Rapping in French, her voice was steady, cutting through the crowd of young people gathered in Goma. Clémence Fundiko Minja commands the stage with a defiance shaped by conflict.
At 23 years old, Minja, known by her stage name Clem Cléopâtre, has gained popularity in recent years in her hometown, Congo’s troubled eastern capital.
She was on the all-female lineup closing out the three-day festival “Musika na Kipaji”, meaning “women’s talent” in Swahili. Founded in 2019, the festival is meant to promote women artists in the region.
Backstage before she performed in the closing concert, she said she was “a bit of a rebellious girl” growing up, and spoke of the difficulty of spending her childhood surrounded by violence.
“I come from a place where war could break out at any moment, ever since we were little,” she said. “I encourage young people not to feel alone, especially women, because they are often forgotten. And for me, it’s a huge motivation to make music just to prove to these women that they are not alone.”
Eastern Congo has been marred by violence for three decades, making it the site of one of Africa’s longest conflicts. Millions have been displaced in a crisis which the United Nations has called one of the most protracted and serious humanitarian crises on Earth.
Goma was already hosting 700,000 displaced people before it was taken over by Rwanda-backed M23 rebels in January of last year. Residents have been living under their control since, largely cut off from the rest of the country and under increasingly difficult humanitarian conditions.
Goma’s festival scene, though muted, has endured through M23 rule. Dance and fashion festivals are still held intermittently, but Sunday saw crowds of young people dancing and singing enthusiastically in a show of energy that has become a rare sight in recent months.
“In our region, a war started a year ago, and people don’t get together like this, like today. But today we’ve found a place where we can express our frustration, our experiences,” said festival attendee Jean Luc Maroy.
Esther Abumba, one of the festival organizers, said in addition to promoting women artists, the festival also aimed to use the arts to advocate for peace in the region. “We are here to mobilize and use non-violent ways, use the arts, as a weapon of peace. Because we think that war has failed,” she said.
Backstage, this message was echoed by Clem Cléopâtre: “All I want to convey in my music is peace, because that is what we don’t have,” she said.
“Peace is the foundation of everything we want because, for us—you may not know this, but for us-–all that matters is living in peace.”