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Papa Wemba
Born: 1953, Kasai, Congo
One of the most beloved singers in Congo music, Papa Wemba was born Shungu Jules Wembadio in Kasai, in the lower part of Congo's massive and remote interior. A self-proclaimed singer from birth and an avid participant in that region's traditional life, Wemba inherited his father's role as ``chief of customs.'' But city life beckoned, and he headed north to Kinshasa, where in 1969 he helped to found Zaiko Langa Langa, Zaire's most popular youth band Congo music had ever seen.
For their irreverence, and the sensation they caused, Zaiko have been compared to the Rolling Stones, whom they admired. But these sons of the rich turned ``rumba rude boys'' proved not so much an institution as a movement. Members split off to form their own bands that spawned yet other bands: Langa Langa Stars, Grand Zaiko Wa Wa, Chock (as in shock) Stars, and, among many others, Papa Wemba's Viva La Musica.
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