DRC great Pépé Ndombe laid to restBy JUAKALI KAMBALE in Kinshasa | Wednesday, June 13   2012 at  17:05

Congolese musician Paul Ndombe Opetum, alias Pépé Ndombe, was buried on Tuesday in Kinshasa after a two-week mourning period.

He died on May 24 of a heart attack.

Pépé Ndombe, 68, was a famous composer and singer. Fellow musicians of various generations, both young and elderly, have mourned him for days.

After Luambo Luanzo Makiadi (alias Franco) and Madilu System, Pépé Ndombe was yet another Congolese music icon to pass on.

During his last days, he used to perform in Bana OK band with Lutumba Simaro Masiya, alias Simaro, his 78-year-old colleague.

Present at the funeral service at Kinshasa’s Notre Dame Catholic Cathedral were the Speaker of the National Assembly, Mr Aubin Minaku, and the third-placed presidential candidate in last year’s election, Mr Vital Kamerhe.

Reportedly Pépé Ndombe died while in the process of preparing an album of six new songs set for release later this month.

In his 47-year career as a musician, Pépé Ndombe sang first with Rochereau Tabu Ley in African Fiesta and Afrisa bands from 1967 to 1974.

Medical care

He was also part of the team which performed in the Olympia Hall in Paris in 1970.

Among some famous songs he composed was Hortense, often cited as the most beautiful of his compositions.

He then left the Tabu Ley after some misunderstanding and created his own band called Afrizam before joining OK Jazz led by Franco in 1975.

Pépé Ndombe later left OK Jazz after Franco’s death and joined Bana OK band with other colleagues such as Simaro and Josky Kyambukuta.

On Sundays, many music lovers used to go to the famous hall called Chez Sébastien in the Nsele suburb of Kinshasa where Pépé Ndombe and the Bana OK band used to perform.

The ranks of Congolese musicians of the older generation were gradually thinning out.

Many of them were dying in poverty and without adequate medical care.

Rochereau Tabu Ley and Josky Kyambukuta have been transferred to Europe for medical care.

However, Lutumba Simaro, remains in Kinshasa where he is still performs with Bana OK Band.