Exclusive Zangalewa Videos
Here are some videos of the band you won’t find on YouTube. We’ll probably upload them there eventually (or someone else will), but for the moment they are exclusive to this site.
These videos from Emilio’s personal collection were transferred from VHS to DVD, and then further converted for the internet. The original videos weren’t in the best of shape. Some of them look like they spent time under water. But we’ve done our best to make them presentable.
“Yele Yele,” which was recorded in Yaounde, Cameroon, is Emilio’s anthem for peace. The title comes from his reaction when Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin of Israel and Chairman Yasser Arafat of the PLO shook hands and signed the Oslo Accords. In Emilio’s native Dschang, “Yeee!” or “Yele!’ is used as an exclamation. The video uses news footage of the signing ceremony at the White House in September, 1993. Other footage in the video shows Emilio’s hero, Nelson Mandela, shaking hands with F. W. de Klerk at Mandela’s inauguration as South Africa’s first black president in 1994.
The picture quality is somewhat ragged at the beginning, but it improves greatly at about 1:15, after the opening monologue.
The picture quality is somewhat ragged at the beginning, but it improves greatly at about 1:15, after the opening monologue.
The making of the “Zangalewa Rap” video was a family affair. After the band secured authorization from the Ministry of Defense to use the airplanes, Emilio enlisted the aid of his daughters Raissa, Sandrine, and Josseline Kojidie as actors. Jean-Paul Zé Bella’s daughter Georgette and two of her younger sisters also appear among the children. The sound is a bit low on this one, so you'll want to turn up your speakers.
More to come soon!