Papa Wemba announces Dublin date

World music fans are in for a treat on October 23 when Congo's greatest living musical export, Papa Wemba, makes his Dublin debut in the SFX.

A household name throughout Africa, his patented brand of 'rumba rock' started gaining fans here in the mid-'90s when Wemba allied himself to Peter Gabriel's Real World label.

The 55-year-old's career hiccuped somewhat in 2003 when he was found guilty of smuggling hundreds of people into France using his band as a cover and was sentenced to three-and-a-half-months in prison.

Encouraged by musical friends like Gabriel and Youssou N'Dour, he's a made a swift return to the studio with a new album, Bravo L'Artiste, in the can and awaiting early 2005 release.