Jeannot Botuli Ilonge also grew up in the Camp ONATRA neighbourhood. He was, with Bakolo Keta, one of the founding members of the Orchestre Zamis. He was also part of the cohort of Barumbu musicians that Papa Noel brought into the Orchestre Bamboula in 1973. Botuli Ilonge was one of the three singers of the first line-up of the Orchestre Kiam and he was also part of the group that participated in the Mabele productions nzong-nzing sessions that led to the first split in the Orchestre Kiam. He along with his childhood friend Bakolo Keta tried to make a go of the Orchestre Baya Baya. When this group fell apart, Botuli Ilonge left music. Bass player Vieux Kody and singer Adios Alemba remember that he went into business, selling goods between Kinshasa and the Bas-Congo. As of 2011, his former bandmates thought he was still alive but no one knew how to get in touch with him.
Suké Ngonge was born in Kinshasa on 25 February 1951. He was born and grew up in the commune of Kinshasa, in the Camp ONATRA (the neighbourhood spreads across the Communes of Barumbu and Kinshasa). He started to learn the drums in 1969. His first teacher was the drum legend Seskain Molenga. Suké studied with Seskain for two years. His first group was the Orchestra Fleurice a band that included Dona Mobeti and Thierry Mantuika; Mopero Wa Maloba was the chef d'orchestre. They were a student band that played matinée concerts from 3:00-6:00 p.m. Suké Ngonge was in the Orchestre Fleurice from 1969-1971. His next gig was a nzong-nzing session with a group called the Orchestre Fakir. In 1972, he finished his studies at St. Raphael, a catholic school. His next musical experience was with the Orchestre Zamis, the incubator for most of the core members of the Orchestre Kiam. He was also a member of the cohort that was recruited by Papa Noel in 1973. Suké left the Orchestre Kiam in early 1976, but stayed in the Maison Vévé, becoming the drummer for the Orchestre Vévé. He didn't stay long very long with the band. Tired of working for Kiamuangana, he jumped ship in November 1976, when he had the opportunity to join Franco's TPOK Jazz. When he arrived in the OK Jazz there were 35 musicians in the orchestra, two or three musicians in each chair. He entered the group, without auditioning, when another drummer fell ill. (The other drummer in the TPOK Jazz during his tenure was Pajos Nanzele.) Suké spent two years with TPOK Jazz, participating in the recording session that featured the Ntesa Dalienst song 'Radio Trottoir'. He travelled with the TPOK Jazz to Cote D'Ivoire, Gabon, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, and Zambia. In 1977, he was part of a group of OK Jazz musicians who participated in a nzong-nzing session, recording under the name of Orchestre Mamaki, with Youlou Mabiala, Mayaula Mayoni and Josky Kiambakuta - this session yielded the big Mayaula hit 'Bombanda Compliquée'. Franco was furious that the musicians had recorded the nzong-nzing and had Suké fired, along with percussionist Vieux de Paul. He then played with the Orchestre Le Best, the 'cover' band led by Jean-Marie Makutukala that performed at the Hotel Intercontinental. This gig led to a three year stint with the house band at the Hotel Ivoire, the most prestigious hotel in Abidjan, Cote D'Ivoire (and in all of Francophone West Africa). Since coming back from Abidjan (in the late 1980s?), he is a drummer for hire. Today he makes his living as a session drummer and plays regularly with the Orchestre Cosa Nostra, a cover band. The night I sat down with him in Kinshasa for a drink he was on his way to a gig with Baby Ndombe.
