Tabu Ley Rochereau of African Fiesta International during the mid-1960. Rochereau joined the ancestors on November 30, 2013., a photo by Pan-African News Wire File Photos on Flickr.
Muzina star, Tabu Ley, exits the stage
Updated Saturday, November 30th 2013 By Kiundu Waweru
In the mid-1990s, Democratic Republic of Congo musician Tabu Ley released the album Muzina. The album’s title song like many of Tabu’s compositions became a hit in Kenya and it soon would take a funny twist.
Kenya in the 1990s was experiencing an economic crunch and as companies retrenched, bars and nightclubs sent the then popular Bands away. A band usually has several members and the clubs were unable to pay.
Trust Kenyans to make lemonade from lemon and a few brave souls grabbed the opportunity. A lone man would come into a pub armed with a guitar and a husky voice.
They adulterated popular songs, most times to a lewd note so as to attract attention and within no time the one-man guitar, or the Mugiithi phenomenon became the craze on the Kenyan entertainment scene. Young and old Tabu Ley’s song Muzina, became “Muchina” a Gikuyu male name and even as the Mugiithi craze died, Muchina version is hummed by the young and old.
But this is not the only visible tie that Tabu Ley has bequeathed Kenya. In 1985, when Kenyans relied only on the state-led radio station KBC for their entertainment, the government banned all foreign music.
Tabu Ley quickly composed the song Twende Nairobi, sung by Mbilia Bel and which praised the then president Daniel arap Moi. The ban was immediately lifted. And now, Tabu Ley is dead.
He died yesterday at a Belgium hospital where he had been undergoing treatment for a stroke he suffered in 2008.
Tabu Ley has left a legacy of about 2000 popular songs and 250 albums, and having inspired and created other music legends including Mbilia Bel whom he also later married. Tabu Ley is also credited with pioneering Soukous genre by fusing Congolese folk music with Cuban, Caribbean and the Latin American rumba, to an international appeal. Nation’s birthday
Born in 1940, Tabu Ley Rochereau started his music career in 1954 as a member of the African Jazz of the Joseph “Grand Kalle” Kabasele.
Grand Kalle would go ahead to compose Independence cha cha, celebrating Congo’s independence. Tabu Ley sung the song during the independence celebrations in 1960, giving him instant fame on his nation’s birthday.
According to his biography by the music site, My Space, Tabu Ley remained with the African Jazz since 1963 when he left to join hands with Dr Nico Kasanda and they formed the African Fiesta.
They split two years later and Tabu Ley formed the African Fiesta National also known as African Fiesta Flash. Popular musicians Papa Wemba and Sam Mangwana were part of the African Fiesta National that went ahead to become one of the most famous and successful African band in the continent’s history, selling millions of copies of their works.
The songs they composed then, like Africa Mokili Marimba remain classics. But Tabu Ley was not yet done. In the early 1970s, he formed another band Orchestre Afrisa International.
He recorded tracks like Sorozo, Aon Aon and Kaful Mayay, continuing to command fame around Africa. Afrisa International’s popularity was mentioned alongside Franco Luambo’s TPOK Jazz.
He would factor in Mbilia Bel, the first female musician to take Soukous to great acclaim in the 1980s. Bel helped attract more fans to Afrisa but she would leave to pursue a solo career in 1988 and Afrisa started losing its grip on fans.
In the early 1990s, Tabu Ley moved and settled in California in the US. During this time, he composed tracks tailored for the international audience and for the first time he sang in English.
Nomination to House It is then he released the popular Muzina album, Exil Ley, Babeti Soukous and Africa Worldwide. He would return to Congo in 1997 following the departure of Mobutu Sese Seko where the new President Laurent Kabila appointed him to the Cabinet as a minister.
He was later nominated to Parliament.
In his lifetime, Tabu Ley was revered by the ordinary and the mighty and he received the honorary title of the Knight of Senegal and was also named the Officer of the Order of the republic of Chad.
In death, his legacy will live on; in the Soukous genre he created and in his priceless compositions.
Read more at: http://www.standardmedia.co.ke/?articleID=2000099050&story_title=muzina-star-tabu-ley-exits-the-stage&pageNo=3
Published on FRANCE 24 (http://www.france24.com/en)
Tabu Ley Rochereau, king of Congolese rumba dies
By blade
Created 30/11/2013 - 22:25
African superstar and king of Congolese rumba Tabu Ley Rochereau died on Saturday aged 76 in a hospital in Belgium, his family said.
