Frank Bessem's Musiques d'Afrique: Bibi Den's Tshibayi

Frank Bessem's
Musiques d'Afrique:

Bibi Den's Tshibayi
(Congo-Kinshasa)

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Bibi Den's Tshibayi has quite an atypical professional career path. Although he learnt to sing with his mother in church as so many other Congolese singers, he actually became a jounalist and changed later towards a career the world of information technology. Born in the Province of Kasaï Occidental, he started his professional life in journalism, but he returned to music after a few years. He formed his first band The Best with Lokua Kanza on guitar. He recorded two albums in the first half of the 1980s, « The Best Ambiance » and « Sensible ». The song The Best Ambiance has been released as 12'' single by Earthworks/Rough Trade in the UK in 1984. Bibi Den's then disappeared from the music scene to come back in the 1990s. With a new band, Les Marymbas he recorded a few albums. Having lived for a long time in Abidjan, he has also worked with various Ivorian artists over the years (duet with Meiway on his album « Soft » and a duet with Alpha Blondy on Blondy's song « Zoukifiez-moi ça » (album Merci, 2002).

In 2000, he recorded an album using his real name Denis Tshibayi in stead of his artist name Bibi Den's. The album is mixed by Adrian Sherwood (Sinnead O'Connor) and Skip McDonald and is a genuine attempt to fuse Congolese music with pop music.

Bibi Den's has lived in Abidjan in Côte d'Ivoire for years before settling in Paris where he now lives. In 2007, a promo maxi-single « Feti » should be followed by a new forthcoming album.

Musicians on « Bibi Den's & les Marymbas »:
Guitars: Lokassa Ya M'Bongo, Zengue Sesky, Hilaire Penda, Yves Njock, Nene Tchakou, Ngouma Lokita;
Keyboards Philippe Guez, Tony Afful
Brass section: Alain Hatot, Philippe Slominski, Jacques Bolognesi
Arrangers: Bibi Den's and Boncana Maïga;

Born: as Denis Tshibayi
Style: soukous, afro-pop.

Discography:

Title	Year	Label	Remarks
Nge Na Munu	2000	Bayelou / M10 320482
Soft	2000	Syllart SYLAF96116
Salisa	1997	Syllart SYLAF96025
Bibi Den's & les Marymbas	1995	Celluloid 66874-2
"The Best" Ambiance	1984	Rounder Records 5012 (licenced by Tangent)
Sensible	1984	Tangent LP 7001