By Dan B. Atuhaire
Koffi Olomide will be in Kampala this month for a number of charity activities and a music concert. He will be the headlining artiste at a charity concert organised by Rotary Uganda. Here’s a few facts about the singer.
1) Koffi Olomide is 57 Years Old. He was born Christophe Antoine Agbepa Mumba, to a Congolese father and Sierra Leone mother on 13 July 1956.
2) The name Koffi was given to him in line with the common West African naming tradition (Sierra Leone, Ghana) in relation to the day of the week one is born. Koffi is one of the names given to boys born on Friday.
Popular male names for the other weekdays are: Kojo(Monday), Komla(Tuesday), Kwaku(Wednesday), Yao(Thursday), Kwame(Saturday) and Kwasi(Sunday)
3) Koffi Olomide is a proud holder of a Bachelors’ Degree in Business Economics. He also has a Masters’ Degree in Mathematics from the University of Paris.
4) He started his music career with Papa Wemba’s band, Viva la Musica, initially as a composer and song-writer, and later as a vocalist and lead-singer.
5) The name Olomide was coined during his time at Viva La Musica. Koffi was such an impressive songwriter that one day in 1977 Papa Wemba exclaimed, “Ooh! l’homme idee” (Oh! the idea-man!). A funkier version of the words was adopted – Olomide. Koffi Olomide would later become his official stage name.
6) Koffi Olomide went solo in 1986, forming his own band that he called Quartier Latin. He does a unique genre, a slower style of soukous that he calls Tcha Tcho.
7) Koffi won four Kora Awards at the annual Kora Awards in South Africa in 2002 for his effort on the album: Effrakata. These included the award for Best African Artist, which he had earlier won in 1998.
8) Koffi mainly lives in France, and is married with seven children. His children have a unique naming convention: Aristote, Elvis, Miss Universe, Nike, Rocky, Del pirlo Mourinho and Saint James Rolls.
9) In August 2012, Koffi Olomide was found guilty of assaulting his producer. Earlier on, in the same year he had been charged with raping three of his dancers. The charges were later dropped.
10) Koffi Olomide probably holds the record for the biggest number of aliases by any musician in the world. He is known by a total of at least 35 names. Known names include the following;
Makila Mabe [which literally means “bad blood” or unlucky child] he was born very sickly. Others include: Papa Plus; Tcha – Tcho , Eza Mayi , Papa Top, Mukulu Kulu, Effrakata, Fololo Papa, Papa Happiness , Rapid Intervention Force, Golden Star, World No. 1 , Quadra Kora Man, Grand Mopao, Mopao Mokonzi, MM, High Priest Mother, Nzambe Ya Ba Na Africa Golden Ball, BB Taste, Favorite Dish, Na Didi Papa, Papa Mourinho, Mopao Sarkozy, Pape Noir, Barack Obama, Young Pato, Guardiola, La Rambo Du Congo, Central Market, Acram – Oje, Zando Ya Munene, Pure Again, Patrão Cinco Estrelas[Portuguese for 5-Star Boss], Koffi Central, Treizième Apôtre[Thirteenth Apostle].
Koffi courted controversy after he attempted to add Pape Noir (Black Pope) to his numerous names, a move that did not go down well with the predominant catholic DR Congo fraternity.