By CHARLES OMONDI | Monday, April 29 2013
So you loved Franco, the legendary DR Congo musician, and have been agonising over his legacy? Or maybe you were too young to have had enough of him while he was a live?
Are you a new convert to Franco’s music and were apprehensive about the survival of his great works?
Worry no more. The DR Congo government is undertaking every possible measure to ensure that Franco music and spirit lives on for ever.
The ceremony in honour of the great artiste, whose official name was Dieudonne Luambo Luanzo Makiadi, takes place in Kinshasa, the DR Congo capital, on Saturday.
This will be the culmination of a two-year programme initiated by the Joseph Kabila-led government to honour and celebrate the life of the country’s most powerful ambassador.
President Kabila will preside over the grand event to be held at African Union Square in Kinshasa. The square was so named to commemorate the 1967 hosting of the Organisation of the African Unity (OAU) summit by Congo, then known as Zaire.
Franco’s relatives, specifically his widow Pauline Mboyo, son Yves Luambo Emongo, his cousin Yvon Emongo and sister Marie Jean Nyanji, will be received officially by the head of state at the function.
Christened ‘Franco le Grand Maitre Immortel’ (Franco, the Grand Master immortalised), the programme entails everything to ensure Franco’s music and spirit live on in DR Congo and the rest of the world.
“In honouring and immortalising Franco, we want to send a message to the rest of the world that we, the people of Congo, can influence the rest in a positive way, through our music and football… and not the gun,” said Mr Placide Makashi, the director of Grand Maitre Franco Immortel.
A cultural super power in its own right, DR Congo musicians, a good number with links to Franco, continue to be a force to reckon with the world over. They include Papa Wemba, Koffi Olomide, JB Mpiana, Mbilia Bel and Kanda Bongoman.
Mr Makashi recalled with nostalgia how in 1974, his country became the first independent sub-Saharan African state to qualify for the Fifa World Cup. Though the overall performance was not impressive and included 9-0 walloping by Yugoslavia, the Congolese had left no doubt Africa’s intent to claim its place among the world’s footballing nations.
Just last year, a DR Congo club, TP Mazembe, became the first African side to ever reach the final of the World Club Champions League football tournament in Qatar.
TP OK Jazz band
A Congolese, Ndaya Mutumbula, remains the all-time leading goal scorer of the Africa Cup of Nations.
Franco died in Belgium on October 1989, aged 51, after a successful music career spanning over three decades. His long music journey saw him traverse the width and breadth of the globe, touching the hearts of many with his various compositions.
Franco’s TP OK Jazz band members included (all now deceased) Madilu Bialu ‘System’, Pepe Ndombe Opetum and Ntesa Dalienst. The surviving members include Simaro Lutumba Masiya, Josky Kiambukutu and Blaise Mayanda (Wuta Mayi).
A book on Franco’s life was unveiled in Kinshasa on April 19 at a function presided over by DRC Prime Minister d’Augustin Matata Ponyo.
It was the second edition of the book titled Franco le Grand Maitre, authored by Raoul Yema Die Lala and first published just a year ago.
The second edition came so soon following a request by Mr Matata to write the book’s foreword. The biography was launched at Mr Matata’s special garden overlooking the mighty River Congo, in a symbolic gesture to demonstrate the oneness of the two states — DR Congo and the Republic of Congo — straddling either side of the water mass.
To give it an intellectual touch, the Congo Republic music scholar Mfumu Saint Eudes delivered the keynote speech.
Mr Lukunku Sampu, the last DRC journalist to interview Franco while he lay on his sick bed in Brussels, Belgium, did a presentation at the launch, relating to the memorable encounter over two decades ago. Mr Sampu, then a star television presenter, is currently serving at the DRC embassy in Lisbon, Portugal.
Golden Guitar award
Franco le Grand Maitre is so far available only in French, but will soon be translated into English and other languages.
Another aspect of the immortalisation is the building of a Franco mausoleum at Ave de la Liberation, a street next to parliament in central Kinshasa. His remains are currently lying at Gombe Cemetery, which, according to Mr Makashi, is neither easily accessible nor befitting the stature of the legendary musician.
“Franco was a big ambassador for DRC and at this time of a national crisis, we want to rekindle his memories in a very special way,” Mr Makashi said in an interview at the Grand Maitre Franco Immortel secretariat in Kinshasa.
A competition is currently being run in the entire DRC for the best designed Franco tomb.
Music specialists have also been enlisted to dissect Franco’s best 20 songs so that they can be reproduced by others, the Mozart style.
Further, the National Arts School in Kinshasa will incorporate Franco’s music in its curriculum.
Another aspect of the Franco immortalisation is a competition among the students of arts to come up with the best caricature on the musician’s life.
A photo exhibition was held January 5, 2013 on the most exclusive photos of Franco.
An annual Golden Guitar award for the best young guitarist has also been launched.
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