Recreating Beautiful African Prints To Celebrate Music From The Congo

Mamatomo Mama
Mar 20, 2019
3 min read

Updated: Mar 21, 2019

Introducing Papa Siama and Auntie Dallas and their new album 'The Land of Yangalele'

On Saturday this week, we will be going to see Papa Siama and Auntie Dallas play at Symphony Space on the Upper West Side in NYC. It's their debut here in the city and, having listened to their album, we are all sure that it's going to be a treat! None of us in this family are very knowledgable about music from Africa and, being someone who really tries hard to teach my kids about the wonderfully diverse world that we live in, this show was one that we couldn't miss.

Learning About Somewhere New

Not knowing much about Democratic Republic of The Congo (formerly Zaire), I wanted to bring something to our craft that might teach something about that part of the world. After doing some research, I read about the beautiful geometric Kuba cloth prints that come from the Zaire River Basin. Kuba cloth is woven from the fib of the Raphia Vinifera Palm. Production of these textiles is a multiple stage process which involves the participation of children, men and women of the same clan. I would have loved to try weaving but I wanted to use a process that my four year old could easily follow and also to use things we had around the house. So our finished articles do not resemble actual Kuba cloth, rather we used their patterns to inspire us to make our own prints. My four year old loved recreating the crosses and zig zags that you see on many of the patterns online. She also used colors to create repetitive patterns - her own idea!

Using What You Have

We looked around the house to find rectangles, triangles and squares. We found magnatiles, toy train tracks, building blocks and a plastic ruler. We selected our paint colors. My daughter chose colors brighter than those you would normally see on Kuba print but I thought it was important to let her make her picture her way. I set up a laptop showing pictures of Kuba print on the floor and taped some squares of white sheet to the floor and we both got printing. It was messy but fun!

Our first prints didn't work out the way we wanted so we made another one each and we were much happier the second time. When my daughter started to get frustrated because her print wasn't looking the way she wanted, I tried to explain to her that sometimes it's more about enjoying the process than being happy with how it looks in the end. This seemed to please her and she got back to work printing! I think this printing craft was great to teach that your artwork doesn't have to be perfect, you can just enjoy making it, and that practice makes perfect (or at least an improvement!). It was really fun to recreate the geometric prints seen in Kuba cloth.

Siama and Auntie Dallas at Symphony Space, March 23, 2019, 11am

Tickets are available now to see Siama and Auntie Dallas this Saturday. Siama Matuzungidi, an acclaimed Minneapolis-based musician originally from Democratic Republic of the Congo ("Papa Siama"), along with his musical and life partner Dallas M. Johnson ("Auntie Dallas"). The duo will perform selections from their Parents’ Choice Award-winning album The Land of Yangalele (to be released March 23, 2019). The album is filled with gentle, happy songs accompanied by traditional African instruments and harmonies in English, Swahili, Lingala and Kikongo.

I played the album to my children and they were instantly grabbed by the music. Listening to the album, you are immediately transported to a far away place; where the pace of life, the landscape, the sights/smells are different from those around you. I think that's what we love most about this album. It takes you right out of your life and to somewhere far, far away. You can feel the rich history and culture of Papa Siama's homeland through the music and it is beautifully enticing. We look forward to seeing Papa Siama and Auntie Dallas this weekend!