Let’s manage the boundless sexual appetite of youth

NAIROBI: In 1975, Congolese songster Mbubi Malanda lamented about my generation. He called us La Nouvelle Generation. We were the adolescent generation of the day, a restless new demographic. Like all youth, we thought that we had invented the sun. In fact we thought that we had invented everything under the sun. We knew everything! And we disturbed people like Mbubi Malanda and his producer and saxophonist, Verckys Kiamwangana Mateta. We were savouring the joys and pleasures of freedom far from the sheltered and suffocating confines of home. Male and female alike, we operated on the fuel of youthful adrenaline. The girls were learning to perfect the art of feminine coquetry while the boys cherished their budding machismo. Our bald heads today carried natural Afro wigs, in the style of James Brown, the American king of soul at that time.

We wore Levis and Lee jeans with slim fit tops, after Elvis Presley. The girls were stepping out boldly in long trousers, to the chagrin of many an elder. The boys displayed their pectorals for all who cared to see. We swung in high-healed platform shoes and bell-bottomed flares. We called ourselves “cool cats.” And we liked trendy and dressy role models. Kiamwangana Mateta Wanzela Mbongo was one of them. I often operated under the sobriquet of Mario Matadidi Mabele Bwana Kitoko. The man Kiamwangana regaled us with one new hit after the other. Having rebelled and — Tout Puissant — Orchestre Kinshasa (TP OK) Jazz, in 1968, Verckys had gone on to constitute his own Orchestre Veve. Veve would presently begin giving TP OK Jazz a run for its artistic monies. Then came the production house, Editions Veve, the mother of such hits as Matoba, Engunduka, Lukani, Masua, Mombassa — and numerous others, as we remember. We were happy to be young and yes, we thought we had invented the sun.