Pop star, People Smuggler, Sapeur…
Arts Telegraph 14/08/2004

Profile of Papa Wemba, Congolese musician and leader of the cult of La Sape – the extraordinary replacement, from the impoverished slums of Kinshasa, of liberation ideology with worship of designer labels – a connection between Kinshasa and Paris that transfixed the youth of the DRC. Cosima Spender and George Amponsah made a documentary about the ‘Sapeurs’ who met to flash designer labels, called ‘The Importance of being Elegant’ .

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