Graphic Design: Emma Brigaud
CONGO YETU: un geste d’amour pour Goma, a gesture of love for those who suffer in eastern Congo
By Niccolo Bechtler
Community-building and healing through music has been essential to the success of Operanauts’ projects in Kinshasa. One of the most profound examples of musical catharsis in Kinshasa was the CONGO YETU: un geste d’amour pour Goma, a gesture of love for those who suffer in eastern Congo, in April 2022.
It began when Kinois music director, pianist, and arranger Diego Tara approached Operanauts with the idea of organizing a charitable concert of music by Mozart to benefit victims of the volcano eruption in eastern Congo. Operanauts loved the idea, and reached out to their partners at TEXICO S.A., a large Congolese textile manufacturer, to collaborate on costumes. Using patterns from the U.S., TEXICO S.A. produced a range of elegant costuming for the event.
The concert, which featured the music of the Requiem of Mozart arranged by Franz Beyer and Mozart arias arranged by Diego Tara, was performed by the 35-person Choeur Nativitas, 4 soloists, a 25-person chamber orchestra, and 12 opera folk instrumentalists, singers, griot, and dancers, making it the largest ensemble Operanauts has organized.
CONGO YETU allowed more than 70 musicians to share authentic moments of empathy for others who suffer in eastern Congo. It allowed Congolese musicians to converge as a community and participate in something much larger than themselves, and Operanauts is proud to have been a part of it.
Strong communities are built on trust, as Operanauts came to learn through a series of miscommunications and legal difficulties in Congo.