sunday 30th november will mark the 1st anniversary of late le seigneur ley rochereau pascal emmanuel sinamoyi tabu.clubs all over will be commemorating this event such clubs are SAKAJOSS bungoma,SAMBA KITOKO nakuru,summerland nakuru,dream village south b etc.radio station such kbc 92.9fm nairobi and hero fm 99.0fm nakuru will also air out tabuleys music courtesy of house of rhumba. Tabu Ley Rochereau, (Tabou, Pascal), pre-eminent Congolese singer, song writer, and band leader; born Bagata, Congo-Kinshasa, Nov. 13, 1940; died Brussels, Nov. 30, 2013. Ley received his stage name before he ever reached the stage when he responded to a schoolteachers question on French history with the correct answer, Pierre Denfert-Rochereau. In his youth Ley sang in church, entered singing competitions, and, near the end of secondary school, began to hang around the musicians of African Jazz. He cut his first record, Micky Me Quiero (Mickey loves me, in Spanish), at the Esengo studio in colonial Léopoldville (Kinshasa) in 1958 doing vocals on a song by Nino Malapet and the group Rocka Mambo. A year later he made his debut with African Jazz singing second voice to the bands leader, Joseph Kabasele, at Léopoldvilles famed Vis-à-Vis night club. During the early sixties Ley began to exhibit his exceptional skills as a composer, contributing heavily to the bands repertoire of songs in the Congolese rumba style. Kelya, Bonbon Sucré (sweet candy), Succès African Jazz, and many others, often composed extemporaneously during marathon recording sessions in Brussels, secured his place in the band and earned him a following in his own right. In 1963, all the musicians walked out on Kabasele and reformed as African Fiesta under the leadership of Ley, guitarist Docteur Nico, and maracas player Roger Izeidi. Apart from Kabasele, Ley emerged as the eras most extraordinary singer. His clear, elegant tenor extracted every ounce of emotion from the groups repertoire of love songs, usually sung in Lingala. Ndaya Paradis, about his love for a woman called Ndaya; Mwasi Abandaka (it is the woman who starts); Paquita, sung in Spanish; and Pesa le Tout (give everything), contributed to the growing legend of Rochereau. Differences arose among African Fiestas leaders in 1966. Docteur Nico took some of the musicians to form African Fiesta Sukisa. Ley and Izeidi regrouped as African Fiesta 66, later African Fiesta National. The hits kept coming for Ley with Mokolo Nakokufa (the day I die) and Toyota, a song about Kinshasas newest status symbol, among his best. Ley took complete control of the band in 1969 when he forced Izeidi out. The Congolese rumba had enjoyed more than a decade as Africas most popular music, but it was little known outside the continent. Ley changed that in 1970 with two shows at the Olympia concert hall in Paris, performances that many Congolese regard as their musics breakthrough to the rest of the world. Shortly afterward Ley changed the bands name to Afrisa, and when Congo-Kinshasa, then known as Zaire, embarked on its program of authenticity, he adopted the name Tabu Ley. Ley preferred the show style of performance he had employed at the Olympia, and he began using it with good results at home in the early seventies by staging lavish concerts in Kinshasas best halls. His hit songs of the period included Kaful Mayay (go ask Mayay), about the perils of arranged marriage, and Karibou ya Bintou (welcome to Bintou). Ley opened a night club called the Type K in 1976 and served as president of SONECA, Congo-Kinshasas (Zaire) performing rights society, beginning in 1977. Ley had a knack for revamping his group to maintain its popularity. He had always enjoyed the presence of a woman in the band—Photas Myosotis and Henriette Miss Bora Borauzima being two notable collaborators—and in 1981 he launched a bombshell in the person of Mbilia Bel. In that era marked by the countrys precipitous economic decline, a concert with Ley and Mbilia Bel at the mike would still sell out. Ley also recorded the albums Choc Choc Choc 1983 and LEvenement with Franco, his chief rival and leader of O.K. Jazz, during this period. Mbilia Bel quit the band at the end of 1987. Ley replaced her with Faya Tess and kept pumping out the records. As the countrys economy lay in ruins, unable to support an entertainment industry any longer, Ley and Afrisa spent most of their time in Paris or on tour. Ley moved a smaller version of the group to the United States in 1994 where he recorded two albums, Muzina and Africa Worldwide, for Rounder. The musicians played concerts around the U.S. for nearly two years before finally breaking up. Ley recorded again in Paris using Congolese session musicians, then returned home to Kinshasa to launch a new career in politics. He served in the Congolese government in various capacities until he suffered a debilitating stroke in July of 2008. He was flown to Belgium for treatment and convalescence and then moved on to France to live in what increasingly looked like retirement. Congo finally got around to honoring Ley in November of 2012. In a Kinshasa ceremony the great musician, wheel chair bound and looking enfeebled, was presented with a number of certificates and medals commemorating his life and career as a crowd of dignitaries and wellwishers looked on. He died one year later at a Brussels hospital. Tabu Ley ranks as one of the twentieth centurys greatest African singers. He surpassed his mentor, Joseph Kabasele, as Congolese musics leading voice and became one of its most prolific composers, rivaled only by Franco and another O.K. Jazz member, Simaro Lutumba. Ley also enjoyed phenomenal success as a band leader; Afrisa and its earlier incarnations spanned four decades. He left a legacy few can match.-mabele elisi ozomela vieux ley.
Posted on: Wed, 26 Nov 2014 12:35:18 +0000
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