Author: Mboka Ndinga

A Brazzaville Evening Dedicated to Thought The auditorium of the Centre for Christian Studies and Research reverberated on 26 November with what moderator Professor Maxime Akanis called a “celebration of thought”. Clergy, lecturers, students and lay admirers filled the hall to witness the presentation and signing of Bishop-Doctor Daniel Mizonzo’s latest work, “L’entente de la mort en phénoménologie philosophique”, published by AB Alke Bulan. The choice of venue was more than ceremonial. As Father Médard Sané reminded the audience in his welcome address, the author forged his earliest philosophical intuitions within these walls; coming back, Sané observed, was “a return…

A solemn rite anchored in canon law At sunrise on 19 October 2025, the red-laterite esplanade of Sainte-Odile Parish filled with incense, choirs and the measured cadence of liturgical drums. Inside the nave, the Secretary-Chancellor of the Diocese of Nkayi, Abbé Cellot Primat Nkounga Mabikas, acted as delegate of Bishop Daniel Mizonzo to install the new parish priest, Abbé Welcom Bayonzimina. Canonical precision framed every step: the profession of faith, the public proclamation of the Gospel, and the symbolic occupation of the presidential chair, as required by canons 519 and 527 §1 of the 1983 Code of Canon Law. By…

Youthful energies set for the Sony Labou Tansi stage A quiet but palpable effervescence is building in Brazzaville’s artistic circles. On 7 December, the first notes of the Vision 2010 competition will resonate within the wood-panelled auditorium of the Sony Labou Tansi Cultural Circle, ushering in four consecutive Sundays devoted to discovering the country’s next wave of vocal talent. Coordinated by the producer and cultural entrepreneur Damase Bouozock, the programme gathers fifteen performers whose average age barely surpasses twenty-three, yet whose ambition is already anchored in a wider national conversation about the creative economy. Rallying the creative economy around a…

Brazzaville becomes the continental spotlight The Congolese capital has assumed a festive yet studious atmosphere since 5 November, as the 10th edition of “Femmes Spéciales, Brazzaville 2025” gathered entrepreneurs, managers, artists and academics from across Africa and its diaspora. The four-day forum, patronised by Minister-Counsellor Aline France Etokabeka and presided over by Belinda Ayessa, Director-General of the Pierre Savorgnan de Brazza Memorial, occupies a symbolic place in the city’s cultural calendar. Its theme — “Celebrating Strong Women and Innovation” — encapsulates a deliberate ambition: to showcase the dynamism of female leadership while situating Brazzaville as a hub for creative thought…

A discreet anniversary, a vivid remembrance The second anniversary of Henri Lopes’s demise, falling on a quiet Sunday, passed with the serenity that the writer himself often sought in his final interviews. Yet silence did not translate into oblivion. In Brazzaville, readings organised by the Ministry of Culture and the Congolese Writers Association drew a cross-generational audience, while the Embassy of the Republic of the Congo in Paris laid a wreath at the Montparnasse cemetery, underscoring official recognition without ostentation. Observers noted that the gesture echoed President Denis Sassou Nguesso’s recurrent call for ‘cultural diplomacy as a pillar of national…

A Farewell Etched in Ancestral Protocol On 19 October 2025 the village of Imvouba, now administratively attached to the newly created Department of Djoué-Léfini, transformed into an open-air throne room. From dawn, processions of mourners advanced along National Road 2, drawn by the solemn promise of witnessing the final passage of former national deputy Gaston Ndivili. White-robed representatives from Inkui, Impôh, Impila, Inzuli, Ngâba, Inga, Igné, Iko, Ikaba, Ingolo, Itaba and Indama dignities—pillars of the Teke political universe—took their places in concentric circles around the casket. In the words of one elder, the scene resembled “a parliament of ancestors convened…

A Cross-Continental Encounter At first glance the lanes of Saint-Pierre-des-Corps, a quiet suburb of Tours, appear a world away from the thrumming streets of Brazzaville’s Bacongo district where rumba cafés keep rhythm until dawn. Yet it is precisely in this unlikely setting that Congolese vocalist and composer Djoson Philosophe has elected to record the video of his new single, “Rumba mokili mobimba”. On 21 October the artist entered the analogue-leaning studio of producer Cyril Solnais, accompanied by reggae ensemble The Ligerians, to give physical shape to a collaboration that has been germinating since the 2023 edition of the Panafrican Music…

A strategic cultural rendez-vous in Oyo On 18 October the riverside town of Oyo, capital of the Cuvette Department, will reverberate to the sounds of Warriors 2.0, a showcase conceived by production house 10 novembre Events. The stated ambition is two-fold: to spotlight emerging artistic talent while cultivating a spirit of civic togetherness among Congolese youth. By hosting the evening in Oyo—already renowned for its hospitality infrastructure—the organisers implicitly acknowledge the city’s growing role as a cultural hub capable of complementing the dynamism of Brazzaville and Pointe-Noire. According to the planning committee, the concert has received logistical facilitation from local…

Historic edifice as cinematic protagonist When the lights dim at CanalOlympia Brazzaville on 11 October, the audience will discover that the true protagonist of “Memories of the CFRAD” is neither a single hero nor a fictional narrative but a building whose walls have witnessed the 20th and 21st centuries unfold. The Centre for Training and Research in Dramatic Arts, better known by its French acronym CFRAD, began life in 1904 as the Cercle civil et militaire français. It hosted, among other pivotal gatherings, the 1944 Brazzaville Conference chaired by General Charles de Gaulle. Hassim Tall Boukambou’s long-form documentary turns the…

A seasoned Egyptologist steps into multilateral spotlight The Executive Board of UNESCO, convening in Paris on 6 October, bestowed 55 votes on Khaled el-Enany, formerly Egypt’s minister of Tourism and Antiquities, thereby setting the stage for a four-year term that many diplomats already describe as ‘decisive’. The 54-year-old scholar, fluent in Arabic, French and English, forged his academic reputation at Helwan University before earning a doctorate in Montpellier. While supervising the opening of more than twenty museums and the restitution of thousands of artefacts to Cairo, he cultivated a network that now spans the Arab League, several European capitals and…