Wemba gets credit for launching the Zaiko clan\'s trademark use of high fashion as a form of social rebellion. Wemba\'s dashing self-styled look-a 1930s throwback featuring baggy, pleated trousers hemmed above shiny brogues and hair clipped close at the sides-soon earned him the title Pope of the Sapeurs: Society of Ambianceurs and Persons of Elegance. The Sapeurs elevate a clothing fetish to a spiritual level to the extent of boasting their own \"religion\" called Katinda, which means cloth. The wildness of soukous and the excesses of the Sapeurs can be seen as channeled expressions of free spirits in an environment of political oppression and relentless conformity. During three decades of iron-fisted rule, Mobutu stifled all criticism of his government, and even enforced a national dress code for bureaucrats and businessmen.
In 1987, shortly after Afropop first met Papa Wemba in Kinshasa, the singer embarked on a more risky form of rebellion. He created a band in Paris, using European and African musicians, and set about playing music that did not adhere to the core principles of Congo pop. Wemba\'s Afropop did not go down well with the home crowd, but it did open doors for him in Europe and America, especially when he and his new group performed in the 1988 traveling spectacle of African traditional performance arts, Africa Oyé.
Since then, Wemba has led parallel lives, performing and recording both with Viva La Musica and with his crossover group. The Viva la Musica releases have been some of the best straight Congo music releases of the late `90s. Meanwhile, Wemba\'s work with his own group earned him a place in the 1998 touring festival Africa Fête.
In any context, Wemba preserves a shy, roguish demeanor behind his Parisian polish. On stage and on record, his gangling stride, generous smile, and elastic voice--honed and jagged like a spinning saw blade--are irresistible every time.">
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Papa Wemba is one of the most powerful singers and innovative band leaders in Congolese music. With one band for straight Congo music, and another for international pop, Wemba plays both to the home crowd and to Afropop's cutting edge. Read more on Papa Wemba...
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