M'bilia Bel

M'bilia Bel

M'bilia Bel (born 1959) is a Congolese rumba singer, known as the Queen of Congolese rumba. She rose to fame after being discovered by Tabu Ley Rochereau.

Biography

Born in 1959 and brought up in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, M'bilia Bel became successful in the early 1980s when she recorded and toured with Tabu Ley Rochereau, and made her own solo albums. The birth of her first child prompted her to take a break from performing, however, and after a last album with Tabu Ley in 1987, she moved to Paris. There she started working with guitarist Rigo Star, and between 1989 and 1990 she went on tour to the United States, the United Kingdom, and West Africa. With a combination of beauty, an angelic soprano voice, and tremendous agility on stage, M'bilia Bel stole the hearts of music fans all over the continent. She was Africa's first female transcontinental diva. She became the first female musician from Africa who could claim popularity all over the entire continent and beyond. In fact, one could argue that there has not been any female musician from Africa who has captured the imagination of music fans across the continent as much as M'bilia Bel did in the eighties. South African Miriam Makeba, known as Mama Afrika, popularity peaked in the 1960s but could not attract as many fans as M'bilia Bel did later.

She began her performing career at the age of seventeen singing backup for Abeti Masikini and later with Sam Mangwana. She burst into the music scene when she joined Tabu Ley's Afrisa International in 1981. The duo of Tabu ley and M'bilia Bel was an instant hit. The combination of Tabu Ley's composing genius and Mbilia Bel's heavenly voice resulted in high sales of Afrisa records.

Her first song with Afrisa, released in early 1982, was "Mpeve Ya Longo", which means Holy Spirit in Kikongo. It was a moving song about spousal abuse. In the song, M'bilia sang the part of a woman who had been abandoned by her husband and has to raise the children by herself. The song was very popular, especially among women in Zaire.

Her ever first album, released in 1983, was the extremely popular Eswi yo wapi, which roughly translates to "Where did it hurt you?", composed by both Tabu Ley and M'bilia Bel. The song won the award for the best song of 1983 in Zaire, and M'bilia Bel won the award for best new performer. She went on to feature on several other songs that year, including Tabu Ley's "Lisanga ya Bambanda", "Faux pas" and Dino Vangu's "Quelle Mechante". Thanks to M'bilia Bel, the popularity of Afrisa International was soaring. Even songs that did not feature M'bilia Bel were receiving more exposure. The stranglehold that Franco's TP OK Jazz had held in the music scene was now being loosened, as Afrisa could now match TP OK Jazz in popularity and record sales, thanks to the arrival of this new sensation who was now being referred to as the African tigress.

Concerts of Afrisa were now a huge draw. M'bilia Bel was always the main attraction, and when she made an appearance, the crowds often went into a frenzy. She was a talented stage performer and often tantalized crowds with her exceptional dancing ability when she would join the Rocherreautes (dancers) in their dance routine.

By the mid-eighties, Mbilia bel had officially married Tabu Ley and was a refined and mature performer. Her songs continued to dominate the scene. Among them was "Mobali na ngai wana", which roughly translates to "This Husband of Mine". The song was composed by Tabu Ley and Roger Izeidi and is an adaptation of a traditional song in Kikongo. In the song, M'bilia Bel praises her husband as being handsome and successful and stresses the fact that even though he has the opportunity to choose from any of Kinshasa's beautiful women, he chose her. Other songs that blazed the charts during that period include "Balle a terre" and "Bameli soy".

In 1987 Tabu Ley recruited another female artiste to accompany M'bilia Bel. Kishila Ngoyi was here real name, but she was known by her artistic name, Faya Tess. It was with this new lineup that Afrisa embarked on a tour of East Africa that took in Kenya, Tanzania and Rwanda, culminating in the album Nadina, which had Lingala and Swahili versions of the title song. The tour was well received by crowds. M'bilia Bel took centre stage, overshadowing other Afrisa artistes including Ndombe Opetum who had returned from TP OK Jazz. Upon their return to Kinshasa, rumours started surfacing about a rift between Tabu ley and M'bilia Bel. Apparently Mbilia Bel was not too happy about the emergence of Faya Tess, who seemed ready to steal her thunder. Both publicly denied having any problems.

M'bilia Bel quit the band late in 1987 to embark on a solo career. She briefly joined with a Gabonese producer in Libreville before leaving for Paris where she joined with guitarist Rigo Starr Bamundele. Her first album with Rigo Starr was entitled "Phénomène" and was a huge success in Kinshasa as well as abroad. Subsequent releases such as Yalowa, Desolé and Exploration have met with limited success.

