Ray Lema
| Ray Lema | |
|---|---|
Ray Lema at the Cinémathèque française on 18 February 2008
|
|
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Raymond Lema A'nsi Nzinga |
| Born |
30 March 1946 Cattier, Belgian Congo (modern-day Lufu-Toto, DR Congo) |
| Genres | World music |
| Occupation(s) | Musician, songwriter |
| Instruments | Piano, guitar |
| Labels | Island Records |
| Website | www |
Raymond Lema A'nsi Nzinga (born 30 March 1946), known as Ray Lema, is a Congolese (DRC) musician. A pianist, guitarist, and songwriter, he settled in France in 1982.
Lema was born in Lufu-Toto, Bas-Congo Province. As a child he wanted to be a priest and in 1957 at the age of 11 entered a seminary of the White Fathers (a Roman Catholic society of apostolic life), where his talent for music was recognized. He began learning the organ and piano, within a European classical canon that included Gregorian chants, Mozart and Chopin; his concert debut was Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata. He left the seminary in 1962 and subsequently attended the University of Kinshasa, where he studied chemistry. He became interested in popular music from outside Africa and after learning to play guitar he began his involvement with the Kinshasa music scene. He became a performer in clubs and was a fan of musicians such as Jimi Hendrix and Eric Clapton.
In the early 1970s Lema went round the country recording as an ethnomusicologist. In 1974 he became music director for two years of the National Ballet of Zaire. Over the years he has played with the bands of Tabu Ley Rochereau, Joseph Kabasele and Franco, and in 1978 his own band, Ya Tupas, won the French Maracas d'Or award.
In 1979 he was invited by the Rockefeller Foundation to the United States, where he recorded his first album, Koteja (1982). He then moved to Europe, settling in 1982 in France. His album Kinshasa-Washington DC-Paris was released in 1983. His album Medecine was recorded in London with Martin Meissonnier. His first recordings in the early 1980s were for Celluloid Records, and by 1989 he had international success signing with the Island Records subsidiary, Mango.
...
Wikipedia