- Tweeter
republish
For the past five years, the Congolisation festival, orchestrated by actor, producer and rapper Pitcho Womba Konga, Belgian of Congolese origin, has showcased the talents of Belgian Afro-descendant artists in prestigious places of culture in Brussels.
A passionate discussion on a “house of African cultures” project just ended on January 18 at the Royal Flemish Theater (KVS), in the heart of Brussels. In a movie theater, three Congolese films are screened, and African food is offered by SoulFoodMama at the “Café Congo” of the theater, which bears this name permanently.
Pitcho Womba Konga, “afro” puffer jacket and small red cap screwed on the head, deciphers in these terms the name of the festival, which took place this year from January 16 to 19: “ Congolisation, c'est une pied-de - Go to the former colonialists, convinced of the benefits of colonization, to say that the Congo also brought to Belgium. In order to highlight the “ added value that the diaspora brings to Belgium today ”, the festival offers a spotlight on the vitality of artistic creation of the diaspora.
It opens the doors of prestigious institutions, such as the Royal Flemish Theater (KVS) and the AfricaMuseum in Tervuren. " Allowing the diaspora to take possession of these spaces," continues Pitcho Womba Konga, " is to give them the possibility of telling and confronting their imaginations, their stories, their sensibilities, without intermediaries, without taboos, without filters ".
“ Decolonial ” Festival
Congolization also aims to thwart generalist approaches, which approach Africa as if it were only a vast country. The festival mounted two exhibitions, two concerts, organized a conference on rap, presented the book by Belgian director Matthias De Groof Lumumba in the Arts on artistic representations of the father of independence from the former Belgian Congo, and brought in artists from London, Dakar and Kinshasa. Carlos Dou Becho, a dancer from Côte d'Ivoire, did not obtain his visa. Highly symbolic: he was to participate in a play by the South African Moya Michael, based in Brussels, which dealt precisely with the question of granting visas to African artists. Suddenly, the representation was charged with emotion.
Fredo Lubansu, actor and director, co-founder of the association Afropean Project, moderated and recorded the debate on a project of “house of African cultures” for the program Afropean Echo , broadcast by the citizen radio Radio Panik ( 105.4 FM). Many questions remain raised by this project, led by a elected socialist, Barbara Trachte, minister president of the College of the French community commission (Cocof) - in other words, the French-speaking government of Brussels. " Do we need a unique physical location or not, to avoid the risk of ghettoization - as the Parisian example of Tarmac has shown ? Should we continue to ask for grants from institutions or be completely independent ? Should we invent a horizontal management model, and no longer vertical ? Should we include the Maghreb and work to "desalienate" , to overcome the barriers between communities ? To answer all these questions, the six Afro-descendant experts consulted for this project set out to democratize it, by organizing “blockades” (thematic reflection circles) open to the community.
Poetry, music and dance
Before the party in the main enclosure of the KVS, a magnificent theater hall, a poetry reading was given by several artists from the diaspora. " I miss the sweetness of its sun, I miss the smell of the pot, I miss Rochereau's voice in this old radio, and I miss the din of the happy days of the pavilion ". Francisco Luzemo chanted his verses on the theme of “Cha Cha Independence”, before two equally strong readings by Cecilia Kankonda and Jessica Fanhan, and the remarkable performance of a young singer from Kigali, Weya Viatora. A name to remember: after a first single in 2014, Empty House, selected by Voice of America, she produced her first album in Rwanda. Inspired by Etta James, Aretha Franklin, James Brown and the great soul voices, Weya Viatora is preparing a new album in Belgium and a collaboration with Gaël Faye who should be talked about.
The festival ended with a choreography led by two Belgian-Congolese artists, who took over the exhibition halls of the AfricaMuseum in Tervuren. A place that has caused a lot of ink to flow since its dusting and its reopening at the end of 2018. " I realized that somewhere in the museum, there is also my culture, things that belong to me, explains Pitcho Womba Konga. It's up to us to go there and reclaim the space with art ”.