BELGIUM / DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO: Belgium hosts its biggest ever festival of Congolese arts

Congolese artists, musicians, cartoonists and dramatists brought the sounds, colours and stories of home to Europe last month, for a festival celebrating Congo's culture in Brussels. Among those travelling to Belgium were the stars of Africare,a multimedia play which premiered in the city of Kisangani, north east of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) before wowing the crowds in western Europe. The show is the brain-child of Belgian director Lorent Wanson who uses the ancient Greek myth of Icarus - or Icare in French - as a basis for his portrait of today's DRC. Although based on a mythical character who flew too close to the sun, Africare is the story of real people and real lives which Wanson collected during his travels to the DRC. It is the embodiment of memories and testimonies from the actors, dancers, prostitutes and other anonymous Congolese that spoke to him. The stage is simple and there are few props for the 6 performers. A projector beams out pre-recorded pieces that interact with the actors. He says he first got the idea because he was looking for a way to include all the voices that had spoken to him but didn't have enough money to pay for the 150 people who had contributed to the play. "History is written by historians, journalists and artists and in the end, the real actors in these stories are often put aside and forgotten. What we want to do with a show like this one is to put forward those who have been neglected by history and who are in fact the real actors of history," Wanson said. The play deals with violence, power, corruption, rape, illness and war. Fighting ripped Kisingani apart between 1998-2003 when Ugandan and Rwandan forces fought each other during the Second Congo War. Audience members said the play brought back vivid memories. "What I saw is that it was reality. We don't need to go beyond that. It's reality. When someone was burned there, that's how it was. The dogs were there eating men. Yes, it's true. I saw it here. Myself I saw it. I was moved," said one man who had been on the frontline of fighting. The play's actors said they were eager to take the true stories of Congo to Belgium. "I am very happy with my participation in the play. If not today, tomorrow, they will be recognised in society. I have grown up and come from families full of problems but we take our responsibilities seriously, thanks to the workshops we did, and life has changed for me," said one actress. Not long after the interview, she was in Belgium for the YAMBI festival, performing for several French-speaking communities of Brussels and Wallonia. The two-month long festival took two years to prepare. It kicked off on the Grand Place, in the heart of Brussels, with a 25-member brass band from Kinshasa which shook the capital to the core with its powerful sounds. In lingala or swahili, two languages spoken in the DRC, Yambi means 'Welcome'. Belgium has showcased artists from other African countries before: There was a Senegalese festival in 1997, one from Burkina Faso in 1999 and one from Benin in 2004. This year Belgium said it wanted to honour and contribute to the people of the Democratic Republic of Congo and present the real face of its people to Belgian nationals whose own history is tainted by massacres from its colonial past. 'La Confiance', a Congolese brass band whose name means 'trust', joined the French-speaking community on September 27 when they celebrated Congo's independence from the Dutch in 1830. The band members, who have played throughout the African continent, say it is the first time they have performed in Europe Band conductor, Philippe Mavinga Matundu, (pronounce Mavingga Matoundou), says he wants to show Europeans something new, something fresh. "We have created something that doesn's exist anywhere else amongst brass band in our town. What we created here, we felt like giving it to everybody," he said. La Confiance band members donned their rain coats to perform at the unveiling of a sculpture by Kinshasa's Freddy Tsimba erected at a busy crossroad in the African district of Matonge (pronounce Matonguey), home to many citizens with Congolese roots. The statue, called 'Beyond Hope', is made out of used weapons cartridges. Tsimba collected them in Kinshasa and Kinsingani. He says his art is a form of protest against war and destruction. The opening was presided over by Olive Kabila, the wife of DRC President Joseph Kabila. Another artist on show is cartoonist Thembo Kash, sponsored by the Francophone daily Le Soir which helped publish his works in the DRC. Banned under Mobutu Sese Seko, Kash now enjoys the freedom to show his political cartoons at home and he has also come out with a book. He explains one of his cartoons depicting the transitional government that followed the signing of a peace deal in 2002 and put Joseph Kabila as interim head of state before elections: DR Congo is depicted as a leaky, ramshackle car in which all its laders are trying to drive in different different directions. Kash believes laughter keeps people sane in difficult situations. "We laugh about everything. That's how we cope. We laugh about every thing that falls on us. If we didn't have laughter, we wouldn't cope," he said. Kash says he wants to publish a comic by the end of the year entitled "The Eternal Transition", his way of saying that nothing much has changed since 2002. First Lady Olive Kabila also visited the exhibition. Yambi organisers said it is a positive sign that the DRC is starting to take its art scene seriously. Formerly known as Zaire, Democratic Republic of Congo is Africa's third largest country. It gained independence from Belgium in 1960.

ITN Source | October 5, 2007

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