Djo Morena was born on May 5, 1953 in Barumbu, Quartier Muzindo, Avenue Kigoma # 31. He grew up in Barumbu. Djo was taught to play the guitar by an older man in the neighbourhood. His name was Vieux Fely, but everyone called him Nzambele. Djo's first musical group was another Barumbu neighbourhood band called UTA Bella. He became their rhythm guitar player, or accompagnateur, in 1961. After UTA Bella he went to the Orchestre Super Tukina which featured singers Samba Mapangala, Celia Kelo and guitar player Gerry Dialungana. This group was only together for a year but recorded three 45s, including the track 'Satonge' by Samba Mapangala. These singles were produced by Muninga. Super Tukina fell apart in 1964. With the breakup of Super Tukina, Djo Morena played with various informal Barumbu groups. In 1973, he too was part of the cohort recruited by Papa Noel. Djo Morena was one of the founding members of the Orchestre Kiam, and one of three musicians who stayed loyal to Verckys, staying with the Franck Muzola Ngunga wing of the group until the end of the Orchestre Kiam. When Verckys Kiamanguana and Franck Muzola Ngunga decided to dissolve Kiam and form the Orchestre Historia, Djo Morena became one of the new orchestra's accompagnateurs, playing alongside his former bandmates Lélé Nsundi and Adamo Lewis. Djo only stayed with the Historia for a year. When he left he started performing with l'Eglise Pentecote Gamma. Djo got married and had his first child while he was with Kiam. These were the best years of his life; the musicians in Kiam were, he remembers, 'brothers, discovering the world together'. Thirty years after the group ended, Djo Morena holds on to his memories. Cherishing the music they created together. When we met in 2011, Djo Morena no longer owned a guitar and hadn't played in a few years.
The story of the Orchestre Kiam is the archetypical Kinshasa music story. A group of neighbourhood friends with a blind passion for music grow up playing together in bands. Their energy, passion, talent, and youthful naïveté are exploited by older musicians and business men. These young musicians, nonetheless, create timeless music before the pressures of the Kinshasa music industry tear them apart. Thirty years later their songs endure and most of the musicians struggle to survive. The majority of the members of Orchestre Kiam were born in the early to mid-1950s, part of the first generation to come of age in post-colonial Kinshasa. They met as adolescents, playing in bands in the commune of Barumbu, one of the oldest of Kinshasa's neighbourhoods, a tight community of tradesmen and their families living in company housing. The nucleus of the group grew up in the Camp ONATRA, the company housing built by the Office National des Transports starting in the 1920s. (Today, confusingly, the neighbourhood is referred to as Camp Kabinda or Camp Olsen, depending on who you talk with.) Four of the founding members of the Orchestre Kiam started playing music together in 1969 in the Jacquis Boys, a group named after a university student from Barumbu named Jacques who had inherited some money and decided to sponsor a musical group. Jacques would occasionally participate in the rehearsals, singing a few songs with the group. This group included singers Bakolo Keta, Jeannot Botuli Ilonge, Eddie Mboyo Bola, and guitar player Lélé Nsundi. The Jacquis Boys soon became the Orchestre Zamis, perhaps after a conflict with their sponsor. And soon after the name change guitar player Souza Vangu and drummer Suké Ngonge joined the group. According to Souza Vangu, the Orchestre Zamis recorded two songs at the studio Mazadis in Limete and released one 45 rpm single. Like virtually all of the young musicians in Barumbu, the members of l'Orchestre Zamis gravitated around Papa Noel, the neighbourhood's musical patriarch (himself only in his 30s at the time). Papa Noel lived at 22 Rue de Luvungi in the commune of Kinshasa and his Orchestre Bamboula was a training ground for several generations of young Barumbu musicians. Papa Noel, however, consistently had problems paying his musicians. Furthermore, he didn't have his own set of instruments; the band rehearsed on acoustic instruments and rented gear whenever they had a gig. In early 1973, after returning from a performance in Algeria, Papa Noel lost his entire group. He rebuilt the band with the neighbourhood teenagers who hung around Orchestre