black titanic 113the boy’s dreamlike vision of the spiritual realm. A brief look at the history
of the band gives us some further clues to validate such an interpretation.
Jean-Bedel M’piana, Noël Ngiama Werrason, and several other musi-
cians founded Wenge Musica in the late 1980s. During its first ten years,
the band witnessed several splits; a common occurrence in the Congolese
music world. These breaks are referred to as “splintering” by Bob W hite
(2008: 195). The most important split occurred in 1997, when Werrason
struck out alone. Taking a few band members with him and gathering ad-
ditional young talent, he called his new band Wenge Musica Maison Mère.
M’piana and the majority of the original band that stayed behind became
“Wenge bcbg,” attaching the former moniker of Wenge Musica to their
name. Werrason’s band, which began as a splinter group, soon became a
proper rival band, challenging M’piana and Wenge bcbg (Tsambu Bulu
2004). Congolese music has a strong tradition of rivalry and competition,
which is often played out through the lyrics and symbolic registers in its
songs. The release of Wenge bcbg’s album Titanic has to be understood in
this light. The cd cover shows an image of M’piana and the band depicted
as survivors in life buoys—the sinking ship in the background (see fig-
ure 3.6). The epithet under the band’s name reads “Les anges adorables”
(The adorable angels). According to W hite, the audiences in Kinshasa
understood the message clearly: “The ‘original’ Wenge was a sinking ship,
and M’piana and his allies were the only true survivors” (2008: 252). In
the song, M’piana laments the split in veiled language, blaming Werrason
without mentioning his name.
Botala ndenge Titanic eza’ koinda See how the Titanic is sinking
Boluka basauvetage, ah Look for the lifejackets
Bakadia bazinda The devils shall drown
Baange babika The angels shall be saved
A ha, Titanic, eh Oh, Titanic......
Bana mama dila My brothers and sisters are crying
Bana nkento dila Girls are crying
Bayakala dila dila Boys are crying
Bana mama dila My brothers and sisters are crying
......