Tributes poured in for the singer-songwriter whose melodies touched generations across Africa, as his son-in-law said a state funeral would be held in Kinshasa, where Tabu Ley would also be buried.
Tabu Ley, who had also been a politician, had never recovered from a stroke in 2008 and his situation deteriorated on Monday, said the son-in-law Jean-Claude Muissa.
Born November 13, 1937 in a small village in the western Congolese province of Bandundu, Pascal Tabu Ley, also known as "Rochereau", became the star of Congolese rumba in the 1960s.
With his songs including "Adios Thethe" and "Mokolo nakokufa" (the day of my death), Tabu Ley helped popularise the music genre, and in 1970 became the first African musician to perform at the Paris Olympia music hall.
"He was a superstar in all of Africa," said Francois Bensignor from Paris-based music centre IRMA.
He was also once acclaimed by news magazine Jeune Afrique "as the Congolese personality who, along with (former Congolese president) Mobutu, marked Africa's 20th century history," said Leon Tsambu, a specialist in Congolese music.
At home, Tabu Ley was not just a musician, but also dabbled in politics.
He had hoped to become minister of culture under president Laurent-Desire Kabila -- the father of President Joseph Kabila, but eventually settled for the post of vice-governor of Kinshasa.
He was forced into exile during Mobutu Sese Seko's rule that spanned 1965 to 1997, and in 1990, the strongman's regime banned his album "Trop, c'est trop" (Too much is too much).
Source URL: http://www.france24.com/en/20131130-tabu-ley-rochereau-king-congolese-rumba-dies
Legendary Congolese Musician Tabu Ley Rochereau passes on
By Sheila Kimani
Saturday, November 30th 2013 at 16:52 GMT
At 72 years Old, the legendary Tabu Ley passed on today while in a Belgium Hospital where he was undergoing treatment for a stroke that he had suffered in 2008, but had often been affecting his health. The performer, whose popular hits like Muzina, Maze and Sorozo rocked millions of fans in Africa, is a celebrated musician, whose songs continue to enjoy airplay years after they were released. Thanks to his massive contribution to African Music, Tabu Ley was recently in in Kinshasa to accept an award for his contribution to the country's rich heritage and cultural diplomacy and was set to perform at a Gala Night today. News of his demise has thus left his fans saddened but despite the loss many still have tons of praises for his contribution to the African culture and Music.
Having launched his career in Kinshasa in 1959 both as a composer, singer and dancer, in Joseph Kabasele’s African Jazz, Tabu Ley was one of the few of his generation of musicians, who included Joseph Kabasele, alias Grand Kallé or Nicolas Kasanda, alias Nico. When asked about his health state in a previous interview, Tabu Ley had said : “I feel very well as you can notice. As per my doctors, my health conditions are improving every day. The thing is that I have to accept my current condition with good-naturedness.
I am 72 years old and find it normal to face some physical weaknesses. I am a Christian and trust in God,” . At the time of his death, Tabu Ley composed around 2,000 songs and produced 250 albums.
Read more at: http://www.standardmedia.co.ke/entertainment/article/3156/legendary-congolese-musician-tabu-ley-rochereau-passes-on
Saturday, 30 November 2013 16:23
Tabu Ley Dies Aged 73 Years Old
Famous Democratic Republic of Congo musician Tabu Ley Rochereau is dead.
Tabu Ley died at a hospital in Belgium on Saturday, where he was being undergoing treatment for a stroke he suffered in 2008.
Tabu Ley was born in 1940 and wrote his first song at age of 14 in 1954 .
The deceased was one of Africa's most influential vocalists and one of its most prolific songwriters.
He will be remembered for his song hits Muzina, Alonzo and Shauri Yako.
Tabu Ley wrote more than two thousand songs with his band, Orchestre Afrisa International, which he formed in 1970.
He played a major role in the shift from Congolese, Cuban, And Caribbean rumba to faster-paced Soukous.
Tabu Ley, in 1997, was also a cabinet secretary under President Laurent Kabila and later on joined the appointed transitional parliament after Kabila’s death until it was dissolved.
In 2005, Tabu Ley was appointed vice-governor in charge of political, administrative and socio-cultural question for the city of Kinshasa, a position devolved to his party, The Congolese Rally for Democracy during the 2002 peace agreement.
By May Jesaro
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