Bamboula rehearsals. Papa Noel brought in singers Bakolo Keta, Jeannot Botuli Ilonge, Frank Muzola Ngunga, guitar players Lélé Nsundi and Djo Morena, Vieux Kody on bass, and drummer Suké Ngonge. This lineup of the Orchestre Bamboula rehearsed for six months. Then, in late 1973, Papa Noel took the group into the studio. Papa Noel brought the band to studio Vévé, which was owned by Kinshasa music impresario Verckys Kiamuangana and located on Rue Eala in the Kasa Vubu neighbourhood. Papa Noel paid upfront for the studio time to record four songs and the band knocked them off in one afternoon, with Vévé house engineer Kidiata M'Pole running the board. When Verckys came by the studio that evening he asked Kidiata, as he often did, to play him the tracks from the day's recording sessions. Kiamuangana heard Papa Noel's band and heard potential. He called in Denewadé, his production manager, to listen to the tracks. Denewadé knew the musicians well; they were a bunch of kids from the 'quartier' that he had known since they ran the streets barefoot in short pants. Verckys told Denewadé to find them and bring them back to the studio. Denewadé made the rounds, starting with Franck Muzola Ngunga, who had sung with his band the Orchestre Mwaliko, a few years earlier. Once the musicians were in the studio Verckys asked if they had more unrecorded songs. When the musicians confirmed that they had more compositions Verckys told them to come back to the studio the following afternoon. They would run through their songs for him and if he liked what he heard he would record them. Most of the Bamboula musicians agreed but Franck Muzola Ngunga hesitated, not wanting to betray Papa Noel. Verckys turned the screws and told the musicians that without Muzola Ngunga he wasn't interested, it was the entire band or nothing. Muzola Ngunga gave in and the band returned to the studio the following day. Meanwhile Papa Noel was scrambling to find the cash to release his master tapes: he had paid for the studio time but he still needed to pay for the recording engineer's time and the 'recording fee'. When he returned to the Maison Vévé the following afternoon he was shocked to find his band in the studio, running through the Orchestre Bamboula repertoire, under Verckys' attentive ear. Papa Noel's shock turned to anger, and he burst into the studio accusing Verckys of trying to steal his band. Papa Noel and Verckys faced off. Verckys challenged Papa Noel to show him the contractual agreement that kept the young musicians from recording for Vévé. Papa Noel left with his tapes but lost another lineup of the Orchestre Bamboula. (The Kiam musicians don't think Papa Noel ever released these tapes. Papa Noel doesn't remember). Verckys was excited enough about his new group to give them his name; he called them the Orchestre Kiam. The founding lineup of the group was singers Frank Muzola Ngunga, Bakolo Keta, Jeannot Botuli Ilonge, Mboyo Bola Eddie, lead guitar players Guyno and Souza Vangu (Souza came into the fold a few months after the others), rhythm guitar players Lélé Nsundi and Djo Morena, bass player Vieux Kody and drummer Suké Ngonge. Like all of the musicians in the Vévé system the young musicians of Kiam were salaried employees, under contract with the Maison Vévé, Verckys Kiamuangana's company. The musicians were paid twice a month, collecting their pay from the Vévé accounting office, also located in the compound on Eala. Maman Louise, the head of accounting, paid out their salaries, $15 on the fifteenth of the month and $35 at the end of the month. Each musician also received a signing bonus from the Maison Vévé. Drummer Suké Ngonge still remembers the new living room furniture set he received. Verckys also gave the group a full set of instruments. Compared with the irregular compensation they received from Papa Noel and the difficult working conditions of the Orchestre Bamboula, the young members of the Orchestre Kiam thought they had gotten the better of Verckys! The musicians rehearsed three times a week at the compound on Eala and performed every weekend in the bars of Kasa Vubu and Mbinza (during their first year they performed most often at the Bar Roly, just a few doors down from the Maison Vévé). Verckys managed all the contracts with the bar owners and collected the earnings for all of the performances. A Maison Vévé paymaster accompanied the group to every performance, collecting