|
Dubbed the "Golden Voice of Africa," Jean Paul Wabotai brings his spirit music to the world. With his special
brand of charisma he has been pursuing his dreams, head-lining appearances at most major Australian and French festivals,
and providing tour support for the queen of Australian music, Kate Ceberano. He is uncontestably a master of communication.
Completely solo, Jean-Paul moves audiences beyond their inhibitions to sing, dance, clap, cry, laugh: his is a unique talent.
Music filled the early life of this happy African boy. At the age of 8 he started singing in the church choir and dancing in
a traditional dance company. At the age of 15 Jean-Paul literally walked across the African continent from Zaire in order to study religion.
Circumstances forced him to detour from his mission, and he found himself two years later in Paris. By improvising friendships and
cultivating communication skills, he began to develop his spiritual musical inclinations.
Jean Paul quickly joined in the substantial community of African musicians in Paris, finding work as a choreographer and backing singer,
and playing professional soccer with such prestigious teams as Paris Saint Gerrnain, Paris Football club and Creteil. After becoming part of
Angelique Kidjo's 1992 world tour troupe, Jean-Paul found himself in Australia and returned there in 1993 to release
and promote his first album Happy Birthday To You recorded in Paris.
Jean Paul’s art is unique, he uses his voice and body to create a whole world of music that not only evokes the land of his birth
but the sensibility of an entire planet. The style of his music has come from his African roots from a cappella singing and
body percussion to instrumental world music inspired by such artists as Afro-American Bobby McFerrin, Angelique Kidjo and Zap Mamma.
With his own band or a cappella ensemble, the mood expands to a joyous soulful musical experience. Jean Paul's albums Happy
Birthday to You or No Frontier were recorded completely with his own voice — every sound, harmony and instrument.
The first single to be released through MDS was La Musique n'a pas de frontière (Music has no frontier). In 2000, Jean-Paul
returned to Kinshasa after 20 years... and cames back with a new project
Emergency in R.D.C.Congo. With the help of
ArtFusion, the association he founded
in Paris, Jean-Paul was able to spread meals and rice bags to hungry kids and families in his former township of Barumbu.
In 2002, he became choregraphic and musical directeur for the Barcelona Gospel Institute. His album, Enfants du Congo-Enfants
du Monde (Children of Congo - Children of the world) helped fight against paludism, a potentially serious and very frequent
parasitic disease due to a unicellular parasite called Plasmodium. Once again with the help of Artfusion, he represented CongoRDC in
the Forum Barcelona 2004. Jean-Paul performed at the 2003 and 2005 Human Forum in Puerto Rico.
Visit Jean-Paul Wabotai on the Web
Return to Participant List
|
