Tabu Ley finally speaks: I’m on the path to recovery

Tabu Ley. Photo/FILE

By AMOS NGAIRA

 

Music lovers the world over will be elated to hear this: Veteran Congolese artiste Tabu Ley, or Pascal Rochereau, who has been hospitalised in Europe for the greater part of this year, is recovering and in high spirits. Speaking exclusively to REVIEW on three separate days in the past one week from his daughter’s Paris home, he said he was gradually getting better.

When REVIEW first spoke to him last Saturday evening, though sounding frail, he expressed delight at his fans’ concern for his health. “I now feel a lot better than I was six months since I was flown back to Paris from Kinshasa,” he told me. The veteran musician, who is being treated as an outpatient while staying with Inna and her mother, Mama Melanie, in Creteil on the outskirts of Paris, hopes he will soon be back on his feet and doing what he likes best — singing and dancing to his slow rhumba tunes.

After the first interview, Tabu Ley asked that I call him again around 10am (noon) the following day for more information. He also encouraged me to call him again on Monday and finally on Tuesday morning. As we spoke during the telephone interviews, the veteran crooner also confirmed regular visits and check-ups by his personal French physician. “He regularly comes home to check on me, and it has been his suggestion that I remain in a bed rest and go through some physiotherapy,” he said.

On a rather jovial note, the man who, alongside compatriot Franco Luambo Luanzo Makiadi, was the pillar of Lingala music, added that he was dying to be fit again so that he could visit Kenya and other parts of East Africa to perhaps even perform. “I really miss Nairobi, which I have always considered my second music home in Africa,” he pointed out. This, he explained, brought back to him fond memories of the early 1980s hit song, Nakei Nairobi, which was sung by one of his protégée’s, Mbilia Bel, who later became a great collaborator, with whom he had a daughter, Melodie.

Nakei Nairobi, which was done in two versions (Swahili and Lingala), remains one of his most favourite with his Kenyan fans. “I’m eager to know how Kenya is like at the moment, as all along I have always had business interests in the country,” he said. Tabu Ley now prefers a quite life.

His personal physician

Early this year, his personal physician and family requested for more privacy in the wake of alleged media misreporting at home and outside DR Congo on the exact state of his health. “Let my fans internationally know that I’m able to speak well still and even look forward to returning to my normal state gradually,” he said.

Before reaching Tabu Ley, I had earlier spoken to Dino Vangu, one of the long-serving solo guitarists in his Afrisa International band, who also lives in Paris. It is Dino, Tabu Ley’s right-hand man, who organised the interviews. As Dino said, his former boss’s recovery was encouraging to them. “He is a lot better now than he was when he was first returned from Kinshasa, though he still requires quite some time to fully recover,” he said.

It was Dino who played the solo guitar in most of the earlier Afrisa International’s hit songs such as Fololo, Tanga Tanga, Zuwa Te and Sorozo. He says he is working on another solo album in which he is backed by, among others, Lady Lobenelle. One of Tabu Ley’s daughters, Collete, studied and lived in Nairobi in the late 1980s until the early 1990s.

Tabu Ley would arrange to pay her college fees and rent. He has also encouraged some of his children to develop careers in arts and culture. His son, Youssoupha, is now an up-and-coming rapper in France, and Melodie is a singer. Another son, Mark, is a journalist in France and Belgium.

A setback for a man

The illness has been an anti-climax in a life well-lived and a career that has been the envy of many in not only his native DRC, but also in central, western, eastern and southern Africa. The ill-health that has put him down and literally silenced him for now. One of the best Lingala music practitioners ever, the illness has put a blot on the twilight years of a consummate professional.

It’s a setback for a man who, throughout his career, has been known for not only his clear tenor voice, but also for his nimble feet. For among the great musicians on the continent, Tabu Ley would have taken hands down the accolade for greatest dancer hands down.

A man, who in his heyday was agile and stylish and a fantastic choreographer of the rhumba dance, with troupes of young female dancers, has been bedridden for several months. However, he hopes to return home by March or April, next year, ahead of the DRC elections. “I would like to be back home to join others during the voting time, depending on my health condition”, he said.

Ever since being taken ill, Tabu Ley has had to suspend his role as Kinshasa provincial minister for Culture and Arts, Sports, Youth and Leisure and Tourism. Shaba Kahamba, a former Orch Bella-Bella and all-time best Afrisa band bass player, who lives in Amsterdam, is also in regular contact with Tabu Ley.

As Tabu Ley pointed out during the interview, other former members of his Afrisa International are singer Faya Tess, who also lives in Paris, guitarist Nseka Huit Kilos, Dodo Munoko, Wawali Bonane and Mekanisi Modero — all of whom live in US. Those from Tabu Ley’s group who remained in Kinshasa include guitarist Master Mukonkole, who was in the Africa International group that visited Kenya in 1995.

The celebrated Tabu Ley was admitted to hospital in July, last year, from a suspected heart ailment. Initial reports from Kinshasa had also indicated that he had suffered a suspected mild stroke. It was an anti-climax for the singer, coming only a month after he was feted at an international music award ceremony in Havana, Cuba.

When his condition initially worsened, he was hospitalised at Limete, Kinshasa, before being flown to Europe for specialised treatment. Late last year, he was flown back home to Kinshasa at his own request to see his family, only to be flown back to Paris earlier this year when his condition worsened again.

Political strongman

The man, who earlier in his career, was popularly known as Pascal Rochereau Ley Siegneur until political strongman Mobutu Sese Seko’s cultural revolution in the 1970s, and simply became Tabu Ley, is going through the most difficult period of his life. One can imagine the pain he is going through, unable to practise his real passion — music.

Tabu Ley’s story is incomplete without a mention of Franco Luambo Luanzo Makiadi’s name. The two were for decades the pillar of Congolese music in an interesting rivalry that culminated in the release of one of the best collaboration songs ever on the continent — Lisanga ya Banganga.

angaira@nation.co.ke

 

source.nation.ke

ETHIOPIA: Bright lights, big city is high risk for students

Photo: wd/IRIN

The ‘kissing pool’ at AAU’s Siddist Kilo campus is a favourite haunt for student couples

ADDIS ABABA,  – Being a university freshman is an exciting time for any young person, but many students get carried away, partying too hard and taking sexual risks.

“It’s a chance to experience life; there is no family, there are no restraints,” said Biniam Eskinder, project coordinator of the Modelling and Reinforcement to Combat HIV/AIDS (MARCH) project in the Siddist Kilo Campus of Addis Ababa University (AAU). “Some use it in a good way but some do risky things, such as chewing khat [a mild stimulant] … having [unprotected sex] and using commercial sex workers.

“Some of these students will have limited awareness of the risks of HIV/AIDS, and then there is peer pressure as well,” he added.

Ethiopia’s overall HIV prevalence is a relatively low 2 percent, but prevalence in the capital, Addis Ababa, is 7.5 percent. According to the Federal HIV/AIDS Prevention and Control Office (FHAPCO), anecdotal evidence of widespread unsafe sexual practices suggests students may be among the more high-risk groups in terms of HIV vulnerability.

MARCH statistics show that 50 percent of AAU students are sexually active, but only half of them use condoms, said Biniam.

High-risk behaviour

“Often they do not use condoms… they are doing it emotionally, without any thought,” said Selam, a 19-year-old AAU student.

Selam added that students coming to the city from the countryside usually had less information about HIV and were not as street-smart as Addis youth, leaving them unprepared to resist unwanted sexual advances or insist on protected sex.

Former student Girma Tesfaye, now Addis Ababa project coordinator for HIV-focused NGO Mekdim, says female students often fall prey to “sugar daddies”.

“There are lots of beautiful girls at university and older people with beautiful automobiles stop around the university and look for them,” he said. “It is common to take students this way. They have lots of money; they will provide the girls with money and different [presents].

“The older ‘daddy’ may have three or four partners in such a way, which facilitates the spread of HIV,” he added.

Selam agrees that this is a significant problem, noting that in the early evening, heavily made-up and scantily clad female students make their way to the area outside the main gates known as the Debab to try to find a rich boyfriend, usually one who already has a wife, and quite possibly a string of other girlfriends.

“If you have sex because of a threat, or you have a ’sugar daddy’, it is one-sided and that makes them more at risk,” said MARCH’s Biniam. “Influenced or coerced sex is high risk.”

Often they do not use condoms…they are doing it emotionally, without any thought

Evidence also suggests that male students use local sex workers; a survey of Addis-based sex workers found that 5.8 percent of their clients were students. Sex workers in the nearby Arat Kilo area confirmed that many of their clients were AAU students.

MARCH, with funding from the US President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, produces Life 101, a quarterly photo graphic novel that follows the story of three students and one couple at AAU as they experience daily university and city life and deal with issues such as transactional sex, condom use, relationships, testing for HIV, and gender equity. MARCH also facilitates student-led entertainment events to stimulate discussion of the issues.

Recently, more than 20 Ethiopian university presidents initiated a request to the Ministry of Education and FHAPCO for more HIV activities, including a national HIV/AIDS policy and strategy for universities, an HIV/AIDS research and information centre, gender and HIV/AIDS advocacy efforts and sustainable training and discussion forums.

wd/kr/mw source.irinnews.org

Ocampo leaves meeting empty-handed

By MACHARIA GAITHO

Luis Moreno-Ocampo came away empty-handed after his meeting with President Kibaki and Prime Minister Raila Odinga on Thursday. That was the import of the brief statement issued on the steps of Nairobi’s Harambee House by the International Criminal Court prosecutor and the two coalition government principals.

Mr Moreno-Ocampo had flown into the country specifically to secure a formal referral from the Kenya government so that the ICC can officially initiate investigations and pursue prosecution for key planners of the post-election violence.

By denying him the referral, President Kibaki and Prime Minister Odinga signalled that the government is not ready to cooperate fully with the ICC in investigations that could lead to the indictment and arrest of key Cabinet ministers for trial at The Hague or wherever else an international court may sit.

But on another tack, the lack of a referral gave Mr Moreno-Ocampo the green light to proceed on his own volition, while sparing the President and the Prime Minister the politically-sensitive responsibility of surrendering some of their key allies to the ICC cells where bail is usually not an option.

The statement, signed jointly by the President and the Prime Minister, repeated the rote pledge of willingness to cooperate with the ICC, but denial of the reference alone stands as a strong indication that that cooperation does not extend to giving the green light for Mr Moreno-Ocampo to move in on Kenya.

It may be an indication that ICC investigators who may seek to collect evidence and interview witnesses in Kenya will get less than full cooperation from the authorities; and that the government may not swiftly act on ICC arrest warrants.

Despite all the hype surrounding Mr Moreno-Ocampo’s visit, it probably should have been foreseen that at the end of the day, President Kibaki and Mr Odinga would not be prepared to take the political risk of being seen to have sacrificed some of their influential allies to the mercy of the international court.

As the day for Mr Moreno-Ocampo’s arrival drew nearer, a flurry of activities and consultations involving both the PNU and ODM wings of government indicated a growing sense of unease. Many powerful voices who initially were all for The Hague after efforts at a local special tribunal floundered, seemed to be getting cold feet.

Internal dynamics in both PNU and ODM indicated that powerful voices — notably allies of Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta and Agriculture minister William Ruto — openly against The Hague or any other retributive justice mechanism, were gaining ground.

In PNU, popular support in Parliament seemed to be in favour ICC arrests, but President Kibaki has been cautious, particularly over the threat of renewed violence in the Rift Valley if some key leaders from the region were indicted or arrested.

Voice for trials

Renewed hostilities would also complicate efforts to solve the issue of displaced people, thousands of whom have not been able to go back to their homes in the Rift Valley to date. Hence the tilt for healing and reconciliation rather than trials, the same argument used in July when the Cabinet rejected the revised Special Tribunal Bill pushed by Justice minister Mutula Kilonzo.

In ODM, Mr Odinga has been a strong voice for trials, whether through the international court or a special local mechanism. This has brought him into direct conflict with Mr Ruto, who openly expresses suspicion that those advocating trials are targeting him and other Rift Valley leaders.

The issue has split ODM down the middle, with Rift Valley leaders loyal to Mr Ruto threatening to deny Mr Odinga the vote that made him such a formidable candidate come the next elections. How the pendulum would swing was probably signalled about a week prior to Mr Moreno-Ocampo’s arrival. Mr Ruto got the opportunity to play a powerful role at an ODM executive committee meeting where the party strategy for the Ocampo visit was discussed.

The resolution was that ODM was for cooperation with Mr Moreno-Ocampo, but with the caveat that any trials for pre-election violence suspects should be preceded by trial for those who provoked the violence; in other words those who allegedly manipulated the elections to secure President Kibaki a second term. The party also demanded arrest and trial of the Police Commissioner and the Administration Police Commandant, whose forces are accused of many killings.

Common ground

It is instructive that before the ODM party meeting, Lands minister James Orengo had hosted Mr Ruto and other key leaders in an effort to repair fractured relations and find common ground.

As the ODM meetings were taking place, key figures around President Kibaki, including public service head Francis Muthaura and some selected security chiefs and permanent secretaries, were having their own strategy sessions. In the end, political expediency prevailed, and Mr Moreno-Ocampo came away empty-handed.

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