the cash at the end of the evening and bringing the money back to Maman Louise. The Maison Vévé also collected all of the income from vinyl sales, both throughout the DRC and abroad (the Kiam catalog was massively popular in Kenya, Nigeria, Cameroun, and throughout West Africa.) The musicians did as the boss told them, performing where he sent them and going into the studio when he decided. At the height of the Maison Vévé, Verckys had four groups in his farm system, keeping salaries low and making massive income from the vinyl sales and performances of his groups, among the most popular of their generation throughout much of sub-Saharan African. COURTESY MATTHEW LAVOIE
BIOGRAPHIES OF ORCHESTRE KIAM MUSICIANS FIRST GENERATION ORCHESTRE KIAM MUSICIANS (1973-5) ¶ Franck Muzola Ngunga - Singer and Chef D'Orchestre ¶ Bakolo Keta - Singer ¶ Jeannot Botuli Ilonge - Singer ¶ Eddie M'boyo Bola - Singer ¶ Lélé Nsundi - Rhythm Guitar and musical director ¶ Djo Morena - Rhythm Guitar ¶ Guyno - Lead Guitar ¶ Souza Vangu - Lead Guitar ¶ Vieux Kody (Nkodia vi Nkodia) - Bass player ¶ Ndolo Matthews - Bass player ¶ Suke Ngonge - Drums Franck Muzola Ngunga, Singer, Chef D'Orchestre Franck Muzola Ngunga was born in Matadi, Bas-Congo in 1961. He did his first five years of school in Matadi and came to Kinshasa in 1970. His father, a carpenter, settled the family in the Beau Marché neighbourhood of the commune of Barumbu - Franck was a neighbour to bass player Vieux Kody. Franck's first musical experience in Kinshasa was singing in the choir of his local catholic church, the paroisse Saint Paul (the same choir where Pépé Kallé and Likinga Redo sang). By the end of his first year in Kinshasa, Franck had joined his first musical group, Les Copains, a band that also included the singer Mopero, who would go on to fame with his Orchestre Shama Shama, and Manesi Baba Malula, who ended his musical career in Sydney, Australia. After a short spell with Les Copains, Franck joined L'Orchestre Mwaliko, a neighbourhood band led by Denewadé, who would become Vercky's production manager at the Maison Vévé. Muzolo Ngunga's musical partnership with his future Kiam bandmates started in Papa Noel's Orchestre Bamboula. Franck was part of the cohort of young musicians from around Barumbu (he was only 12 years old at the time!) that Papa Noel recruited in 1973. Throughout the entire Orchestre Kiam saga Franck was one of only three musicians who stayed loyal to Verckys. When the plug was finally pulled on the Orchestre Kiam, Franck Muzolo Ngunga participated in the short-lived, Vévé-produced, Orchestre Historia. The band was together for two years (1983 &1984) and only released a handful of songs. With the breakup of the Orchestre Historia - see more details under Lélé Nsundi - Franck Muzola Ngunga retired from performing. For the next twenty years he did a variety of jobs around Kinshasa, including managing a bar, working as an accountant, and running a music store for his friend Adios Alemba. During these years he spent a lot of time with Jossart N'yoka Longo and Zaiko Langa Langa but he didn't sing in front of an audience. In 2003, his friend Adios Alemba brought him to Europe and Franck started a new life in Europe. He trained as a stonemason and master painter and has supported his family with these skills for the last fifteen years. He lives in Compiegne with his wife and family, very proud that all of his children have been educated in France.
.MOYIBI, pl. BAYIBI MOIBI, pl. BAIBI MUYIBI, pl. BAYIBI MUIBI, pl. BAIBI Thief ITEM 5 EXAMPLES...
1a)Liwa moyibi, elaka te Death is a thief, she doesn't notify
1b). Oyo akotambola na moyibi, akokoma mpe moyibi. Proverb/expression (don't translate litteraly) One that walks with a thief will also become a thief.
1c). Tozali koluka muana musala. Azala moyibi te, ndoki te, ndumba te. We are looking for a domestic aid. May it not be a thief, not a sorcerer, not a whore.
1d). Moyibi ya cable ya courant, asambwe na Lemba. An electricitycablethief has put himself to shame in Lemba
1e). Elongi kitoko kasi moyibi monene pretty face but a big thief
2. KOYIBA, (verbs) to steal, to rob ITEM 1 EXAMPLE...
2a). Bacable ya courant eyibami na lingwala electricitycables were stolen in Lingwala
3). KULUNA Thug terrorizing passersby (muggers) neighborhood gang the phenomenon of street violence ITEM 1 EXAMPLE...
1a). Yo, okende wapi, kuluna ? You, where are you going, thug ?
