AKONKWA BUJIRIRI Osée, known by the stage name of Osée ELEKTRA. Is a slam poet, rapper, performer, and peace activist born and based in the city of Goma in the province of North Kivu in the East of the Democratic Republic of Congo.
He has experienced war and the precariousness it brings, being a son of the Kivu region, a region that has so far experienced the most violent and deadly war in the world after World War II, where about 12 million deaths have been recorded since 1996.
At a young age, he has have already fled the war twice with his entire family, in 2008 during the war opposing the Congolese government army to the CNDP movement and in 2012, during the war against the M23 movement. They took refuge in the peripheral neighborhoods of the city of Goma under the most extreme conditions characterized by poverty, lack of primary care such as food and water, fear, and trauma.
The war situations he has experienced triggered his commitment to peace and the search for harmony within his community, having witnessed what community discord can lead to in terms of destruction,he is committed to using what he holds most dear, his artistic talent, to contribute at his level, to the consolidation of peace in the Great Lakes region of Africa.
He uses his music as a means of bringing people together, positive communication, transmitting values, and mobilizing the community to contribute to the resolution of social problems through innovative and coordinated actions. He has created several poetry shows, several music concerts with the aim of engaging his community in the culture of love, which the fear of the other, past traumas, and stereotypes tries to stifle.
His music and poetry have a mission, firstly to awaken collective consciousness on social, political, and community issues for good citizen participation of communities in the problems that threaten them; and secondly to rekindle hope in the hearts of populations going through difficult and tragic times.
This is possible by the therapeutic power of music and the equally lyrical and engaging function of poetry.
To not limit his creativity and commitment to peace, He created “JUA- Rencontre des musiques du monde”, an annual regional event that puts world music at the service of social commitment and the fight against hate speech in the Great Lakes region of Africa. This event brings together artists from all over the Great Lakes region to highlight the role of positive and constructive communication in conflict prevention and the promotion of mutual understanding. JUA means sun in Kiswahili, his mother tongue. It is an important initiative to promote peace, healing, and unity in the African Great Lakes region through the power of music. This event offers a platform to communicate without hate speech, to heal together from past traumas, to fight against stereotypes, to liberate and to strengthen ties in the region. It is a celebration of cultural diversity and an affirmation of our common humanity.
He has known several challenges in the realization of his artistic work, among others: The shrinking of civic space in the DRC. The known for its violations of freedom of expression, excessive use of force against peaceful demonstrations, arbitrary arrests of those who dare to speak out in a way that does not suit the regime in place, intimidation and harassment maneuvers against activists, among the victims are many of my fellow artists. But this has never permanently blocked him, because with his poetry he questions the prohibitions and tries to find the most creative way to stand up against the evils of his society while remaining harmonious.
In addition to these challenges, there is insecurity. When one becomes an activist and artist, thus a mirror of society, one directly becomes susceptible to attacks from people who are not comfortable with your message. This makes his work increasingly difficult on one hand, but on the other hand, it is proof that his commitment is worthwhile, as he manages to create this discussion that his community so lacked to the point of falling into sneaky wars.
Creative initiatives like the one he leads, which do not support propaganda and personality cults, and which are just concerned with contributing to the efforts made to get the communities out of the precariousness caused by violence, often lack support.
This affects him but does not have the power to shake his motivation in using his music and his poetry for change.
He firmly believe in peace just as he believe in the multidimensional power of art, which is why he refused to stand behind silence when poetry and music gave him the real power to write a new story of his community, a story of love and harmony, abundance and tolerance, a story of peace.
Content: AKONKWA BUJIRIRI Osée
Edited by: Abwola Hillary Makwar
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