Verckys Kiamuangana Mateta

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Verckys Kiamuangana Mateta (born 19 May 1944, Kinshasa, Zaire)[1] is a musician (primarily saxophonist), composer, band leader, record producer, and music-business leader in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). While renowned as a talented and prolific musician, he is probably even more noteworthy as "the first indigenous African to own a record label" and for introducing many major Congolese artists to the world through his Veve recording studio and label.[2]

Biography[]

He was born as Georges Kiamuangana. He came from a wealthy family; his father was a businessman in Leopoldville (now Kinshasa). He learned music in the church. As a saxophonist, he adopted the name Verckys based on American saxophone player King Curtis, hearing the name "Curtis" as "Verckys."[2]

He was once a member of the soukous band TPOK Jazz, led by François Luambo Makiadi, which dominated the Congolese music scene from the 1950s through the 1980s.[3]

In 1969, Verckys Kiamuangana left TPOK Jazz and formed his own band, Orchestre Vévé.[4] Verkys also managed two other bands, which he owned: and . Among the musicians who played for Verkys in the 1970s are Nyboma Mwandido and Pepe Kalle. During the early 1980s Verckys quit the music scene, to pursue other interests.[5]

In 2015, Sterns Music released in MP3 form much of the output of Verckys's Éditions Vévé record label (the blog post announcing this includes a biography of Verckys).[6]

Discography[]

Compilations
  • Verckys & L'Orchestre Veve, Congolese Funk, Afrobeat and Psychedelic Rumba 1969 - 1978 (2014, Analog Africa)
  • Verckys, Edition Veve 1969-1972 (2015, Sterns)
  • Verckys, Edition Veve 1972-1978 (2015, Sterns)
  • Verckys, Edition Veve 1969-1978 (2015, Sterns)
  • Verckys, Edition Veve 1972-1975 (2015, Sterns)
Contributing artist

See also[]

References[]

  1. ^ Colin Larkin, ed. (1992). The Guinness Encyclopedia of Popular Music (First ed.). Guinness Publishing. p. 2589. ISBN 0-85112-939-0.
  2. ^ a b Johnston, Alastair. "Verckys & Veve: a critical discography". Muzikifan.com. Retrieved 12 May 2019.
  3. ^ "Congo part 1". Muzikifan.com. Archived from the original on 26 February 2014. Retrieved 17 October 2021.
  4. ^ [1][dead link]
  5. ^ "Franco Luambo, Verkys, Simaro, Trez Impoli, Essous,". Kenyapage.net. Retrieved 17 October 2021.
  6. ^ "Sterns Music: Verckys & Editions Veve International: The most comprehensive digital reissue of the Éditions Vévé catalogue yet undertaken". Sternsmusic.blogspot.com. 2 April 2015. Retrieved 31 August 2019.

External links[]


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