It was while travelling the majestic Congo River for about ten years, with his hands on the ropes and in the sludge that he composed his first songs, scraping his guitar, his eyes lost in a fascinating river scenery. An orphan very young, imprisoned, excommunicated by Belgian fathers because his texts disturbed youth and then a professional boxer, all these ingredients form the fabric of an extraordinary life, that of Antoine Kolosoy, known as Wendo". His moment of glory came in 1948 with the release of his first pan-African hit. he then became the first superstar of Congolese music, and he remained so throughout the 1960s, that period of independence when all madness and dreams were possible. today, as his compatriots express themselves, he is "a monument" in the history of the Democratic Republic of Congo. he is the founding grandfather of Congolese rumba, the music exported to Cuba by the slave trade