Jazz Articles about Papa Wemba

Papa Wemba: New Morning

by Chris May
October 29, 2006

Magic. Hip-swaying, smile-making, life-enhancing, butt-shaking, number one with a mango magic.

Paris-based Papa Wemba, the King of Congolese Rhumba, has been off the recording scene for almost three years, following some moments difficiles, as he puts it in the liner notes. Wemba was jailed for smuggling “illegal immigrants (ie. clan members without visas looking for a new start in life) into France, in the guise of band members.

New Morning is Wemba's first ever live album, recorded in the Parisian ...