Documentary

Kinshasa Symphony

With the Orchestre Symphonique Kimbanguiste

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Cast

Orchestre Symphonique Kimbanguiste

Armand Wabasolele Diangienda — Conductor

Program notes

Martin Baer and Claus Wischmann met the musicians of the one and only symphony orchestra of the Congo: the Orchestre Symphonique Kimbanguiste.

Two hundred orchestral musicians are playing Beethoven's Ninth Symphony – Freude schöner Götterfunken. A power cut strikes just a few bars before the last movement. Problems like these are the least of the worries of the only symphony orchestra in Congo. In the 15 years of its existence, the musicians have survived two putsches, various crises and a war. But concentration on the music and hopes for a better future keep them going. Kinshasa Symphony is a study of people in one of the world's most chaotic cities doing their best to maintain one of the most complex systems of joint human endeavour: a symphony orchestra.

The film is about the Congo, the people in Kinshasa and the power of music. One of the musicians is Albert Matubanza. He is a guitarist, he cannot play the violin or the cello. But he has coached many of the string players, helping them to master their instruments and understand the music. At present he is making a new double bass for the orchestra. In the meantime, other craftsmen in the band have assembled a collection of frequently self-invented and self-made tools enabling them to repair anything that goes wrong with the instruments.

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