Ray Lema

About Ray Lema

Here is one who walks off the beaten tracks. Ray Lema, born Raymond Lema A’Nsi Nzinga is a renowned Congolese musician. He was born on March 30, 1946, in Lufu Toto, a small town of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). Interestingly, his father was a rail station manager, and Ray was presumably born inside a train at Lufu Toto. Ray is a multi-instrumentist, singer and composer, with a prolific career.

He plays a different type of music that the typical Congolese style. Similarly, Abeti Masikini had strong popularity abroad in her debuts but was widely ignored in Kinshasa pubs. She had to try many genre iterations before Kinshasa, hence DRC really adopted her. Except in some circles, I do not think most Congolese even know Ray nowadays (2019, just in case), nor that he is even chasing popularity. Luckily, he moved to Paris, France a while ago, and frequently perform at festivals where his talent and creativity get recognized and appreciated.

Atan’dele by Ray Lema; a real gem.

Music Encounter And Career

Ray started playing music early, around age 12, accompanying priest mast playing organ and pianos. In fact, this happened because he joined the seminary to become a priest first place. He would later move out of the seminary to study chemistry. I guess Ray encountered music’s epiphany at the seminary, and he used as his life’s chemistry. Facing the scarcity of getting a piano under his fingers, Ray would progressively add the guitar to his list of instruments he could tower over. In the 1960s, Ray started to commit to music, his real passion. He started meeting and performing for top musicians of that time.

In 1974, Ray became the director of the National Ballet of Zaire. 1976 saw him form a band named Ya Tupas, along with pool Mansiamina, Pepe Felly Manuaku. As reported in Rumba on the River, by Gary Stewart, Ya Tupas was named “its members said, after the Tupamaros guerrillas of Uruguay, whose exploits had been in the news”. On demand, the band performed for other musicians, like Mpongo Love on her hit Ndaya, composed by Mayaula Mayoni.

Ndaya by Mpongo Love (Released around 1976).

In 1982, Ray recorded his first album named Koteja. The album clearly showed his musical colors, combining Congolese roots with world music influences. Ray relocated to Paris, France the same year, and progressively built a very successful career. He collaborated with many Congolese musicians including Lokua Kanza, with whom he seems to have quite some things in common. Ray released and participated in more than 20 record albums. He also composed soundtracks for many movies.

Koteja – by Ray Lema (1982).