Marie-Claire Mboyo Moseka (born 10 January 1959), known professionally as Mbilia Bel, is a Congolese singer and songwriter. Dubbed the "Queen of African Rumba" and "Queen Cleopatra", she is regarded as one of the most influential figures in 20th-century Congolese and African popular music. Her music is a blend of traditional Congolese rumba, soukous, rap, and zouk, with lyrics that often delve into themes of love, politics, hedonism, militancy, jealousy, sentimentality, and education.
Mboyo began her recording career at the age of 15 as a member of Abeti Masikini's band Les Redoutables and later worked with Sam Mangwana. She gained significant recognition after joining Tabu Ley Rochereau's Afrisa International in 1981, debuting her lead vocals with the Tabu Ley-written 1982 hit "Mpeve Ya Longo". Mboyo's jointly composed hit "Eswi Yo Wapi" with Tabu Ley won the Best Song award, while she was named Best New Artist.
Following several recordings and tours with Afrisa International, she debuted her 1988 solo studio album, Phénomène. In 1991, she released her second studio album, Désolé!!!, followed by 8/10 Benedicta (1993). Her fourth studio album, Yalowa, released in 1996, earned her the Best Female Singer from ACMCO (Association des Chroniqueurs de Musique du Congo). In 2001, Mboyo released her fifth studio album, Welcome, and was honored as the Best Female Singer of 2002 by ACMCO. Mboyo won the Best Central Africa Female at the Kora Awards in December 2003. In 2004, she released her sixth studio album, Belissimo, followed by The Queen (2011), Royaume d'amour (2014), Signature 8646 (2017), and Big Mama (2021).
Early years Mbilia Bel was born Marie-Claire Mboyo Moseka on 10 January 1959, in Léopoldville, Belgian Congo (now Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo), to Mbala Mbondi and Mboyo Mbilia. Her father, Mbala Mbondi, known as "Louis XIV", was a charanga dancer in Bumba, Mongala Province. She completed six years of primary school and pursued studies in Humanities, which she did not finish. Mboyo developed a passion for music after seeing Togolese singer Bella Bellow during her 1969 tour of Congo. She initially began singing as a backup vocalist at the Catholic parish in the 12th quartier of the N'Djili commune.
Career
1979–1987: Les Redoutables, Sam Mangwana and Afrisa International In 1974, at the age of 15, Mboyo responded to a radio advertisement soliciting backing singers for Abeti Masikini's group, Les Redoutables. Following a successful audition, she was inducted into the group. A few months later, Mboyo departed from Les Redoutables and chose to undertake a year-long sabbatical. She subsequently rejoined Les Redoutables in 1979 at Abeti's behest but once more exited in 1980 to pursue academic aspirations, enrolling in an institution in Gombe for executive secretarial training. In mid-1981, Mboyo was offered the chance by Sam Mangwana to accompany the Bo-Bongo orchestra for some concerts. During this period, Sam Mangwana introduced Mboyo on the Zaire N°1 show by Benoit Lukunku Sampu, which catapulted her into prominence at the Mama Angebi studio of the Office Zaïrois de Radio Télévision (OZRT).
Following disillusionment during a tour in Shaba, Mboyo parted ways with Sam. Michel Sax, a saxophonist with Tabu Ley Rochereau's orchestra Afrisa International, recommended Mboyo to Tabu Ley as a substitute for the Yondo Sisters, two singing and dancing siblings who had vacated Afrisa International. Impressed by her audition, Tabu Ley promptly renamed her "Mbilia Bel".
Mbilia Bel made her debut lead vocals with Afrisa International on "Mpeve Ya Longo", a hit composed by Tabu Ley and released in early 1982 on the album Belley (Mpeve Ya Longo) through Genidia, Tabu Ley's record label. The song addressed domestic violence, telling the story of a woman whose husband abandoned her and left her to raise their children by herself. "Mpeve Ya Longo" struck a chord with women and received widespread recognition nationwide.
