Gasandji -Le Voyage des Possibles
She sings about hope, love and faith, using a subtle mix of rumba, blues, jazz, folk music and even pigmy polyphonies. Gasandji portrays herself as an artist, as a creator and as a mother who seeks above all to transmit deeply human values. On the road with her daughters, she just embarked on a self-exploration project, “a journey of possibilities” in which she ponders over her links/relationships as a woman and as a mother, in a sort of quest towards personal accomplishment. We met in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso.
The slender silhouette steps hurriedly into Espace Napam Beogo in Gounghin, an arty and popular neighborhood in the capital of Burkina Faso. Gasandji, with a scarf wrapped around her head, is late for her appointment - blame a crammed schedule which includes mentoring activities for children for the Swiss NGO Enfants du Monde that helps to provide education and health services for children, mothers and women around the world. Gasandji says, “Without education we are bound for failure. It is really key to be able to address that because children are today’s and tomorrow’s citizens and this work needs to be done today.” Gasendji devotes her time to education projects focusing on childhood learning. “It is important to give the freedom to listen in order to be able to hear the messages of the younger generations,” she adds.
A native of Kinshasa, the capital and biggest city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, she arrived in France at the age of 13 where she developed a strong passion for dance. She became a professional at the age of 18 and a move into the music world followed - an ideal media to share her emotions. Encounters with a jazz school and a gospel choir, such as the one with Lokua Kanza, all helped to mold her into the sensitive artist she has become. Her music tells real stories that everyone can relate to.
As a multifaceted artist, an author, a composer, a crafter of emotions, Gasandji loves to travel and immerse herself in anything that helps her to share her creative passions. “Art has given me so much, has allowed me to encounter other people through the heart. The other is a mirror. I love that you can touch one another, understand one another, even if the words are different, because we have a history in common. Through creation, I find a universal language with which anybody can be touched, where everybody can understand you, even when you tackle sensitive or taboo issues, you can still reach out to others,” she says. She cherishes moments of shared emotion, and relays a time in Vietnam where a lady came to see her in tears after the show to thank her for the message her music had transmitted, even though she spoke in a different language.
Le Voyage de Possibles – a Personal Quest
On the stage of the Napam Beogo compound, children run around and chase one another. One of them, her little girl who looks just like her mother, runs to her for attention. Gasandji apologizes for this interruption with a smile. Her soft and tranquil voice gives encouragement and rebuffs a whim. “The girls (her daughters) are adapting very well. They went to school yesterday and today with friends from the neighborhood,” she says.
Nevertheless, it’s a personal challenge she threw herself into when she decided to travel with her daughters. It all started with an immersive experience within a Aka Pygmies’ community in the tropical forest of northern Congo-Brazzaville, just before she released her third album. This experience had a profound effect on her. She explains, “This encounter with the Aka has changed my life. Psychologically, physiologically, emotionally, it has changed my life, and even in the way I transmit my music.” An hour-long track on her album Le Sacré is infused with this experience. “It made me question the way I wanted to be an artist, the way I wish to convey the art that I am making,” she says. This great turmoil has allowed her to get in touch with herself, to understand herself better and to know her personal alignment. It forced her to ask herself, “Are you influenced by your surroundings or are you influenced by yourself?”
“On this album I talk about my life as a spouse, as an artist, as a mother, as a lover, as a sister, in order to understand what is going to be disrupted,” says Gasandji.
She says going to Africa means going back to the smells and smiles of childhood. “Africa is like the home and the roots you go back to, to take a breather” she admits. Despite it being 25 years since she left Kinshasa, Gasandji has not returned, but says she wants to return soon. Amid this “voyage des possibles” with her daughters, Gasandji reflects equally on her link to her daughters and on women who are experiencing an evolution of their roles.
She says, “You take your children, you put them in school, if you don’t agree with the system, you take responsibility, you give to your children what you believe is right for them. It is not a question of right or wrong, comparing is pointless here, it is just a question of feeling how things should be happening for them. It is not a competition between men and women, but as a woman I am embracing my values, owning up to them, speaking about them, and it’s just beautiful. I am where I am supposed to be, and I think it’s extraordinary. I am so lucky.”
