Immaculee Kandathe and Olivier Byinshi

profile and fieldwork by Caroline Chipman and Rebecca Shays

Immaculee (Nyasazama) Kandathe and Olivier Byinshi hail from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The DRC is located in central Africa and surrounded by South Sudan, Uganda, Rwanda, Zambia and others.  Being one of the larger countries in the Africa, the DRC is home to about 78 million people who speak an array of different languages like Kinkingo, Lingala, Tshiluba and Swahili. French is the official language of the country since its colonial period under Belgian rule and it is the world’s largest population of French speakers after France. Today, the DRC is very unstable as a result of the second Congo War, which started in 1998.

Nyasazama and Olivier, like many others, left their country, became refugees in Kenya, and eventually came to America for safety. Both got involved with music at a very young age, influenced by their local Presbyterian church where they spent much time as kids attending Sunday school and hearing music from the gospel choir. Olivier, who was introduced to the piano through his church, learned solely through hearing and repeating artists singing and pairing it with a melody. He now studies in the Onondaga Community College music program, where he particularly loves learning jazz. Olivier also performs gospel music on the piano at church every Sunday. His cousin Nyasazama is a singer song writer who also has lived in Syracuse since 2012. She has been involved in music in since she was 5 years old, influenced by her family’s participation in their local church choir. In the DRC she recorded an album and performed often under the stage name of Immaculee Kandathe. She continued performing gospel music in Kenya, which, along with the Swahili language, served as a lingua franca for the Congolese refugees who spoke different languages. In Syracuse Nyasazama enjoys performing and singing gospel, jazz, and popular-style songs, emphasizing lyrics that promote peace in her country.