Congo brought to the forefront

Like aspiring artists anywhere, young Congolese musicians have to find a balance between their education and pursuing their art.

Youth in Goma and the Great Lakes region of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, however, have to deal with another decision — either join a rebel militia or be killed by one.

“The conflict that’s taking place right now in the east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo is the deadliest since World War II, where over 6 million lives have been lost — and that’s the conservative estimate,” said Cherie Rivers Ndaliko, a UNC professor who teaches Music 286, called Music as Culture, or Media and Social Change in Africa.

The Congo has about two-thirds of the world’s supply of coltan, a mineral used in all electronic devices. Instead of regulation, multinational companies choose to illicitly extract coltan and other valuable minerals from the area. They arm rebel militias fueled along ethnic lines, leaving the region in constant war and chaos and depriving Congolese youth of almost all opportunity.

And hardly anyone knows about it.

This lack of visibility inspired filmmaker and activist Petna Ndaliko Katondolo, alongside his wife, Ndaliko, to create “Art on the Frontline,” a video series meant to shed light on the region’s horrific conflict and its people.

“(‘Art on the Frontline’) offers something to the rest of the globe to show the humanity of the Congo,” he said. “To show that it’s not only the negative images — the hopeless images — coming from that region that reflects the reality on the ground. There are people making sure that things go well, it’s not only war.”

With a premiere every other Thursday, the videos are a project within YOLE!Africa, an organization founded by Katondolo that strives to create a space where youth have opportunities to engage and reflect on their situation and to start asking questions. “Art on the Frontline,” Katondolo said, helps YOLE!Africa accomplish this.

“The long-term goal is to create an alternative TV, an international window where the people of the Congo will be able to speak by themselves,” he said. “The people in ‘Art on the Frontline’ are different. They don’t have any political agenda. This is real thinking from the people in the streets of Goma. They talk about corruption in the government, mineral exploitation, the price of alcohol — they don’t want to praise anybody, but express their everyday life.”

“Art on the Frontline” is promoted by YOLE!Africa U.S., an independent organization created by Ndaliko, Katondolo and UNC students. Its current goals are both to create a connection between the U.S. and the Congo and provide the video series, mainly through social networking, with an international stage.

“It is a powerful platform for young people in Goma, North Kivu, in the Great Lakes region in general to share their own stories and be able to articulate the incredibly important role they play as agents of change in their region,” Ndaliko said. “(This) is something that is largely overlooked by the Western media representation and portrayal of the conflict.”

A main vehicle of promotion is through Ndaliko’s music course, in which students are divided into groups that either promote the series through social networking and events, co-create songs or create feature videos that display their own views, which is essential in creating a shift in the conflict, Ndaliko said.

“We don’t want to ‘save them,’ which has been the past portrayal,” said Maggie Zebrine, a UNC student in Ndaliko’s class and an active member of YOLE!Africa U.S. “Starting with UNC students and the Triangle area, (‘Art on the Frontline’) is making people aware of the situation and a new culture.”

Zebrine said her own perceptions of Africa had been changed after spending the past summer in Uganda. She said she was actively able to recognize the false conceptions that the U.S. media has placed on Africa as a whole.

“Just being there, immersed in the culture and seeing the positivity and energy they fed me — more than what I fed them — I decided to take this course to expand that and bring that sort of awareness to the U.S.,” she said. “And I love music — it’s a universal language, even if they aren’t singing in English.”

Music is a core value of YOLE!Africa, as well. Congolese youth in the organization go through either a music or filmmaking training program that allows them to participate in the YouTube series. Videos also feature collaborations with international artists, including one of the professors of UNC’s new emcee lab course, Pierce Freelon.

“I think that a lot of what I was struck by was the similarities between … problems of the youth in Goma and the problems of the youth in this country,” Freelon said. “It’s important to hear and share these voices so that we have solidarity with our brothers and sisters in the DRC.”

Freelon said while YOLE!Africa U.S. and UNC students are helping to bring global attention to the Congo, there is much more to be done.

Katondolo said activists in the U.S. are the engine of “Art on the Frontline’s” effectiveness.

“I’ve been expecting Americans to be capable of understanding through this project,” he said. “The need Americans have for their electronic gadgets should be the same need they have for transparency in the illicit mineral extraction in the Congo.”

arts@dailytarheel.com