Soul Power Kongo ?

Soul Power Kongo is an art and culture festival set up in 2014 by Matombi Productions. Soul Power has a strong meaning in itself but we chose to add Kongo, the name of a great kingdom once located by the estuary of the Congo river, to form the whole name to say how important we think it is to bring Black people together after they’ve been scattered around by history. Soul Power is a bridge between Africa and its Diaspora. Its first ambition is to feed the soul, the mind and the senses with various art forms (music, drama, dance, painting, cinema, etc.) that remain genuine, thorough and educational at the same time and still entertaining.

Why this festival?

Soul Power Kongo was born from the urgent need to build a place where all African cultures and their Diasporas could meet and learn from one another on the continent. Since its 1st edition, the festival line up has been constantly seeking to get the perception of African cultures and all those related to them away from the clichés to which they are always attached. Faced with the threat of a cultural standardization, we see the preservation of what connects us to the rest of humanity as a vital necessity.

What makes this festival unique?

We give a huge importance to artistic training and musical education in particular. This is very meaningful in the Republic of the Congo which has no music academy and even more so in Pointe-Noire which has not a single Art school. The very few cultural places that do exist have fees completely out of reach for the middle class Congolese, hence the free workshops offered by Matombi Productions.

Our workshops

Some training is given for free before, during and even after the festival.

Before-festival : While we’re still working on the coming up festival, we take on some high-schools and colleges to raise awareness on the festival theme among the students. At this stage, local trainers set everything up.

The Trainers:

Music: Juliana Tsaty Massimina, music teacher at Charlemagne High-school. She’s coaching the musicians and the singers based in Congo. She’s in charge of all the logistics related to them and is part of the Soul Power Kongo team.

Painting: Jussie Nsana, drawing artist and painter. Apart from making all the paintings for the Soul Power exhibition, she does Art workshops with children and adults.

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Spoken Word Arts: Gilles Douta, poet and slammer, he gives poetry writing workshops, along with drama and speech art.

During the festival

The Festival Piece: based on an idea from Sylvie Mavoungou Bayonne, Bina Soul questions 3 choreographers Tchekpo Dan Agbetou (Bénin), Florent Mahoukou (Congo) and Jade Bayonne (Congo-France) on the theme of this year’s festival: United Africa. On top of performing the piece (they’re currently working on it), the 3 choreographers who come from very different dance backgrounds, will hold workshops to teach some precious tips on their craft.

Filming the Festival: Wally Fall is a young filmmaker who made the 2015 festival film. He’s back this year to focus on an editing workshop with the local team created for last year festival.

Matombi productions ?

Who are we?

Sylvie Mavoungou Bayonne (Festival General Manager) She founded the festival Soul Power Kongo. She gained her experience in Europe where she organized many high profile festivals and events mainly in Paris. She was also known as DJ Kongokween in Paris, sharing her passion for classics in many clubs in the city. Sylvie has also directed 2 short films selected in festivals.

Juliana Tsaty Massimina (Artistic Director): Music teacher at Charlemagne High, Pointe-Noire French High School. She’s managing all the musicians based in Congo. She’s in charge of all the logistics related to them and is part of the festival managing team.

Virginie Papet (Road Manager/International artists): she managed tours for top class jazz and world music artists like Lucky Peterson, Ahmad Jamal, Christina Branco, Marcus Miller, etc. For the festival, she worked with Fred Wesley, Valérie Louri and Thierry Cham so far.

Papi Babelana (Logistics & Security): After many years in France where he gained a solid experience working in security for big venues, now he’s back home and he mentors young men into the basics of security and logistics.

Kelson Coelho (IT Support): He’s in charge of the festival website, the social networks and managing all the content the festival puts online.

What we’ve done in Congo so far?

2015 : Soul Power Kongo # 2 avec : Thierry Cham, Valérie Louri, Igo Drané, Nestor Mabiala, Wally Fall, les Célestes Gospel, Jussie Nsana.

2014 : Soul Power Kongo #1 avec : Fred Wesley, Carlos Moore, Gilles Douta, Jussie Nsana, la Fanfare Funk de Pointe – Noire.

2013 : Kongo Time avec Winton Mcanuff – une série de concerts entre Brazzaville et Pointe-Noire accompagné par des musiciens congolais.

FESTIVAL SOUL POWER KONGO