Lubumbashi in chorus

Audio 48:30

Louis Lumbala, one of the figures of Lushois choral singing, with a member of the “La colombe” choir.

© Vladimir Cagnolari

By: Céline Develay Mazurelle Follow |

Vladimir Cagnolari

2 mins

In the south of the DRC, Lubumbashi is best known for being the copper capital and the stronghold of the Congo.

However, in the shade of slag heaps and churches, a solid choral tradition has taken root in the city, carried by classical musicians and passionate singers.

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Every Sunday, in the Makomeno district, with its flamboyant trees and its breathtaking view of the slag heap and the city's emblematic factory chimney, we come across a fascinating ballet of choristers who, once mass is over, disperse into the large park located just behind the Saint Eloi church, in order to rehearse other songs, religious or profane. 

For them, as for the singers of the dozens of choirs in the city, music is a constant passion, the salt of their existence, even if it does not fill the pot.

Whether they were bankers, workers, tailors or lawyers, these choristers often acquired a taste for Western classical music very early on, cultivating a very particular art of harmonizing songs, whether religious or popular. 

This choral tradition developed in the shade of the slag heaps but especially of the churches, at the time of Belgian colonization, when the city, founded in 1910, was then called Elisabethville.

It brought out figures, such as Joseph Kiwele, a great Katangese composer born in 1912 and who died in 1961, who also adapted traditional songs for classical choirs.

Today, his worthy successors continue to defend and promote this little-known but precious heritage in a city devoid of any conservatory or music school. 

In these times of economic crisis, when the Lushoise prosperity of yesteryear is no more than a ghost, the choirs are sanctuaries where social classes, genders and ages mix, which cultivate the happiness of being together. and transcend a daily life of difficulties. 

A report by Vladimir Cagnolari.

Learn more:

- On

- On the

- On the choir

- On Katangese composer (and later politician)

- On the

- On

 who started in the Troubadours of Lubumbashi and is now making a career in Europe

- On the

, a panorama drawn up in 2005 by Vladimir Cagnolari.

The choir of the Saint Eloi church in Lubumbashi in full service.

© Vladimir Cagnolari/RFI

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