Jeannot Botuli Ilonge also grew up in the Camp ONATRA neighbourhood. He was, with Bakolo Keta, one of the founding members of the Orchestre Zamis. He was also part of the cohort of Barumbu musicians that Papa Noel brought into the Orchestre Bamboula in 1973. Botuli Ilonge was one of the three singers of the first line-up of the Orchestre Kiam and he was also part of the group that participated in the Mabele productions nzong-nzing sessions that led to the first split in the Orchestre Kiam. He along with his childhood friend Bakolo Keta tried to make a go of the Orchestre Baya Baya. When this group fell apart, Botuli Ilonge left music. Bass player Vieux Kody and singer Adios Alemba remember that he went into business, selling goods between Kinshasa and the Bas-Congo. As of 2011, his former bandmates thought he was still alive but no one knew how to get in touch with him.
Suké Ngonge was born in Kinshasa on 25 February 1951. He was born and grew up in the commune of Kinshasa, in the Camp ONATRA (the neighbourhood spreads across the Communes of Barumbu and Kinshasa). He started to learn the drums in 1969. His first teacher was the drum legend Seskain Molenga. Suké studied with Seskain for two years. His first group was the Orchestra Fleurice a band that included Dona Mobeti and Thierry Mantuika; Mopero Wa Maloba was the chef d'orchestre. They were a student band that played matinée concerts from 3:00-6:00 p.m. Suké Ngonge was in the Orchestre Fleurice from 1969-1971. His next gig was a nzong-nzing session with a group called the Orchestre Fakir. In 1972, he finished his studies at St. Raphael, a catholic school. His next musical experience was with the Orchestre Zamis, the incubator for most of the core members of the Orchestre Kiam. He was also a member of the cohort that was recruited by Papa Noel in 1973.
Suké left the Orchestre Kiam in early 1976, but stayed in the Maison Vévé, becoming the drummer for the Orchestre Vévé. He didn't stay long very long with the band. Tired of working for Kiamuangana, he jumped ship in November 1976, when he had the opportunity to join Franco's TPOK Jazz. When he arrived in the OK Jazz there were 35 musicians in the orchestra, two or three musicians in each chair. He entered the group, without auditioning, when another drummer fell ill. (The other drummer in the TPOK Jazz during his tenure was Pajos Nanzele.) Suké spent two years with TPOK Jazz, participating in the recording session that featured the Ntesa Dalienst song 'Radio Trottoir'. He travelled with the TPOK Jazz to Cote D'Ivoire, Gabon, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, and Zambia. In 1977, he was part of a group of OK Jazz musicians who participated in a nzong-nzing session, recording under the name of Orchestre Mamaki, with Youlou Mabiala, Mayaula Mayoni and Josky Kiambakuta - this session yielded the big Mayaula hit 'Bombanda Compliquée'.
Franco was furious that the musicians had recorded the nzong-nzing and had Suké fired, along with percussionist Vieux de Paul. He then played with the Orchestre Le Best, the 'cover' band led by Jean-Marie Makutukala that performed at the Hotel Intercontinental. This gig led to a three year stint with the house band at the Hotel Ivoire, the most prestigious hotel in Abidjan, Cote D'Ivoire (and in all of Francophone West Africa). Since coming back from Abidjan (in the late 1980s?), he is a drummer for hire. Today he makes his living as a session drummer and plays regularly with the Orchestre Cosa Nostra, a cover band. The night I sat down with him in Kinshasa for a drink he was on his way to a gig with Baby Ndombe.
Djo Morena was born on May 5, 1953 in Barumbu, Quartier Muzindo, Avenue Kigoma # 31. He grew up in Barumbu. Djo was taught to play the guitar by an older man in the neighbourhood. His name was Vieux Fely, but everyone called him Nzambele. Djo's first musical group was another Barumbu neighbourhood band called UTA Bella. He became their rhythm guitar player, or accompagnateur, in 1961. After UTA Bella he went to the Orchestre Super Tukina which featured singers Samba Mapangala, Celia Kelo and guitar player Gerry Dialungana. This group was only together for a year but recorded three 45s, including the track 'Satonge' by Samba Mapangala. These singles were produced by Muninga. Super Tukina fell apart in 1964. With the breakup of Super Tukina, Djo Morena played with various informal Barumbu groups.
