Rumba as an intangible heritage of humanity: the Congo are celebrating

The Congolese rumba is celebrating with its inscription on December 14 in the Intangible Heritage of Humanity (photo: the trumpeters of the Bana OK Band at the La Septante club in Kinshasa, September 24, 2021. REUTERS - HEREWARD HOLLAND

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1 min

The case had been brought to Unesco by Congo-Brazzaville and Congo Kinshasa.

Rumba, a musical genre practiced since the 1930s, was listed on Tuesday, December 14, 2021 in the Intangible Heritage of Humanity.

In Brazzaville and Kinshasa, it is satisfaction.

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with our correspondents in Brazzaville

,

Born, according to specialists, in the former Kongo kingdom, five years after Cuban rumba, Congolese rumba is also finally consecrated.

It's a historic moment when you know the history of this music, everything it wears.

The history of both slavery, from the Congo Basin to the Americas, to Cuba.

And then the return of this music to the twentieth century and which accompanied all political struggles, memory, dignity, but also political independence in the 1960s. There is a whole set of values, history, memory, which are carried by this music.

We are beyond aesthetics, we are beyond emotion, and it was important for the international community to recognize this.

Audrey Azoulay, General Director of Unesco: "It's a historic moment when you know the history of this music"

Edmond Sadaka

“

», Rejoices Jean-Claude Faignond, manager of Espace Faignond, the very first bar dancing in Brazzaville where was created in 1959 the group the Bantus of the capital, the first Congolese orchestra.

Rumba is a dance that makes you experience the emotion of the ancients

Joy in Brazzaville after the inscription of the Congolese rumba in the intangible heritage of humanity

It's party time in Kinshasa too

Manda Tchebwa, famous chronicler and author of numerous books on music, sees in this inscription the consecration of the precursors of rumba.

"Today the celebration is in all Congolese families ... and I am thinking of the former Congo which is a vast territory"

Kamanda Wa Kamanda

According to Manda Tchebwa, the word "rumba" was first used in 1936 in

Tino Rossi's

song

.

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Congolese rumba in the world heritage: "I am very happy, it is deserved" proclaims Ray Lema

Congolese rumba, from its origins to its inclusion in the intangible heritage of humanity

The Congolese rumba, timeless?

New inscription on the list of intangible heritage: the Congolese rumba.

“Well done to the Democratic Republic of the Congo and to the Congo!

», Writes Unesco on Twitter.

© Twitter / Unesco / Étienne Kokolo

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