Bonne fête d’indépendance à tous!
[Today in History] June 30th
1960 – Belgian Congo declares independence from Belgium and becomes the Republic of Congo
1964 – Last UN troops leave Congo
1966 – Léopoldville is renamed Kinshasa
BIRTHDAYS
1960 – Joseph Ilunga Kankolongo aka Lelimba wa Kutshila, lead singer of traditional music band of Kasayi Bayuda du Congo, is born in Kananga, West Kasayi
“Décalé Gwada” by Jessy Matador
Flash back…
Title: Décalé Gwada
Artist: Jessy Matador & La Selesao
Album: Afrikan New Style
Year: 2008
Label: Oyas Records
Version Antilles
[Luba Wisdom] Proverb/Dicton 4
Maybe you have heard this in some Ciluba songs. This is a famous proverb.
Nnyòka wa bulandà, nnyòka wa bulelà. Kàsu kukusùma, kàsu kukudyà. Bubì nebùlwe àmu kuùdì.
Serpent d’amitié, serpent de parenté. Il ne cherche ni à te mordre ni à te manger. Le mal est en toi.
Friendly snake, related snake. It doesn’t want to bite you or eat you. Evil is inside you.
[Today in History] June 25th
CONGO
1991 – On his supposedly 25th birthday, Dikembe Mutombo is drafted on the 4th round by the NBA Denver Nuggets
2015 – Emmanuel Mudiayi is drafted on the 7th round by the NBA Denver Nuggets.
BIRTHDAYS
1966 – Jean-Jacques Dikembe Mutombo Mpolondo Mukamba wa Mutombo, former NBA player, is born in Kinshasa. There is a doubt about his birth year though.
[Today in History] June 22nd
1961 – Moïse Tshombe freed from prison in Congo
BIRTHDAYS
1989 – Cédric Mongongu, football player, is born in Kinshasa
“Famille” by Lokua Kanza
Very nice song by Lokua Kanza. You’ll notice the chorus is in all 4 national languages of Congo.
Title: Famille
Artist: Lokua Kanza ft. Fally Ipupa
Album: Nkolo
Year: 2010
Label: World Village
Cipingudiji:
Ndi mukunanga bikola be (Cilubà)
Nakupenda (Swahili)
Mu me zola nge (Kikongo)
Famille nalingi bino (lingala)
With love, from Australia to Congo
Interesting article but one mistake: DRC was named Zaïre years after Independence from Belgium. On October 29, 1971 to be exact.
The Democratic Republic of Congo, also referred as DRC or Congo-Kinshasa, was also named Zaire during the Belgian colonisation era. The word ‘zaire’ is an adaptation of the Kongo word of ‘nzere’ or ‘nzadi’, meaning ‘the river that swallows all rivers’. The DRC is the second largest African nation in central Africa and home to more than 250 ethnic groups. The country is the most biodiverse African country with five of its national parks listed as UNESCO World Heritage sites. It is the territory of many rare and endemic animal species such as bonobos, African forest elephants, silverback gorillas, okapis and white rhinos.
The DRC is replete with foreign and traditional customs and this great diversity has made Jessica, a young Congolese in Melbourne, very proud of her country. Having been in Australia for 7 years, Jessica still fondly remembers her country of origin.
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Not all messages about rape were welcome at Hague and Jolie’s sexual violence summit
Congolese Action Youth Platform
An important shift has taken place in our awareness of sexual violence. The Global Summit to End Sexual Violence in Conflict, co-chaired by foreign secretary William Hague and Angelina Jolie, the UN’s special envoy for refugees, is the biggest, highest-profile global meeting ever convened on this topic.
But the event has been marred by the silencing of Congolese sexual violence survivors, who found themselves locked out of a public forum. The security for the event was handled by G4S – on behalf of the Foreign Office.
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[Documentary] Qui a volé l’épée?
Malheureusement incomplet.
JT Lingala Facile
[Kaabukùlù] Mutwashi Demonstration
Here Lelimba wa Kutshila and his band Bayuda du Congo gives a sample of Kasayi traditional dance, mutwashi.
“Yolele” by Papa Wemba
One of my favorite songs by him. I was so glad when I saw that Mars, Inc. chose Congolese music to illustrate their bounty chocolate bar commercial campaign… 🙂 good memory…
Title: Yolele
Artisti: Papa Wemba
Album: Emotion
Year: 1995
Label: Real World Records