In 1973, he too was part of the cohort recruited by Papa Noel. Djo Morena was one of the founding members of the Orchestre Kiam, and one of three musicians who stayed loyal to Verckys, staying with the Franck Muzola Ngunga wing of the group until the end of the Orchestre Kiam. When Verckys Kiamanguana and Franck Muzola Ngunga decided to dissolve Kiam and form the Orchestre Historia, Djo Morena became one of the new orchestra's accompagnateurs, playing alongside his former bandmates Lélé Nsundi and Adamo Lewis. Djo only stayed with the Historia for a year. When he left he started performing with l'Eglise Pentecote Gamma. Djo got married and had his first child while he was with Kiam. These were the best years of his life; the musicians in Kiam were, he remembers, 'brothers, discovering the world together'. Thirty years after the group ended, Djo Morena holds on to his memories. Cherishing the music they created together. When we met in 2011, Djo Morena no longer owned a guitar and hadn't played in a few years.
The story of the Orchestre Kiam is the archetypical Kinshasa music story. A group of neighbourhood friends with a blind passion for music grow up playing together in bands. Their energy, passion, talent, and youthful naïveté are exploited by older musicians and business men. These young musicians, nonetheless, create timeless music before the pressures of the Kinshasa music industry tear them apart. Thirty years later their songs endure and most of the musicians struggle to survive.
The majority of the members of Orchestre Kiam were born in the early to mid-1950s, part of the first generation to come of age in post-colonial Kinshasa. They met as adolescents, playing in bands in the commune of Barumbu, one of the oldest of Kinshasa's neighbourhoods, a tight community of tradesmen and their families living in company housing. The nucleus of the group grew up in the Camp ONATRA, the company housing built by the Office National des Transports starting in the 1920s. (Today, confusingly, the neighbourhood is referred to as Camp Kabinda or Camp Olsen, depending on who you talk with.)
Four of the founding members of the Orchestre Kiam started playing music together in 1969 in the Jacquis Boys, a group named after a university student from Barumbu named Jacques who had inherited some money and decided to sponsor a musical group. Jacques would occasionally participate in the rehearsals, singing a few songs with the group. This group included singers Bakolo Keta, Jeannot Botuli Ilonge, Eddie Mboyo Bola, and guitar player Lélé Nsundi. The Jacquis Boys soon became the Orchestre Zamis, perhaps after a conflict with their sponsor. And soon after the name change guitar player Souza Vangu and drummer Suké Ngonge joined the group. According to Souza Vangu, the Orchestre Zamis recorded two songs at the studio Mazadis in Limete and released one 45 rpm single. Like virtually all of the young musicians in Barumbu, the members of l'Orchestre Zamis gravitated around Papa Noel, the neighbourhood's musical patriarch (himself only in his 30s at the time).
Papa Noel lived at 22 Rue de Luvungi in the commune of Kinshasa and his Orchestre Bamboula was a training ground for several generations of young Barumbu musicians. Papa Noel, however, consistently had problems paying his musicians. Furthermore, he didn't have his own set of instruments; the band rehearsed on acoustic instruments and rented gear whenever they had a gig. In early 1973, after returning from a performance in Algeria, Papa Noel lost his entire group. He rebuilt the band with the neighbourhood teenagers who hung around Orchestre Bamboula rehearsals. Papa Noel brought in singers Bakolo Keta, Jeannot Botuli Ilonge, Frank Muzola Ngunga, guitar players Lélé Nsundi and Djo Morena, Vieux Kody on bass, and drummer Suké Ngonge. This lineup of the Orchestre Bamboula rehearsed for six months. Then, in late 1973, Papa Noel took the group into the studio.
Papa Noel brought the band to studio Vévé, which was owned by Kinshasa music impresario Verckys Kiamuangana and located on Rue Eala in the Kasa Vubu neighbourhood. Papa Noel paid upfront for the studio time to record four songs and the band knocked them off in one afternoon, with Vévé house engineer Kidiata M'Pole running the board. When Verckys came by the studio that evening he asked Kidiata, as he often did, to play him the tracks from the day's recording sessions. Kiamuangana heard Papa Noel's band and heard potential. He called in Denewadé, his production manager, to listen to the tracks. Denewadé knew the musicians well; they were a bunch of kids from the 'quartier' that he had known since they ran the streets barefoot in short pants. Verckys told Denewadé to find them and bring them back to the studio.
