V12 Release Context
Koffi released V12 around 1995 as he emerged as a leader in the Congolese, and African music landscape. The following is a review of different aspects of V12 that will hopefully help you understand it better and perhaps appreciate it more. We will be looking at the recording, artistic aspects, quality of songs, and themes explored by the album.
Label and Recording
Koffi contracted with Sonodisc, a company with a good records track in African music production. Koffi and team recorded V12 at Studio Plus XXX in Paris, and Koffi surrounded himself with clever sound professionals like Hilaire Kashal, aka Maika Munan, and Yves Delaunay. Quartier Latin band helped with back vocals and some animation sessions. Sonodisc released V12 in CD, Vinyl and audio cassette formats.
Cover and Accessories
The front cover mainly pictures Koffi’s partial face and naked torso in the sky. Koffi has his face slightly bent forwards. There is a big V12 mark written from the middle to the bottom of the cover, overridden by a “Koffi Olomide” text that seems to be speeding from somewhere in the background. The cover is very colorful and leaves you wondering whether there is a hidden message.
The CD album came with a pamphlet with song lyrics and black-and-white shootings of Koffi and other participants. This was common prior to the digital music age, but still a very nice addition.
Quality and Arrangements
V12 has 11 high-quality songs with a clever balancing of sound layers, so one can clearly ear voices and instruments. A sound song alignment alternates well between Ndombolo Sebenes and sweet love songs. The arrangement team used distinctive intros for most songs, giving them unique identities. The intros bring a sense of creativity to the album. They also bring nuances to the song sections, making them rich and dynamic, instead of linear.
Songs Themes
Throughout V12, Koffi mainly explores his most preferred theme, love, and praise for women. Certain songs escape that main theme though. Sometime Koffi sings distress, sad infancy, and his miseries. On other songs, he talks about jealousy and praises himself and his band.
Andrada, the first song starts with a mass-like incantation by Koffi and his Quartier Latin band. The choirs quickly transition to a more conventional but still soft and catchy tune. Malembe is repeated at the beginning of Andrada. It is a Lingala word for slowly which is quite ironic for an album named V12. Koffi talks to somebody presumably envious, or just jealous of him. He gives him pieces of advice in the process, like going slowly in life and not rushing success. All of this, of course, blends into a Sebene session at some point, setting up the tone and style for the rest of the album.
Next comes Parking Ya Ba Baba, perhaps one of his most personal song ever. Koffi describes his infancy’s misery and poverty. Indeed, Koffi reveals being born with a hand stuck to his chick for instance. This was usually considered a bad sign. Similar melancholic episodes of Antoine’s life flow through the song. Luckily the faster tempo at the end makes the song more joyful and less monotonous.
Koffi then begs Chantou for some love, and latter praises a queen from Fouta Djalon. The following song Dossier du Jour wraps praises for Koffi and his Quartier around usual sayings and advice, ending in Sebene animation. Five well-distilled love songs like Aspirine, Zokere and a Bambino complete the album. Koffi begs for love and praises the woman the best he can in these songs, which became references for Koffi fans.
V12 Concept and Overall Meaning
There is no general story across V12, other than character V standing for “Votre” in french, which translates into “yours” or “for you”. V12, therefore, appears like a gift from Koffi to his audience. The more direct meaning though might come from the badges on some luxury brand vehicles, as a reference to wealth, exclusivity and all that goes along with it. On that note, one of the last scenes of the first song’s video clip features a 600 model like a Mercedes Benz car, which Kinshasa people referred to as V12 at that time.
Conclusion
As you can see, V12 is a quasi perfect Congolese album. It is a must for someone who would like to discover Congolese music.
Overall, V12 gets our Excellent badge, and you should listen to it as soon as can. In case you already know it, just go through it again; it never hurts.
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