Huguette Tolinga
Huguette Tolinga, self-taught songwriter, percussionist, multi-instrumentalist and singer, founder and artistic director of Hugembo Studio, lives in Kinshasa.
She was born in Boende and started her career as a drummer in Kinshasa in a contemporary dance group. In 2009, she formed her own group, Huguembo, with whom she has performed regularly in Congo.
Huguette regularly collaborates with theatre and dance. In 2018, she joined the team of Not Another Diva.... a musical creation of South African Hlengiwe Lushaba and Faustin Linyekula. In addition to creating the music for Anthropos, directed by Carina Riedl, 2022 marks Huguette's participation in the programme Il Ritorno dei Fantasmi in Palermo (May-June), in collaboration with Studio Rizoma and Groupe50:50 and in the Laboratoire Kontempo - Kinzonzi in Berlin (May).
Franck Moka
Franck Moka lives and works in Kisangani. With his work in sound, music, video, film and installation, he questions the relationship between humans and the environment. He started rapping in the late 90s and became the alter ego of Pasnas, whom he accompanied in the studio and on stage in Congo, Rwanda and Europe.
For several years he has been composing for the stage, for himself and collaborating with other artists such as Dorine Mokha, Elia Rediger, Faustin Linyekula or for the screen with Nelson Makengo. His work - performances, concerts, sound pieces or installations, music, videos, films - has been shown at festivals and exhibitions around the country, mainly in Kisangani and Lubumbashi, where he has often developed them, in Johannesburg (Plat4m), Düsseldorf, Berlin (HAU) and recently in Montreal (Vue d'Afrique), Rotterdam (IFFR) and Dakar (Dakar court). Franck directs the Art'gument Project, an institution dedicated to artistic research and exchange, which he founded with Dorine Mokha.
Ruth Kemna
Ruth Kemna studied Viola and Applied Theatre in Hannover, London and Salzburg. She is a violist, performer and theatre maker. Her artistic work deals with contemporary music, the bodies of musicians and instruments and the socially critical roles they can play. She has performed at numerous international festivals such as the Ruhrtriennale, Kammermusikfest Lockenhaus, Davos Festival, Heidelberger Frühling, Fusion. She was principal violist of the Hamburger Camerata and had a temporary contract with the NDR Radiophilharmonie Hannover, played with Klangforum Wien, Studio MusikFabrik Köln, Orchester im Treppenhaus, Ensemble Modern. As a solo musician and performer she accompanies the biggest gymnastics show in Europe, the Feuerwerk der Turnkunst. In 2020 she was part of the post-colonial mining oratorio "Hercules de Lubumbashi" in DR Congo. She has toured through countries in Europe, South America, China, DR Congo and South Africa. She is currently living in Palermo to develop new performances dealing with the border between the African and European continents in the Mediterranean.
Sylvain Faye
Christiana Tabaro is an actress and director who lives and works in Kinshasa. She studied at the Institut National des Arts in Kinshasa and is the founder of the Collectif d'Artd'Art with Michael Disanka. She has performed her solo "Parole de femme" (2013-2019) in more than twenty universities in three regions of the Democratic Republic of Congo. With Michael Disanka, she has been working since 2016 on a trilogy combining intimacy and history. The first part "Sept Movements Congo" was presented at KVS in Brussels at the end of 2018 with the support of NTGent and Connexion KZW. The second part "Géométrie(s) de vie(s)" - co-produced by studios kabako and supported by Kaserne Basel - will be presented in Marseille at the festival Les rencontres à l'échelle in December 2021. In 2021 she will become a member of the Group50:50.