Denewadé made the rounds, starting with Franck Muzola Ngunga, who had sung with his band the Orchestre Mwaliko, a few years earlier. Once the musicians were in the studio Verckys asked if they had more unrecorded songs. When the musicians confirmed that they had more compositions Verckys told them to come back to the studio the following afternoon. They would run through their songs for him and if he liked what he heard he would record them. Most of the Bamboula musicians agreed but Franck Muzola Ngunga hesitated, not wanting to betray Papa Noel. Verckys turned the screws and told the musicians that without Muzola Ngunga he wasn't interested, it was the entire band or nothing. Muzola Ngunga gave in and the band returned to the studio the following day.
Meanwhile Papa Noel was scrambling to find the cash to release his master tapes: he had paid for the studio time but he still needed to pay for the recording engineer's time and the 'recording fee'. When he returned to the Maison Vévé the following afternoon he was shocked to find his band in the studio, running through the Orchestre Bamboula repertoire, under Verckys' attentive ear. Papa Noel's shock turned to anger, and he burst into the studio accusing Verckys of trying to steal his band. Papa Noel and Verckys faced off. Verckys challenged Papa Noel to show him the contractual agreement that kept the young musicians from recording for Vévé. Papa Noel left with his tapes but lost another lineup of the Orchestre Bamboula. (The Kiam musicians don't think Papa Noel ever released these tapes. Papa Noel doesn't remember).
Verckys was excited enough about his new group to give them his name; he called them the Orchestre Kiam. The founding lineup of the group was singers Frank Muzola Ngunga, Bakolo Keta, Jeannot Botuli Ilonge, Mboyo Bola Eddie, lead guitar players Guyno and Souza Vangu (Souza came into the fold a few months after the others), rhythm guitar players Lélé Nsundi and Djo Morena, bass player Vieux Kody and drummer Suké Ngonge.
Like all of the musicians in the Vévé system the young musicians of Kiam were salaried employees, under contract with the Maison Vévé, Verckys Kiamuangana's company. The musicians were paid twice a month, collecting their pay from the Vévé accounting office, also located in the compound on Eala. Maman Louise, the head of accounting, paid out their salaries, $15 on the fifteenth of the month and $35 at the end of the month. Each musician also received a signing bonus from the Maison Vévé. Drummer Suké Ngonge still remembers the new living room furniture set he received. Verckys also gave the group a full set of instruments. Compared with the irregular compensation they received from Papa Noel and the difficult working conditions of the Orchestre Bamboula, the young members of the Orchestre Kiam thought they had gotten the better of Verckys!
The musicians rehearsed three times a week at the compound on Eala and performed every weekend in the bars of Kasa Vubu and Mbinza (during their first year they performed most often at the Bar Roly, just a few doors down from the Maison Vévé). Verckys managed all the contracts with the bar owners and collected the earnings for all of the performances. A Maison Vévé paymaster accompanied the group to every performance, collecting the cash at the end of the evening and bringing the money back to Maman Louise. The Maison Vévé also collected all of the income from vinyl sales, both throughout the DRC and abroad (the Kiam catalog was massively popular in Kenya, Nigeria, Cameroun, and throughout West Africa.) The musicians did as the boss told them, performing where he sent them and going into the studio when he decided. At the height of the Maison Vévé, Verckys had four groups in his farm system, keeping salaries low and making massive income from the vinyl sales and performances of his groups, among the most popular of their generation throughout much of sub-Saharan African.