She also performed lead vocals on several other songs written by Tabu Ley, including "Sima Na Ngai", "Lisanga Bambanda", and "Kelhia", as well as Pompou Kuleta's "Kashama", Shaba Kahamba's "Lou Moussou", and Dino Vangu's "Quelle Mechanceté". Together with Tabu Ley, she co-wrote "Eswi Yo Wapi", which earned her the award for Best Song, while she was also named Best New Artist. By 1983, she had earned the sobriquet "Cleopatra of Zairean music", and Afrisa International's popularity was beginning to rival that of Franco Luambo's TPOK Jazz. She wrote "Nazali Mwasi" for Afrisa's Faux Pas album and performed lead vocals on the album's eponymous hit, written by Tabu Ley, as well as "Bafosami" by Matuti Djo Roy and "Motema Ekopona" by Kuleta. This was followed by the eight-track album Loyenghe, on which Mbilia Bel co-wrote "Bameli Soy" with Tabu Ley. In 1984, she wrote "Otumoli Mobutu Otumoli Ba Mama" for the four-track, politically oriented album Mobutu Peuple Ba Vote Yo Massivement and provided lead vocals on Tabu Ley's "Mobutu To Vote Yo Massivement" and "Candidat Ya MPR: Mobutu", as well as Joseph Lutumba and Simon-Pierre Boka Di Mpasi Londi's "La Zaïroise". These songs supported Mobutu Sese Seko's regime and its political propaganda promoting the one-party state's ideology of Authenticité, which emphasized traditional elements to bolster the regime's public image.
That same year, Mbilia Bel wrote "Ba Jeu De Coin" and co-wrote the eponymous title track with Tabu Ley for the four-track Ba Gerants Ya Mabala, while also collaborating with Panga Kasongo and Tabu Ley on the Swahili-language hit "Paka Wewe". Mbilia Bel and Tabu Ley's collaborative album Keyna boosted their popularity in East Africa, particularly through the Tabu Ley-written smash hit "Nakei Nairobi" (Lingala for "I am going to Nairobi"), which tells the story of a childhood friend named Duni who had moved to Nairobi. After hearing about the difficulties he was experiencing in a foreign country, Mbilia Bel decided to travel to Nairobi and bring him back to Kinshasa. Some accounts have speculated that Duni was actually a reference to Tabu Ley himself. The song's mention of the Kenyan slogan "Harambee Nyayo" was interpreted by many Kenyan media outlets as a reference to President Daniel arap Moi. Africa Is a Country has noted that Moi, who had previously prohibited Zairean music in Kenya, reportedly changed his position after "Nakei Nairobi" was released. Afrisa also toured London in 1984.
In 1985, Mbilia Bel performed with the band on two albums: Boya Ye, released in the UK by Sterns, and La Beauté D'Une Femme. She also performed on the standalone single "Shauri Yako" with Tabu Ley and Afrisa International and made her debut at the World of Music, Arts and Dance festival at Mersea Island in Essex. Later that year, on 7 September, they performed at the now-closed Upper Cut Club in Stratford, London. Music journalist Alastair Johnston recalled that "the sound system blared African pop as the place slowly filled up with London's expatriate African community dressed for a night out". Around this time, she married Tabu Ley and they had a daughter named Melody Tabu. In 1986, Tabu Ley enlisted another female singer, Thérèse Kishila Ngoyi (popularly known as Faya Tess). That year Afrisa International embarked on a tour of East Africa, where they performed in Kenya, Tanzania, and Rwanda, and the tour culminated in the album Nadina. The tour was successful, with Mbilia Bel emerging as the band's focal performer and eclipsing other members, including Ndombe Opetum, who had recently returned from OK Jazz. Following their return to Kinshasa, rumors began circulating about a rift between Tabu Ley and Mbilia Bel. Both denied any discord when speaking to the press, and she rejoined Tabu Ley in 1987 for the Genidia-produced album Beyanga.
