Congolese Celebration

Story & photo:Vivien Urwodhi

The Congolese Summer Festival took place at Petre Street Green Space on Sunday 25th of July. The festival celebrated 50 years of Congolese independence and marks the moment when prime minister Patrice Lumumba took on the Belgian colonial rulers to seek the nation's freedom in 1960. Sheffield's Congolese community were still eager to remember the day.

The event began to the sounds of Congolese music, which drifted out on to Petre Street and up the valley, announcing the start of celebrations and drawing people from further afield. First to begin the live entertainment was a Congolese musician, who sang about love, envy and sadness. The melody of his music lifted his moving words up into the warm summer air.

Next, Congolese rap group ‘The DRC Soldier’ entered the stage to perform tracks from their new album. They rapped about the conflict that was going on in the east of the country and how blood was being shed. Armed with some amazing rapping, the band urged listeners to think about the suffering going on at the other side of the world.

The festival was not short of other entertainment, including summer food and children's football, and the festival's finale saw a procession of Congolese women who dazzled the front row with a show of traditional and modern costumes and outfits.