Ndombe Opetum (March 3, 1944 – May 24, 2012), popularly known as Pepe Ndombe, was an Odemba

recording artist A musician is a person who composes, conducts, or performs music. According to the United States Employment Service, "musician" is a general term used to designate one who follows music as a profession. Musicians include songwriters who wri ...

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and Defi ...

and

vocalist Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...

, in the

Democratic Republic of the Congo The Democratic Republic of the Congo (french: République démocratique du Congo (RDC), colloquially "La RDC" ), informally Congo-Kinshasa, DR Congo, the DRC, the DROC, or the Congo, and formerly and also colloquially Zaire, is a country in ...

(DRC). He was once a member of the seminal

soukous Soukous (from French '' secousse'', "shock, jolt, jerk") is a genre of dance music from Congo-Kinshasa and Congo-Brazzaville. It derived from Congolese rumba in the 1960s, becoming known for its fast dance rhythms and intricate guitar improv ...

band

TPOK Jazz OK Jazz, later renamed TPOK Jazz (short for ''Tout Puissant Orchestre Kinois de Jazz''), was a Congolese rumba band from the Democratic Republic of the Congo established in 1956 and fronted by Franco. The group disbanded in 1993, but reformed i ...

which dominated the Congolese music scene from the 1960s through the 1980s.

Music career with TPOK Jazz

Ndombe Opetum was the lead vocalist for

Afrisa International Pascal-Emmanuel Sinamoyi Tabu (13 November 1940 – 30 November 2013), better known as Tabu Ley Rochereau, was a leading African rumba singer-songwriter from the Democratic Republic of the Congo. He was the leader of ''Orchestre Afrisa Internation ...

, prior to joining

, in the mid 1970s, after

Sam Mangwana Sam, SAM or variants may refer to: Places * Sam, Benin * Sam, Boulkiemdé, Burkina Faso * Sam, Bourzanga, Burkina Faso * Sam, Kongoussi, Burkina Faso * Sam, Iran * Sam, Teton County, Idaho, United States, a populated place People and fictional ...

had left the band. He came over to TPOK Jazz with horn player Empopo Loway, and he stayed with the band until it split up in December 1993, four years after the death of founder

François Luambo Makiadi François Luambo Luanzo Makiadi (6 July 1938 – 12 October 1989) was a Congolese musician. He was a major figure in 20th-century Congolese music, and African music in general, principally as the leader for over 30 years of TPOK Jazz, the most po ...

. Contemporary band members at the time included vocalists:

Wuta Mayi Gaspard Wuta Mayi, commonly known as Wuta Mayi, is a Congolese rumba and soukous vocalist and composer from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). From 1974 to 1982, he was a member of the band TPOK Jazz, led by Franco (François Luambo Ma ...

, Michel Boyibanda,

Josky Kiambukuta Joseph Kiambukuta Londa, known as Josky Kiambukuta, (14 February 1949 – 7 March 2021) was a Democratic Republic of the Congo, Congolese performing artist, singer, songwriter and composer. As a member of TPOK Jazz he played alongside François ...

and

Youlou Mabiala Gilbert Youlou Mabiala (born 3 March 1947), popularly known as Prince Youlou, is a Congo music recording artist, composer and vocalist, in the Republic of the Congo (Congo-Brazzaville). He was once a member of the Congo Music band TPOK Jazz which ...

, and

rhythm guitar In music performances, rhythm guitar is a technique and role that performs a combination of two functions: to provide all or part of the rhythmic pulse in conjunction with other instruments from the rhythm section (e.g., drum kit, bass guitar ...

ist

Simaro Lutumba Simaro Massiya Lutumba Ndomanueno (19 March 1938 – 30 March 2019), known as Simaro, was a Congolese music rhythm guitarist, songwriter, poet, composer, and bandleader. He was a member of the seminal Congo music band TPOK Jazz, which dominated ...

and solo guitarist Franco himself. Ndombe Opetum is credited with composing the following songs for the band, among others: * ''Voyage na Bandundu'' * ''Mawe'' * ''Mabe Yo Mabe'' – in 1977 * ''Coupe du Monde'' – in 1979 * ''Youyou'' – in 1980 * ''Nayebi Ndenge Bakolela Ngai'' – in 1982 * ''Angela'' – in 1989 * ''Tawaba'' – in 1989

Music career post TPOK Jazz

Following the death of Franco in 1989,

continued to play together for four years. Simarro would take care of the musicians and the family would take care of the lawyers, record labels and other technical stakeholders. The musicians would share 70% of receipts, while the Franco family would keep 30% of all receipts. However, differences developed between the musicians and the Franco family and the band split up in December 1993. Ndombe Opetum, together with

and about thirty former TPOK Jazz members. He was also a founding member of the band Bana OK in January 1994 and was a member of the band up until his death in May 2012.

Personal life

Pepe Ndombe Opetum was born in

Bandundu Province Bandundu is one of eleven former provinces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It bordered the provinces of Kinshasa and Bas-Congo to the west, Équateur to the north, and Kasai-Occidental to the east. The provincial capital is also called ...

in what was then known as the

Belgian Congo The Belgian Congo (french: Congo belge, ; nl, Belgisch-Congo) was a Belgian colony in Central Africa from 1908 until independence in 1960. The former colony adopted its present name, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), in 1964. Colo ...

in 1944. He was educated in Leopoldville (now

Kinshasa Kinshasa (; ; ln, Kinsásá), formerly Léopoldville ( nl, Leopoldstad), is the capital and largest city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Once a site of fishing and trading villages situated along the Congo River, Kinshasa is now one o ...

). He was married and was the father of nine children. His fifth offspring is a son, born in

on 3 March 1974, who is also a professional

in the DRC. The young Ndombe calls himself Baby Ndombe or Baby Black, and has performed to large audiences in

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

and

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...

, targeting primarily the

African Diaspora The African diaspora is the worldwide collection of communities descended from native Africans or people from Africa, predominantly in the Americas. The term most commonly refers to the descendants of the West and Central Africans who were e ...

Death

Pepe Ndombe Opetum died of cardiac arrest on May 24, 2012, in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo.RDC: l'artiste musicien Ndombe Opetum est mort
At the time of his death, his age was reported as 68 years old.

References

External links