“This is the outcome of a WhatsApp call between my parents in Belgium and me in Canada about the final chapter of their house in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. They recalled how two Zairean Ph.D. students, who just met in Brussels, decided to buy a house in Kinshasa without seeing it. They bought a home to prepare for their return to Zaire/DR Congo together after their academic program. The return never happened. Now retired, they just sold the house 36 years later. The house my brothers and I never grew up in is gone.” Po B. K. Lomami, August 22, 2022

The House of Kinshasa is a five-part sound project, focused on “the diasporic realities of transmission, return, and housing” within a multi-sited diaspora. Lomami’s Congolese parents, as the work reveals, reaffirmed the separation between cultures through language, particularly the loss of a native tongue. The House of Kinshasa begins with the familiar sounds of WhatsApp notifications, setting a digital backdrop that anchors the narrative in modernity. This auditory journey is enriched by radio samples that comment on the concept of double consciousness, illustrating the dual, arguably plural, identities that the Congolese diaspora navigate. These samples reflect how individuals balance their heritage with the demands of their adopted cultures, creating a complex soundscape that mirrors their lived experiences.

Lomami explains: “I am interested in making sound work that combines disparate elements that express facets of (my) diasporic experience. How to create a memory with a land I can’t come (back) to? How to create intimacies without proximity? How to not be from and still become with the place I can learn from here and now?”

Language loss is a central theme, captured in the recurring phrase, “we speak French at home.” This highlights the gradual erosion of native languages within family settings, churches, and communal spaces. As French becomes the dominant mode of communication, it symbolizes both a connection to and a distance from their cultural roots. The piece introduces Lomami’s parents through the sound of call waiting tones, bringing their voices into focus. Their stories, intertwined with Lomami’s perspective, offer a narrative that bridges generations and geographies. Compressed WhatsApp audio conveys the physical and emotional distances between family members spread across continents, layered with monologues and light atmospheric music. This first part of "The House of Kinshasa" provides a rich, immersive experience that tells a personal family story while resonating with broader narratives of the African diaspora.

In addition to these voice recordings, Lomami utilized excerpts from the archives of CKUT 90.3, Montreal to create The House of Kinshasa. “I did this piece during an internship at CKUT in June 2022, which gave me access to CKUT's archive and team. The piece is composed of field recordings, recorded phone calls with my parents based in Belgium, archives from CKUT, my voice narration, and recordings of specific sounds. I listened to dozens of hours of archives at CKUT. I was immersed in these records that became sound memories of Montreal and beyond, a place that I felt I started to know more deeply but still didn't feel at home after almost five years. From the CKUT's archive, I selected recordings that resonate somehow, but sometimes oddly, with my experience or my parents' story, the urgency of creating memories with some agency, or a sense of loss of a home and means of escapism. In the end, I wanted the final piece to feel like being at different places and different times, all at once, as my way to understand diasporic situations.”

The House of Kinshasa was created at CKUT 90.3, Montreal, and the first of five parts of the work was broadcast on Radia.fm on August 22, 2022 (Show 908). -Described by Wave Farm Radio Art Fellow 2024, Austin T. Richey