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Verckys

Georges Kiamuangana Mateta was born in Kisantu, Bas-Congo on 19 May 1944 and died on 13 October 2022 in Kinshasa.. He took the name Verckys after being impressed with American sax player King Curtis and he heard the name "Curtis" as "Verckys." He started out in 1962 with Los Cantina, then Jamel Jazz. He joined Paul Ebengo a.k.a. Dewayon's Congo-Rock before joining OK Jazz in 1963 with some musicians from the band of Gerard Kazembe: Christophe Djali, trumpet, singer Henriette Boranzima and Dele Pedro. Georges became Franco's right-hand man and delighted audiences with his onstage antics and wild clothes. But when Franco was away in Europe in 1968 he took a splinter group with vocalist Youlou Mabiala into the studio to cut four sides, causing an irreparable rift. On 5 April 1969 he left OK Jazz to form Orchestra Vévé. The original singers of his group were Bovic Bondo, along with three who would later form the Trio Madjesi, Marcel Loko Massengo a.k.a. Djeskain, Sinatra Bonga Tsekabu a.k.a. Saak Saakul, and Mario Matadidi. Verckys started recording with a more stripped-down sound than OK Jazz, which gave him ample room for wild sax solos in the seben. His original band included Danila on solo guitar, Jim on bass, and veteran Maproco alongside himself on sax. He adopted Dr Nico's dance the Kiri Kiri and invented the Cavacha which was a precursor of Soukous. His first hits were "Mfumbwa" and "Bankoko baboyi" along with Saakul's "Fifi Solange." (These songs were reissued as 45s on the Ngoma label J 5241 and J 5242.) "Ah mokili" and "Linga ngai zuwa te" soon followed. With an unerring ear for quality, he recorded and produced Les Grands Maquisards, Orchestre Kiam, Bella Bella, Lipua Lipua, Les Kamale and Empire Bakuba, the most interesting bands to come up in his generation. He also recorded Thu Zaina (whose guitarist Roxy played on some Vévé recordings), Victoria Eleison and Zaiko Langa Langa. His label defined the new sound of Congolese music as it evolved away from the rumbas of the Generation Kalle to a more exciting dance sound. His singers [below] were so popular they broke away in 1972 to form Trio Ma-dje-si with their own band Orchestre Sosoliso and, recording for Socodi in Brazzaville, remained one of the top bands of the day. (taken from: http://www.muzikifan.com/veve.html)