TMB co-sponsors the 2015 Amani Music Festival Goma
12.02.2015, Goma, DRC – TMB is delighted to be a co-sponsor of this year’s Amani Music Festival, Goma. The three day festival runs from 13th to 15th February 2015 in the capital of North Kivu.
The Amani Music Festival is a music festival that seeks to promote initiatives for peace in the African Great Lakes Region. “Amani” is the Swahili word for “peace” and, according to the festival organisers, this is very much the intended point: music soothes the soul and brings people together. This point is captured in the festival’s slogan: “Danser pour Changer, Chanter pour la Paix” or “Dance for Change, Sing for Peace”.
The festival aims to gather and join people around culture, in the belief that dance and music can help rebuild peaceful relationships between communities. Once again this year artists from the different ethnic groups of North and South Kivu as well as Rwanda and Burundi will participate in the festival. The festival seeks to shine a light on the immense talent that exists in the region, talent that deserves more attention. The Music Festival wants to show the world that not all in the region is about war, Goma and the neighbouring cities also host a dynamic and talented population, which is more than ever committed to changing things in a positive way.
The Amani Music Festival is a unique occasion to show the world that Eastern Congo is worth much better than that being a battlefield, a chance to discover talented musicians and an opportunity to gather people around three days of festivities. The festival is open to everybody and the artists will represent the various nationalities and ethnic groups of the region. Among the artists performing at the festival are Bill Clinton, the renowned Congolese singer, Tiken Jah Fakoly, the Ivorian reggae singer, and Habib Koité, the Malian singer. Some 17 traditional groups from across the Great Lakes Region are also performing on stage during the festival.
The Amani Festival is also welcoming 75 NGOs to its humanitarian village. The NGOs are featuring original and participatory activities based on the values promoted by the festival, namely, living together, reconciliation and peace.
The festival is apolitical. It is only about music and peace. It is also not for profit. Artists are donating their time and talent to it; should the festival make a profit then that profit will go to the Foyer Culturel de Goma, the initiator and driving engine of the event.
