Kinshasa, April 26th, 2020 (CPA).- The late Congolese artist-musician Jules Shungu Wembadio Pene Kikumba « Papa Wemba » of the Viva La Musica orchestra had a short career as a football coach, he confided of his living at the CPA in 2010.
Six years before his death, this interview was carried out at Romeo Golf, in the town of Gombe, Kinshasa, on the occasion of the official launch of a youth football tournament where the deceased was guest of honor at the like South African international footballer Benny McCarthy of English club Manchester United. In this interview, the focus was more on the little-known sporting facet of Papa Wemba beyond his rich, long and successful musical career. Those who had known and worked with him had never stopped talking about the short-lived sporting career of the former customary chief of the Molokai village. When asked to this effect at the launch of the tournament, Papa Wemba refused to allow public opinion to label him a football coach, preferring that of a coach. “It was too daring to call myself a coach. This, because I have never followed a training in this direction. However, I had to take crash courses for youth supervision. I repeat for the supervision of the young people of my Matonge district. Certainly, I had in me some basic required and necessary basics that all coaches have at the time. I realized that I had in me an extreme passion for football, « he said with ease and confidence, before adding: » I was crazy about football to the point that I had almost opted for this career. coach and later become a football club coach. My altruism was the only leitmotif, which boiled in me for the sake of this supervision for the future of these young people called to take care of themselves before the intervention of people better equipped for the same cause. » Opinion leader and leader of the troops, Papa Wemba had, in his approach, an exact target: the young people of the Matonge district, in the commune of Kalamu, towards the end of the 6 decade and the beginning of the 70s.
“I had set my sights on the young people of Matonge, my neighborhood. Then, as assistant, I accompanied the late trainer Prof. Watunda Iyolo in the Juventus team, which had changed its name to become Vijana. Juventus and Vijana were two well-known names in Kinshasa’s elite championship at the time, ”he noted. Music louder than sport However, Papa Wemba made a point of recalling that in this period, his star of disciple of Orpheus had not yet hatched. « When I took care of this supervision of the young people of Matonge, I was not yet a professional singer, but rather an aspiring », he had indicated, adding that he did not go further in the way of sport-king, before taking his distances. “Finally, I followed the path of my destiny. I focused too much on music and my career became my livelihood. I had completely cut off all contact with sports circles and by extension with the stadium path. Later, I went there when I had a personal activity. Otherwise, I had never been there again, for a football match although I remained Imanian for life, ”he noted. And in conclusion of this interview, Papa Wemba could not allude to the team of his heart. « Keen on the round ball, I am an unconditional sympathizer of DC Motema Pembe of Kinshasa », he proclaimed emphatically before concluding: « My first son had joined a football training center in Europe but could not to go further in the circuit because he had changed his mind out of personal conviction. Jules Shungu Wembadio Pene Kikumba Kuruyaka « Papa Wemba » died on April 24th, 2016 on stage in Abidjan, capital of Côte d’Ivoire,