Kanam, she has a family connection to Maika Munan. It is said that they are cousins. Maika Munan is one of the best guitarists to ever to live in DRC. He used to collaborate with the likes of Faya Tess and Abby Suriya. 

Speaking of Maika Munan, he should be the producer and front man of this great project if these four women ever sing together on stage or record. He can play his acoustic or electric guitar while these four women give beautiful melodies as well as solo vocals that they are able to give. 

Faya Tess is a more relaxed singer with a nice vibrato on it. Mbilia Bel is very soft but is able to give her own twist with her soft voice. Abby Suriya has a strong feminine voice with a delicious vibrato. Barbara Kanam has a masculine twist in her voice but yet it is soft at the same time with a sexy vibrato that I always want to hear in my ears. If I could a duo response like Franco did back in the late 1960s occasionally, I would pair Abby and Faya to respond to Barbara and Mbilia. That would be one good way of doing a quartet. Duo and duo part in one song if there is another option of harmony. 

There are many songs that would fit their voices but there is one song that fit these four women. 

LOVANGO by Mbilia Bel 

Lovango would allow Mbilia Bel sing lead as well as Abby Suriya with choirs of Barbara Kanam, Faya Tess and Mbilia Bel. It would make the song much better with Maika Munan playing solo and rhythm guitar. 

I hope these ladies will do a show or a collaboration record for the fans who love female Congolese singers. 

Dream Trio: Josky Kiambukuta, Mbilia Bel, Tshala Muana

I have notice that Josky Kiambukuta hardly sang with women in his great musical career. Now if you wanted Josky to sing with two female singers, I actually think I found two people that fit in the music of Josky Kiambukuta. 

I think of Mbilia Bel and Tshala Muana. Two divas with big egos who could back it up with their voices. 

With Josky's ability to sing any note, I think these two women would be able to be good backup singers for Josky's need for his lead commandments. 

I got a song where I believe that this trio would have some big success if it was them together. 

The song by Mayaula Mayoni which he sings with Tshala Muana would actually be the song that I think it would have been great also if we had a Mbilia Bel, Tshala Muana and Josky Kiambukuta together. Plus you would get Mayoni plays his rhythm player though he had a very powerful voice. Josky can sing with low notes with Mbilia Bel with high notes since she would prefer that and Tshala Muana just do the middle note. If this scenario, I know many women would jumping up and down. 

That song inspired the special of Josky, Mbilia Bel and Tshala Muana. 

Mayaula Mayoni & Mpongo Love

 

Hello friends. I am back with something special. It has been weeks. So many problems (as usual) with school things and usual youth crap that I deal with. 

Now I look at two people I wish would have made more music together. I am speaking of Mayaula Mayoni and Mpongo Love. 

These two made one incredible song that I cannot get enough of. That song is Ndaya. It is a song that send Mpongo Love to become one of the earlier pioneers of Congolese Music Diva Scene. In fact there were two singers that came before. They were Abeti Masikini and Mpongo Love. In fact thanks to Abeti Masikini, you got Abby Sourya, Mbilia Bel and even Tshala Muana. 

This song also helped make Mayaula Mayoni officially as a musician and no longer quite the soccer player that he once was back in the older days. He would later on make some incredible songs such as Mizele, Nabali misere, Bikini, Ousmane Bakyoko. 

But however I feel like that Mayaula Mayoni and Mpongo Love missed a oppurtunity to make more music together. Whenever I listen to Ndaya, I see the voices and the guitars together. I think the vocals are Mpongo Love and Empompo Loway who does a great job with his saxophone with the soothing guitar rhythm of Mayoni. This song is a great song and it is beyond just a song. It is a song with message of a true love and a desire for better love within the relationship. Furthermore, you can see the chemistry of Mayuala's guitar and Mpongo Love's vocals. That is why I feel like that Mayoni and Love should have made more music together. Because the chemistry is there and when you have it, you would like to keep going. That is my honest opinion. Had they made more music together, I honestly feel like that they would have had bigger stardom in both of their careers. 

But then again that is fantasy. I am so grateful that Mayaula Mayoni and Mpongo Love made a great song together called Ndaya. It is a event that I feel it is not discussed enough by our elders. I am so happy. 

In fact this goes along with another announcement:
I will do dream duets during this year. I will do two artists that I feel should have or should work together. I will do all artists. Dead or alive, I will do them. 

Mbilia Bel Life

We are still in the Women's History Month and here I decided to make another post to a female artist. But this female artist is not from America. She is a popular artist in Africa (pacifically Congo).

I am speaking about Mbilia Bel. She was born in 1959 from Democratic Republic of Congo (Belgain Congo). Mbilia Bel always had some musicial abilities in her. She began her music career as back singer for Abeti Masikini and Sam Mangwana.

But Mbilia Bel really got her fame started when she was discovered by Tabu Ley in 1980. She would soon become Tabu Ley's valuable duet partner. Mbilia Bel's first record was "Mpeve Ya Longo" which is Kikongo version of HOLY SPIRIT. This song made Mbilia Bel go to major stardom. Then she got another song called Eswi Yo Wapi. That song was her banging record.

But her career highlight was the song Nairobi which was very popular in Kenya that even Kenya president at that time allowed other songs to be played there. Also the man who composed the song Tabu Ley. What a genius song.

Thanks to Mbilia Bel value to Afrisa International helped this band become a challanger (truly) to TPOK Jazz of Franco. We witnessed the duo competition. We had Franco & Madilu vs. Mbilia Bel & Tabu Ley. This made a perfect Congolese Music Scene.

But Mbilia Bel's relationship soon faded when she had a baby with him and Faya Tess joined Afrisa. This probably led Mbilia Bel leaving Afrisa in 1988 and began her solo career. But Mbilia Bel's solo career has had mixed results. Her popular albums are Welcome and Phenomen. She had calibrated with some people like Rigo Star, Lutumba Simaro, and Pepe Kalle. She released her latest album in 2010 called Diva. It had some guests like Dally Kimoko, Beniko, and Nyboma.

I love Mbilia Bel, and I apperciate her voice and I just wish more people knew Mbilia Bel.