Papa Wemba

Master of Congolese rumba, Congolese Papa Wemba (1949-2016) emerged in the 1970s as one of the leading figures in African music. A superstar in West Africa, he recorded his major hits in the following decade. " Signorina"," Mea Culpa"," Melina la Parisienne" and "Matebu " got young people dancing across the continent. Despite the 1995 album Emotion, produced by Peter Gabriel, Papa Wemba's fame in Europe remained more stage than record. Implicated in a case of illegal residence in 2003, the king of Congolese rumba and soukous was imprisoned for several months in France. When his album Notre Père came out in 2010, he managed to release it in the Democratic Republic of Congo despite censorship restrictions. In 2014, his latest album Maître d'École sees him reclaim his crown. Two years later, on April 24, 2016, he succumbed to an illness on stage in Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire.