He was hoping to reignite the momentous occasions of the
good old days, posting on Instagram,
Congolese musician Fally Ipupa signals his upcoming European tour on a
melody note. Strutting his appearance in a trendy leather peacoat, in a moving chorus, he went on to assure his fans of his upcoming performance at La Cigale theatre in Paris ,come 22 June 2017. For Congolese artists, the
European route has always proven to be
the most lucrative ,offering splendid
cash rewards and the chance to live up to the extravagant life of a superstar . But just few hours before the spectacular
show, the singer's expectation was
dashed as the Paris Police Department interdicted it citing security concerns.
In a wake of multiple terror attacks hitting Europe, governments in the region
have been forced to scrutinise mass gathering of individuals in public spaces
to avoid further casualties. But it was not the fear of
Islamic extremists infiltrating into a crowd of mostly French nationals of
African descent and unleashing deadly explosives that got the French authorities
worried, they were responding to a manifesto declaration from a
self dubbed radical movement, going under the French name of Combattant, who had threatened violence
should the concert go ahead.
The movement is rooted in The Democratic Republic of Congo's Diaspora
Community spread across major European cities , parts of North America and South Africa. Angered
by the lack of political progress back home and the perceived reluctance by
Western governments to reign in on the country's President Joseph Kabila's
dictatorial leadership, they began conducting a series of physical assaults on
visiting Congolese state officials and their relatives as a way of
showing their grievance .
What has caused Congolese artists to be at the receiving end
of this group though, is a long prevailing legacy of politicians and
businessmen hiring musicians to compose songs overemphasising their opulence
and achievements in a bid to bolster their status and significance in society
During the run up to DR
Congo's 2011 general elections ,some of the country's well known singers joined the campaign trail of President Kabila. In a compilation of tracks, the
president's little accomplished five key reconstruction
plan was being applauded and calls for his reelection was being echoed .As anti-Kabila protestors , members of the Combattant accused the
singers of being too greedy to
dismiss the suffering of the Congolese
people for a lump sum of green bag , in
retaliation, they then decided to bar any Congolese artist from staging a show in
territories where they enjoy the freedom to assemble.
In fairness, we can
all share in the sense of betrayal by
the movement without necessarily
condoning their violent reprisals. Since President Kabila took power in 2001, the human right
situation in DR Congo has remained appalling, till to date the government has been unable to account for the killings of
some political activists , including that of prominent human right lawyer Floribert
Chebeya who was murdered in 2010. Corruption and mismanagement are the order of
the day as Kabila and his family have restructured
state parastatals to amass personal wealth while the population languishes in
poverty
.
Maybe a thoughtful
gesture to the artists would have been to
borrow from the lyrics of legendary Nigerian Afro Pop sensation Fela
Anikulapo Kuti, renowned for his informative massage on the political and
economic difficulties Nigerians had to endure under the military rule of
Muhammadu Buhari in the 80's . But then
again how musicians decide to explore
their creativity should be at their own discretion, for as long as they do not
infringe on other's rights.
The measure which then rests on the revolutionists who take
offence to the work of an artist is to
advocate for its boycott as oppose to
resorting to violent demeanour , in doing so they also preserve their title
of true revolutionaries.
Soon after Fally Ipupa's concert was aborted another talented
fellow compatriot attempted his luck. More defiant
and outspoken than Fally himself, song writer Heritier Watanabe vowed to wow audience at Salle de O'lympia on 15
July 2017, in the same city of Paris. It
was almost certain that he was going to have his way, his orchestra had already landed at Charles de
Gaulle , rehearsals were underway and no word seems to be coming from the
French Police Department. But on the day of the concert the Combattant acted on the their manifesto
, chaos erupted, forcing the police to issue another interdict.