Following the departure of M'bilia Bel, the popularity of Afrisa International as a band plummeted substantially. Tabu Ley himself seemed to lose inspiration for composing as is evidenced by the substantial reduction in the number of albums released. With the exception of her debut album, Phénomène, Mbilia Bel's career also took on a downward spiral when she left Afrisa.

Her more recent work has involved taking her usual style (traditional rumba and soukous) and mixing in rap and other modern elements.

References

Discography

  • 1983: Eswi Yo Wapi
  • 1983: Faux Pas
  • 1984: Loyenghe
  • 1984: Boya Ye
  • 1985: Keyna
  • 1985: Ba Gerants Ya Mabala Paka Wewe
  • 1986: Beyanga
  • 1987: Contre Ma Volonte
  • 1988: Phénoméne
  • 1991: Bameli Soy
  • 1991: Désolé
  • 1993: Ironie (with Rigo Star)
  • 1997: Yalowa
  • 1997: Exploration
  • 1999: 8/10/Benedicta/8/10
  • 2001: Welcome
  • 2003: Boya Ye
  • 2004: Belissimo
  • 2007: "Phénomène"

Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Нужна курсовая?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • M'Bilia Bel — Mbilia Bel Mbilia Bel, de son vrai nom Marie Claire Mboyo Moseka, est une chanteuse congolaise (RDC) célèbre. Elle débute sa carrière à 17 ans, et quelques années plus tard devient célèbre en se joignant au groupe Afrisa International. Dans les… …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Tabu Ley Rochereau — (born 1940) is the leader of Orchestre Afrisa International and one of Africa s most influential vocalists and prolific songwriters. Along with guitarist Dr Nico Kasanda, Tabu Ley pioneered soukous; he internationalised his music by fusing… …   Wikipedia

  • Music of the Democratic Republic of the Congo — Genres Rumba Madiaba Mutuashi Soukous Folk music Pop music Regional music Algeria Burkina Faso Burundi …   Wikipedia

  • List of African musicians — This is a list of African musicians and musical groups.Algeria* Cheb Mami * Idir * Khaled * Souad Massi * Lounès Matoub * Bellemou Messaoud * Ahmad Baba Rachid * Rachid TahaAngola* Maria de Lourdes Pereira dos Santos Van Dúnem * NeblinaBenin*… …   Wikipedia

  • List of Soukous musicians — List of prominent Soukous musicians and musical groups: *Aurlus Mabele *Antoine Kolosoy, a.k.a Papa Wendo *Antoine Moundanda *Bopol Mansiamina *Dave Depeu *Diblo Dibala *Dr Nico Kasanda *Francois Luambo Makiadi, band leader of OK Jazz *Grand… …   Wikipedia

  • List of people related to the Democratic Republic of the Congo — This page aims to list articles in Wikipedia on people related to the Democratic Republic of the Congo Congo (Kinshasa) the larger of the two Congos, that was also known as Zaire in the 1970s, 80s and 90s. This is so that those interested in the… …   Wikipedia

  • Madilu System — Jean de Dieu Makiese (May 28,1952 ndash; August 11,2007), popularly known as Madilu System, was a Soukous singer and songwriter born in Léopoldville, Belgian Congo. He was once was a member of TPOK Jazz which dominated African popular music in… …   Wikipedia

  • Madilu — System (gebürtig Jean De Dieu Bilau; * 28. Mai 1952; † 11. August 2007) war ein Sänger der Demokratischen Republik Kongo. Er galt als „kongolesischer König des Rumba“. Madilu wurde im Alter von 19 Jahren professioneller Musiker in Kinshasa. Er… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Madilu System — (gebürtig Jean De Dieu Bilau; * 28. Mai 1952; † 11. August 2007) war ein Sänger der Demokratischen Republik Kongo. Er galt als „kongolesischer König des Rumba“. Madilu wurde im Alter von 19 Jahren professioneller Musiker in Kinshasa. Er spielte… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • o — abi·o·log·i·cal; ab·o·li·tion; ab·o·li·tion·ary; ab·o·li·tion·dom; ab·o·li·tion·ism; ab·o·li·tion·ist; ab·o·li·tion·ize; ab·o·ma·sal; ab·o·ma·sum; ac·an·thol·o·gy; ac·an·thop·o·dous; acar·i·dol·o·gist; ac·a·ri·nol·o·gy; acar·i·o·sis;… …   English syllables

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”