TSHITA TSHIMA aka JEAN JEAN

TSHITA TSHIMA aka JEAN JEAN

By the Jerome Ogola

We are still celebrating Grand Maitre, the King of African music, who died on 12th October 1989.

Music is teamwork and so it is very inaccurate to credit the success of OKJ to Franco alone. For a song to come into existence, it takes the input of several players.

The composer only creates a skeleton which is made perfect by the expertise of others. These others aren't necessarily musicians and they too merit some recognition.

At any given time, OKJ had a galaxy of stars, from within and outside the frontiers of DRC. 

Dele Pedro the alto saxman is Nigerian, Musekiwa the tenor saxophonist was Zimbabwean. Mangwana the singer was born of an Angolan mother and a Zimbabwean father.

Bassist Celi Bitshou is from Republic of Congo (not DRC) and so were Jean Serge, Youlou Mabiala and others. Vincent Kenis is Belgian.

Apart from musicians, there are also some non musical figures within OKJ, who contributed to the bands sucess. One such was Tshita Tshima aka Jean Jean. This was an interesting caharacter and that's why I keep saying that when Wanyonyi will choose to bless the work of my other hand, and the child is a son, I will bame him Jean Jean Tshita Tshima  after this legend.

There are a total of six songs by OKJ recognising this man. The first one is an old 1960s song titled "Jean Jean" the second one is titled "osabote ngai" and the third is "mabele" by Simaro, in which he states that when he will die, it is Tshita Tshima who will read his eulogy (sadly, Tshita Tshima died before him).

Tshita Tshima was the chief talent scout at OKJ. He attended concerts by other bands to smell around who was good enough for OKJ. He is the one who brought Simaro and many other musicians to Franco's band. After identifying a musician and sharing notes with the master, he also lured them into UN-DEX-TROIS the headquarters of the band, for auditions.

Identification of talent is the sole reason OK Jazz soared high above other bands.

Jean Jean, Franco's Farouk Kibet, was Franco's agemate. He was his childhood friend whom they grew up in the same compound in Ngiringiri in Kinshasa from the late 1940s. They roamed the streets together with Franco and when Franco began his music career, their friendship blossomed.

They hunted for ladies together and when Franco became a superstar, this was the man in charge of doing all the unofficial duties because he was his trusted confidante. Jean Jean is said to have had a scar on his face (others say he had one eye) as a result of fighting his boss's wars.

He was also in charge of bringing the ladies to the big man. One time, when Franco differed with one of his girlfriends, he sent Jean Jean to her house to confiscate expensive furniture and TV, which Franco had bought her.

When he fell sick, Franco flew him abroad to Europe for treatment. He is an equivalent of George of "George would make the fire light" in Bon Marley days in Trenchtown. (I read somewhere that he died a few years ago)

That was Jean Jean for you!!

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