Solo career
1988–1995: Departure from Afrisa International and releases The recruitment of Faya Tess continued to fuel internal discord within Afrisa International, impacting the orchestra's consistency on their forthcoming record Contre ma volonté. Mbilia Bel departed from Afrisa International to pursue a solo career, citing the lack of transparency in management and the conflation of professional and personal relationships. She briefly collaborated with a Gabonese producer in Libreville before relocating to Paris, where she joined forces with guitarist Rigo Star Bamundele.
In 1988, Mbilia Bel debuted with her solo studio album Phénomène, which includes six songs. It was produced by her record label, Mbilia Production, and distributed through Mélodie Distribution. Phénomene was recorded at Studio Davout. Rigo Star Bamundele arranged, provided backing vocals, and mixed the album at Studio Plus XXX. The album achieved immense success in Kinshasa and Brazzaville, as well as internationally. The album's eponymous single and "Tika Bazuwa" teased her stormy relationship with Tabu Ley.
In 1989, she teamed up with Rigo Star and Madilu System for a trio album project called Exploration, which blended Congolese rumba, soukous, and rap. Produced by Kilimanjaro Int'l Productions and distributed internationally, the album was reissued in CD format in 1997 by Terrascape in Belgium.
Mbilia Bel released her second studio album, Désolé!!!, in 1991. It was co-produced by Celluloid, a French record label, and KS Production and consisted of eight tracks. Désolé!!! was composed, arranged, and programmed by Rigo Star, who included drums, percussion, and synthesizers. He played all guitar and bass parts and contributed to the backing vocals. Mbilia Bel then worked with him on a joint album titled Ironie, which came out in 1993. The nine-track album was produced by Celluloid, with Rigo Star handling the production and musical arrangement. That same year, Mbilia Bel released the ten-track album 8/10 Benedicta, produced by A Music Production in Belgium and later reissued in 1994 by SonoDisc in France.
1996–2005: from Yalowa to Belissimo Mbilia Bel's fourth studio album, Yalowa, came out in 1996 in the United States under IMA Records. The record, which contains ten tracks, was written and arranged by Rigo Star and included a guest appearance by Vivick Matoua. Yalowa received praise for its production quality and musical support, with JazzTimes magazine lauding its "beautiful melodies". In a review for RootsWorld, Opiyo Oloya characterized the album as a "sacrilegious cross-breeding of African and western pop rhythms", noting subtle soukous influences that did not dominate the music. After nearly six years in Paris expanding her European audience, Mbilia Bel returned to Zaire in 1996 to re-establish herself in the Zairean music scene. She guest-performed on Simaro Lutumba's 1997 album Trahison, which commemorates thirty-six years of Lutumba's musical and artistic career. Mbilia Bel performs the song "Mama Kulutu" in a duet with Pépé Kallé on the album. The song addresses polygamy, mainly focusing on the grievances of the second wife, who is constantly berated by the first wife. That same year, she was awarded the Best Female Singer by the ACMCO (Association des Chroniqueurs de Musique du Congo).
Mbilia Bel reconstituted her orchestra and dance group with Kembo Idrissa, who accompanied her in her VIP productions and rehearsed with Zaïko Langa Langa at Kimpwanza bar in the Kasa-Vubu commune. With her group, she embarked on a major tour in East Africa and Gabon, then Scandinavia. In 1998, she also participated in the production of Souzy Kasseya's song "Tokufa Pona Congo" alongside Wenge Musica Maison Mère, Jimmy Mbonda, Jolino Kiezowa, Général Defao, Tshala Muana, Paul Ndombe, Jossart N'Yoka Longo, Antoine Wendo Kolosoy, Lassa Lacolyte, Adamo Ekula, Pépé Kallé, and King Kester Emeneya. She also appeared on Général Defao's album Copinage.