Research trip of Subproject 1 to Congo-Brazzaville, Rwanda and Kenya in spring 2025

In March and April 2025, Hauke Dorsch, Antonia Fendt and Nico Nassenstein undertook a four-week research trip to Congo-Brazzaville, Rwanda and Kenya. The trip originally planned for Kinshasa (D.R. Congo) was adjusted in light of the security situation on the ground and thematic expansions. In the Republic of Congo, the focus was on building networks with colleagues from the Université Marien Ngouabi, who were involved in the UNESCO application for recognition of the Congolese rumba as an intangible world cultural heritage, among other things. The focus was also on research into Congolese rumba - in the capital Brazzaville on the banks of the Congo River and on the Atlantic coast in Pointe Noire. In the East African countries, the researchers addressed the question of how Congolese rumba music is received and (re)produced outside Kinshasa and the D.R. Congo. During the Mobutu era, numerous artists from what was then Zaire migrated to neighboring countries such as Rwanda, Kenya or Tanzania as a result of political repression, violence, instability and high competitive pressure. In Nyagatare, Rwanda, colleagues from the University of Rwanda gained their first insights into the KOSTIMA research project. Using oral history interviews, participant observation and sociolinguistic interviews with actors from the local music scene, topics such as the articulation of political content in music, questions about hidden messages and the choice of language in song lyrics were examined.