The untimely grand exit of Africa’s musical icon and fashion high priest Papa Wemba, to say the least, was unsettling.
The news of his demise hit his fans like a thunderbolt during the Urban Music Festival of Anoumabo (FEMUA) concert in Abidjan and across the globe.
But Papa Wemba seemed to have a date with destiny — to sing to musical eternity — while dressed to the nines for his final curtain call, perhaps keeping up with his status as the official Le Pape (The Pope).
Donned in a bold black and white patterned tunic, geek glasses and oversized bowler hat, Papa Wemba’s final bow was live on RTI 1, one of Ivory Coast’s public television channels.
He slumped to the floor behind a group of dancers, before performers rushed to his aid.
Incidentally, Papa Wemba seemed to have a premonition of his death.
He had intimated two weeks earlier to Magic System lead singer, Salif Traore, known as A’Salfo, who was also acting as his final festival promoter, that ‘he wanted to die on stage.’
“I want my last day to be on stage, because every time when I am on stage, when I am singing, I feel as if I am flying,” Papa Wemba had also told VOA’s RM Show, Roger Muntu during an earlier interview, a wish that came true when he collapsed with a mic on stage while serenading thousands of fans with his evergreen hits.
Papa Wemba’s exit closes a chapter of arguably Congolese — and to an extent Africa’s — most innovative musician of his generation.
Musically, Papa Wemba changed the Congolese music and gave it a fresh breath.
His smooth, easy sound and extraordinary high-pitched vocals ushered many talents, especially Koffi Olomide (Le Grand Mopao) to the centre stage while still nurturing the then hot university singers, Wenge Musica BCBG, now respected musicians.
But his greatest achievement was his emancipation of ordinary Congolese mortals through fashion. The stylish crooner was the undisputed king or the high priest of Le Sape (Société des Ambianceurs et des Personnes Élégantes) or simply the Society of Ambiance-Makers and Elegant People.
Members of the Le Sape are called sapeurs to denote men who have turned the art of dressing into a cultural statement. Their lifestyle was captured in the lenses of Italian snapper Daniele Tamagni in her photographic tome, The Gentlemen of Bakongo — The Importance of Being Elegant.
A wonderful pictorial essay presented in vivid colour, and captures the spirit, joie de vivre and creed of le sapeur who, with their strict code of honour, conduct and morality, enjoy a style certainly not lacking in eccentricity.
The sapeurs are ordinary men said to enrich their characters despite upheavals in their lives, to rise above circumstance and shine.
In his style, Papa Wemba gave their lives a political motive — acting in the spirit of GA Matsoua, the first Congolese to return from Paris fully clad as a French gentleman in 1922 — and thus giving birth to a wave of popular resistance to President Mobutu Sese Seko’s regime in 1970s of ‘authenticity’, which prescribed a condemnation of symbolic ties and a return to traditionalism.
His influence on sapeurs — who are farmers, taxi drivers, carpenters and labourers – just ordinary men who transformed after day’s work to be a source of inspiration and positivity in local communities was extraordinary.
Le Sape could simply pass for a sartorial movement with deep emphasis on smart dressing by all Congolese men, regardless of their social differences.
After Papa Wemba’s death, the BBC collected reflections from a number of other prominent African artistes.
Singer Angélique Kidjo, who recorded a duet with him for an album by Cameroonian saxophonist, Manu Dibango, told the BBC’s Newshour that, “His whole attitude about dressing well was part of the narrative that we Africans have been denied our humanity for so long.
“People have always had stereotypes about us, and he was saying that dressing well is not just a matter of money, not just something for Westerners, but that we Africans also have elegance. It was all about defining ourselves and refusing to be stripped of our humanity.”
In the words of another Congolese crooner, King Kester Emeneya, “The white man might have invented clothes, but we have turned it into art. Dressing well and living large was thus Papa Wemba’s dictum. He will be remembered, not just for his voice and his musical innovations, but his legendary sense of fashion style as well.”
