Madilu System

Jean De Dieu Bialu Makiese

May 28, 1950 - August 11, 2007

Published 7 years ago
Updated 5 years ago

Beyond O.K. Jazz

Following Franco’s death in 1989, Madilu and other members of the band like Lutumba Simaro, kept T.P. O.K. Jazz alive. They performed and achieved some success until a dispute with Grand Maitre’s family put an end to the collaboration. A subset of the group went on to create the band Bana OK, while Madilu embarked onto a very prolific solo career.

Just like many other Congolese musicians before and after, he moved to Europe for the rest of his career. First, Madilu relocated to Paris, but he would, later on, drop his luggage in Switzerland. Unlike some other musicians though, Madilu managed to retain his huge fanbase, despite fewer live performances during that period.

He strongly collaborated with music geniuses like Nyboma and Carlyto, or guitarists like Shiko Mawatu and Lokassa Ya Mbongo. The collaborations helped with quality compositions and song arrangements. In his post T.P. O.K. Jazz years, Madilu delivered six studio masterpiece albums spanning from the year 1993 to 2007. Also, Dernière Volonté (Last Wishes), his seventh posthumous album came in 2008.

His debut solo album “Sans Commentaire” (No Comment) in 1993 was an unequivocal delicacy for any Congolese rumba lover. The first song, Ya Jean (Older Brother John) evoked the continuity of a system Mbuakela, which creation started in O.K. Jazz. This narrative style consists of roughly indirectly addressing and tackling somebody in a song. Beyond the System Mbuakela though, Sans Commentaire was a great and innovative album. Nzele, the seventh song, for instance, get played in virtually any Congolese wedding party.