COURTESY MATTHEW LAVOIE
My all time favorite orch Kiam song thank you for the translation
Welcome
BIOGRAPHIES OF ORCHESTRE KIAM MUSICIANS
FIRST GENERATION ORCHESTRE KIAM MUSICIANS (1973-5)
¶ Franck Muzola Ngunga - Singer and Chef D'Orchestre
¶ Bakolo Keta - Singer
¶ Jeannot Botuli Ilonge - Singer
¶ Eddie M'boyo Bola - Singer
¶ Lélé Nsundi - Rhythm Guitar and musical director
¶ Djo Morena - Rhythm Guitar
¶ Guyno - Lead Guitar
¶ Souza Vangu - Lead Guitar
¶ Vieux Kody (Nkodia vi Nkodia) - Bass player
¶ Ndolo Matthews - Bass player
¶ Suke Ngonge - Drums
Franck Muzola Ngunga, Singer, Chef D'Orchestre
Franck Muzola Ngunga was born in Matadi, Bas-Congo in 1961. He did his first five years of school in Matadi and came to Kinshasa in 1970. His father, a carpenter, settled the family in the Beau Marché neighbourhood of the commune of Barumbu - Franck was a neighbour to bass player Vieux Kody. Franck's first musical experience in Kinshasa was singing in the choir of his local catholic church, the paroisse Saint Paul (the same choir where Pépé Kallé and Likinga Redo sang). By the end of his first year in Kinshasa, Franck had joined his first musical group, Les Copains, a band that also included the singer Mopero, who would go on to fame with his Orchestre Shama Shama, and Manesi Baba Malula, who ended his musical career in Sydney, Australia. After a short spell with Les Copains, Franck joined L'Orchestre Mwaliko, a neighbourhood band led by Denewadé, who would become Vercky's production manager at the Maison Vévé.
Muzolo Ngunga's musical partnership with his future Kiam bandmates started in Papa Noel's Orchestre Bamboula. Franck was part of the cohort of young musicians from around Barumbu (he was only 12 years old at the time!) that Papa Noel recruited in 1973. Throughout the entire Orchestre Kiam saga Franck was one of only three musicians who stayed loyal to Verckys. When the plug was finally pulled on the Orchestre Kiam, Franck Muzolo Ngunga participated in the short-lived, Vévé-produced, Orchestre Historia. The band was together for two years (1983 &1984) and only released a handful of songs. With the breakup of the Orchestre Historia - see more details under Lélé Nsundi - Franck Muzola Ngunga retired from performing.
For the next twenty years he did a variety of jobs around Kinshasa, including managing a bar, working as an accountant, and running a music store for his friend Adios Alemba. During these years he spent a lot of time with Jossart N'yoka Longo and Zaiko Langa Langa but he didn't sing in front of an audience. In 2003, his friend Adios Alemba brought him to Europe and Franck started a new life in Europe. He trained as a stonemason and master painter and has supported his family with these skills for the last fifteen years. He lives in Compiegne with his wife and family, very proud that all of his children have been educated in France.
Please also fanya translation ya Malako Disco.
I recently did Malako disco kindly check
I thought Moni was the short of moninga which means 'friend'??
Mine is to pass message
Good job Bro. Lakini hizo picha jo!
Umenikumbusha Sheng ya 'rundo'
Hahaha karibu
mokumba kundi au utitiri wa wadogo zako
Rundo in sheng ya Nairobi
TOLi ni ushauri
Yes
.MOYIBI, pl. BAYIBI
MOIBI, pl. BAIBI
MUYIBI, pl. BAYIBI
MUIBI, pl. BAIBI
Thief
ITEM 5 EXAMPLES...
1a)Liwa moyibi, elaka te
Death is a thief, she doesn't notify
1b). Oyo akotambola na moyibi, akokoma mpe moyibi. Proverb/expression (don't translate litteraly)
One that walks with a thief will also become a thief.
1c). Tozali koluka muana musala. Azala moyibi te, ndoki te, ndumba te.
We are looking for a domestic aid. May it not be a thief, not a sorcerer, not a whore.
1d). Moyibi ya cable ya courant, asambwe na Lemba.
An electricitycablethief has put himself to shame in Lemba
1e). Elongi kitoko kasi moyibi monene
pretty face but a big thief
2. KOYIBA, (verbs)
to steal, to rob
ITEM 1 EXAMPLE...
2a). Bacable ya courant eyibami na lingwala
electricitycables were stolen in Lingwala
3). KULUNA
Thug terrorizing passersby (muggers)
neighborhood gang
the phenomenon of street violence
ITEM 1 EXAMPLE...
1a). Yo, okende wapi, kuluna ?
You, where are you going, thug ?