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Artist News
Papa Wemba dies
By Chris Cooke | Published on Monday 25 April 2016
Influential Congolese musician Papa Wemba died this weekend after collapsing while performing at a music festival in Ivory Coast. In footage of the show, Wemba is seen slumped on stage behind a group of dancers, who then rush to his aid. Local officials told Reuters that the musician, aged 66, died before he could be taken to hospital.
By pioneering a popular blend of African, Cuban and Western sounds, Wemba – who toured internationally – had a huge influence on music in his home continent, with BBC 1Xtra’s DJ Edu saying this weekend: “I would put him in the same bracket as Fela Kuti when it comes to influence on African music”.
The Congolese Culture Minister Baudouin Banza Mukalay paid tribute to Wemba yesterday, calling the musician’s death a “great loss for the country and all of Africa”. Meanwhile the country’s president, Joseph Kabila, also expressed his condolences, indicating that a number of large events paying tribute to Wemba in his home nation were now being planned.
