On Saturday April 23, 2016, popular Congolese musician Papa Wemba died shortly after collapsing on stage during a performance in Ivory Coast.
Media reports say the king of Rumba suffered an attack while
performing at Festival des Musiques Urbaines d’Anoumabo (FEMUA) and due
to lack of emergency health service at the venue of the concert, he died
before he was rushed to the hospital.
In reaction to the tragic event, Collins Enebeli – father of music producer and record label executive, Don Jazzy –
took to Facebook to share his thoughts and advise to promoters and
event organisers on the need to provide healthcare service at concert
venues.
He wrote: ‘The sad news of the death of Papa Wemba is a wake up call
for artists and their managers to see reason why promoters and event
organisers need the services of healthcare service providers for artists
while on engagement for their events to avoid preventable fatalities as
this.
‘Most artists due to their busy schedules are known not to be paying enough attention to their health and listening to their bodies which may have been under pressure and stretched to breaking point without
them knowing it. Artiste managers need to insist that the services of a
trained health personnel who specializes in handling celebrities is
factored into their performance contract to ensure that artists are well
monitored and looked after when on professional engagement anywhere in
the world.
‘That way, risks such as this will be
detected early enough and efforts made to seek help before it is too
late. In the past, The King of soul music James Brown died while on a series of shows lined up for him. The same thing happened to the King of pop Michael Jackson who died while also under pressure from preparations for his mother of all shows ‘This is it’.
‘We are yet to recover from the shocking news of the demise of the purple rain crooner Prince
earlier this week and now it is our own dear Papa Wemba. This is the
reason we must all see the need to engage the services of professionals. May the soul of Papa Wemba rest in perfect peace’.
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