Author: Mboka Ndinga

A rising literary voice from Brazzaville On a humid September evening at the Institut français du Congo, the soft rustle of pages gave way to sustained applause as Octave Mouandza signed copies of his latest work, “Longue vie pour rien”. The poet-turned-storyteller, who also serves as Brazzaville’s departmental director of arts and letters, steps into prose with a collection that critics immediately hailed as a fresh milestone for Congolese letters. At eighty-two concise pages, the volume may appear slim, yet the seven narratives it shelters expand far beyond their physical confines, sketching a mosaic of contemporary life that resonates well…

World Architecture Day 2025 highlights resilient design The International Union of Architects (UIA) has selected “Design for Resilience” as the guiding theme for World Architecture Day, to be observed on 6 October 2025. The message is unambiguous: in an era marked by climatic volatility, health emergencies and geopolitical uncertainty, the built environment must be able not only to withstand shocks but also to foster social continuity once crises abate. From New York to Nairobi, practitioners are preparing case studies that document low-carbon materials, circular construction techniques and community-centred planning. Brazzaville is no exception. In a nationwide address released to coincide…

Brazzaville ushers in the season with rumba splendour The capital of the Republic of the Congo is preparing for an evening that promises to be as polished as it is festive. On 8 October the five-star Radisson Blu will host JB Mpiana, the artist whose trajectory from Kinshasa prodigy to continental star has long fascinated music lovers. Choosing this emblem of elegance for the inaugural concert of Brazzaville’s 2025-2026 cultural season sets an unmistakable tone: refinement, exacting artistry and civic pride are to be centre stage (Journal de Brazza, 2025). Event organisers underline that the venue’s acoustics and intimate configuration…

A Compact Edition with Expansive Energy Condensing three traditional days into one, the eighth Rentrée littéraire du Congo gathered writers, editors, scholars and hundreds of students on 26 September at the French Institute of Brazzaville. The organisers from PEN-Congo had opted for a streamlined format, citing logistical constraints; yet the crowd’s enthusiasm suggested that less time did not mean less substance. Throughout the day, corridors buzzed with improvised readings, autograph sessions and spontaneous debates in both Lingala and French, reaffirming the event’s reputation as the country’s foremost marketplace of ideas. In his opening remarks, PEN-Congo president Florent Sogni Zaou praised…

Vatican II: A Global Re-awakening of Diaconal Service When the Second Vatican Council promulgated Lumen gentium in 1964, it restored the permanent diaconate as a full, stable order within the sacrament of Holy Orders. The conciliar fathers wished to strengthen a ministry of service that had largely disappeared in Latin-rite practice for almost a millennium. This global decision, reaffirmed in Ad gentes and broadened by Pope Paul VI, invited each bishops’ conference to discern its relevance to local contexts. In many regions, especially in Europe and the Americas, numbers of permanent deacons rose rapidly, embodying the Council’s call to bridge…

Congolese Vanguard Captivates Afrima Jury The announcement of the 2025 All Africa Music Awards short-list has once again confirmed the Republic of Congo’s capacity to impress well beyond its borders. Five Congolese signatures – the crooner Singuila, the razor-sharp rapper Jessy B, the turn-table innovator DJ Mombochi, the evergreen Espe Bass and the hybrid single “Lifoli” – have been retained in some of the ceremony’s most watched categories. That breadth of styles, from R&B ballad to electro-rumba experiment, illustrates how national heritage and contemporary ambition interact in Brazzaville’s studios. Afrima’s jury highlighted “creativity rooted in identity”, a phrase that resonates…

Brazzaville Poised for a Night of Rumba Majesty The evening of 20 September is already being hailed by local observers as the cultural high point of the rentrée in Brazzaville. The capital’s most storied venue will resonate with the syncopated guitar lines and vocal harmonies that define the rumba, as Bozi Boziana—affectionately dubbed “Grand-père”—joins forces with constant crowd-pleaser Walo Boss-Tino. Far beyond a conventional double-bill, the organisers have carefully framed the event as a civic celebration of a genre that remains both archive and laboratory for Congolese identity. The publicity material speaks of a “living heritage in motion”, a formulation…

A Literary Beacon: Damas and the Négritude Movement When Black-Label first appeared in 1956, Léon-Gontran Damas—already recognised alongside Aimé Césaire and Léopold Sédar Senghor as a co-founder of Négritude—delivered a poetic manifesto whose cadence, irony and anger dismantled the polite hierarchies of colonial letters. By layering Creole inflections over metropolitan French, he defied the linguistic purism that had relegated Caribbean and African experiences to the margins. More than six decades later, the collection remains a touchstone for writers interrogating race, class and belonging. From Page to Stage: Anatomy of the “Black-Label” Workshop Between 22 and 25 September, the Institut français…

A Pact That Shaped Modern Congo Brazzaville – On the occasion of the one-hundred-and-forty-fifth anniversary of the Makoko–De Brazza Treaty, scholars, diplomats and traditional dignitaries converged on the Pierre-Savorgnan-de-Brazza Memorial to revisit a foundational episode of Congolese statehood. Signed on 10 September 1880 between King Makoko Iloo I and Pierre Savorgnan de Brazza, the pact established a French protectorate over the Téké kingdom and laid part of the groundwork for the future Republic of Congo. While historians continue to debate its long-term implications, the treaty indisputably opened the country to broader diplomatic and commercial currents. Royal Message Emphasises the Value…

Brazzaville gathering underscores disciplined practice On 22 July 2025 the normally quiet corridors of the Centre Interdiocésain des Œuvres in Brazzaville resonated with a vocabulary seldom heard outside specialised theological faculties: discernment of spirits, prayer of liberation, minor and major exorcisms. Convened under the aegis of Archbishop Abel Liluala, metropolitan of Pointe-Noire and national coordinator for the Catholic Charismatic Renewal, the second session for Congolese exorcist priests unfolded behind closed doors yet in strict conformity with Church procedure. The theme, “The practice of exorcism”, set an academic tone that contrasted with the sensationalism often surrounding the topic in popular culture.…