Abeti masikini biography

2015 film by Ne Kunda Nlaba

Abeti Masikini: Le Combat d'Une Femme (English: Abeti Masikini: The Struggle of A Woman) is a 2015 Congolese documentary film about the Congolese Diva and soukous star Abeti Masikini who fought for gender equality in the music industry during the 1970s. The film was directed by Ne Kunda Nlaba, who produced and wrote the film with Laura Kutika.

Synopsis

Before 1970 in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, singing professionally was taken as a job for men; the industry was dominated by male singers.

Abeti Masikini (Elisabeth Finant), the daughter of the Congolese political figure Jean Pierre Finant assassinated with the first Prime minister, Patrice Emery Lumumba in 1961, stood up at age 16 and integrated the music industry. She gained success by bringing new melodies, style, and rhythm into the soukous genre despite rejections, deceptions, failures and hate for being a woman and for her voice.

She was the first African woman to perform at Bruno Coquatrix’s Olympia in Paris in 1973, and then went to some big venues around the world such as Carnegie Hall, Royal Albert Hall, Wimbledon, Wembley Arena, and Le Zénith, among other venues.

Written by Laura Kutika, produced and directed by Laura Kutika and Ne Kunda Nlaba, Abeti Masikini: Le Combat d’une Femme shows the struggle of this woman singer, who had to cope with an artistic career and family life as a

Musical artist

Congolese musician and philanthropist (born 1994)

Elisabeth Finant (9 November 1954 – 28 September 1994), known professionally as Abeti Fina-Masikini or simply Abeti Masikini, was a Congolese singer, composer, bandleader, and philanthropist. With a nearly three-decades-long career, she was a significant figure in 20th-century Congolese and African popular music. Often referred to as the "Queen of Soukous", she is noted for advocating gender equality, modernizing Congolese music, and inspiring successive generations of musicians. Her band, Les Redoutables, was a launching pad for numerous female artists.

Born in Kisangani, then part of the Belgian Congo and now the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Masikini made her public debut in 1971 after being discovered by Togolese producer Gérard Akueson, following her feat in the Découverte des Jeunes Talents music contest organized by singer Gérard Madiata. Her debut album, Pierre Cardin Présente: Abeti, released in 1973, propelled her into the limelight, earning televised prominence and selling out numerous venues such as Paris's Olympia Hall and New York's Carnegie Hall. Over her three-decade career, Masikini recorded over twenty studio albums for a variety of record labels including Les Disques Pierre Cardin, Pathé Records, Aziza, RCA Records, Polygram Records, among others.

A trailblazer for African women in music, Masikini was the first Congolese female artist to lead her own band and perform in major international venues such as Carnegie Hall, Royal Albert Hall, Wembley Arena, and the Apollo Theater. She died of uterine cancer on 28 September 1994, in Villejuif, Par