Armand Diangienda, founder of the Kimbanguist Symphony Orchestra, conducts at a rehearsal the Kimbanguist Symphony School in Kinshasa on October 16, 2024. When Armand Diangienda founded the Kimbanguist Symphony Orchestra, one of the most famous in Africa, in 1994.
The orchestra now boasts 200 highly accomplished members, including a choir.
But at the beginning not everyone knew how to read music and the group had just a few instruments between them.
But by 1999 everyone had their own instrument picked up here and there.
The idea for the orchestra was first born in 1985 when Diangienda's father, Joseph, asked him to gather up different musical groups from within the Kimbanguist church. (Photo by Hardy BOPE / AFP)