Why Faya Tess is redoing old good songs by past artistes

Lingala Artist Faya Tess during an interview at Signature Hotel along Mombasa road on January 6th 2022. [Boniface Okendo,Standard]

After years of top flight performance with top musical outfits in Africa, songbird Faya Tess seems to have changed tack. She has gone back to the drawing board, specialising in singing old songs of top artistes.

Faya Tess, real name Kishila Ngoyi, is currently based in Paris, France. She was born in 1966 in Kinshasa. The veteran Congolese singer and songwriter is among the well-respected songstresses of this era.

In performing old songs, Tess said, “We must pay homage to them (the late artistes) as some of their stuff (music) were loved in the continent.”

The songstress only speaks Lingala and French.

“Some of these songs were forgotten and we came in to add some flavor in them,” she said.

The well-travelled Congolese songstress said the demand of these songs by Rhumba fans and revelers adds to the pressure of re-doing them.

Some of her reworked songs are ‘Ndaya’ by the late Mpongo Love and Mokolo Nakokufa, and ‘Mongali’, ‘Ekeseni’, by the late Taabu Ley, among others. Last month, she had had a number of concerts in her home country and in the city of Kinshasa.

The songstress started her career at Afrisa International Orchestra, led by the late Tabu Ley Rochereau in 1986. She abandoned her engineering studies to focus on her music career. She was a quick learner and soon produced songs that brought her to the limelight.

Tess’ prowess put her at loggerheads with dancer turned singer Mbilia Bel, whom she found at the band. Afrisa International Orchestra was regarded as a school of Rhumba besides the legendary TP OK Jazz band of Franco Luambo Luanzo Makiadi.

Faya Tess established herself as an integral part of Afrisa International till she quit the group in 1992 to pursue a solo career. She produced her first album ‘Keba’ in 2000.

This album is a mix of different styles she mastered throughout her career.

She is concerned by everything that affects human beings and more sensitive to injustices and violations of human rights. This led her to compose the song ‘Selimo’, a denunciation of arranged and forced marriage.

“Even today, she’s unable to turn a blind eye to what is happening in the world. With the help of Lokua Kanza, she denounced Africa’s indebtedness in the song ‘Annulons la dette’,” said her manager Tetu.