Brazzaville

Congo

UNESCO City of Music

since 2013

About the Creative City: 

The capital of Congo, Brazzaville, is a great cultural crossroads where artistic activity and intellectual activity thrive. Brazzaville witnessed the beginning of Congolese rumba, a musical rhythm and theme initiated by Paul Kamba of the «bantous de la capitale» Orchestra.

Brazzaville is an artistic hub, a historical city with a large number of cultural assets, in particular a heritage linked to diversity, music and the arts. Music is fully integrated in the urbanity of Brazzaville where almost all streets have spaces for the sharing of music.

For many years, Africa danced to the Congolese rhythm. And even to this day, Brazzaville, which houses the African Music Council (CAM), the regional branch of the International Council of Music, continues to hear its music everywhere in the world and especially on the African continent.

Every two years, Africa gathers in Brazzaville. For a few days, the city becomes the African capital of music thanks to the world-renowned Pan-African Music Festival (FESPAM). Besides this great polymorphic festival, the city boasts other major events such as the FEUX DE BRAZZA Festival, which aims to make Brazzaville the stronghold of traditional and modern-traditional music.
 

As a Creative City of Music, Brazzaville envisages:

  • Continuing to support several candidate cities to the UNESCO Creative Cities Network;
  • Creating an artistic residence to support the creative work of visually impaired musicians at local level;
  • Continuing to support numerous events and music festivals, such as the popular and international Festival of traditional music « Feux de Brazza» ;
  • Developing, through the city’s departmental and municipal Council, an ambitious action plan built around the construction of infrastructure in partnership with the government (Brazzaville Culture Office), the production and promotion of musicians, the construction of a musical library in partnership with the African Music Council, the creation of residences for local and international artists, and the organization of Brazzaville’s artist tours. 

Contact
Brazzaville

134 bd du Maréchal Lyautey,

B.P. 90, Brazzaville, Congo

E-mail: brazzaville@unesco.org

Brazzaville Municipality


Facts and Figures

Brazzaville is situated on the right bank of the majestic River Congo, second water body after the Amazon by virtue of its current, the city of Brazzaville covers a surface area of almost 100 km2. This African city of a singular destiny was founded on the 3 October 1880 by the French eponym explorer Pierre Savorgnan De Brazza. In 1904, Brazzaville became the capital of the French Congo and of the French Equatorial Africa (AEF).

Brazzaville is a transit city due to its exceptional and natural geographical location which places it at the centre of communication within the Central African region. Brazzaville is linked to the ocean by railway, to Kinshasa (DRC) by river and to Bangui (CAR) and to Cameroun by road.

Area

263.9 km2 (101.9 sq mi)

Population

1,827,000