Kimbanguist Symphony Orchestra and Chorus - Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo - December, 2000

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The Kimbanguist Symphony Orchestra 
was founded in 1994 - under the direction of the Congolese composer Diangienda Wabasolele Armand.


From its humble beginnings as a religious music group made up of male and female Christians who had a background 
in either a Kimbanguist chorus group or in instrumental music, it has grown to become a large organization 
of two hundred vocalists and instrumentalists ranging in age from 6 to 40.


Mr. Armand  is a grandson of Simon 
Kimbangu, the founder of the Kimbanguist 
Church.  He is the sixth son of 

His Eminence Joseph Diangienda Kuntima, who headed the Kimbanguist Church  from 1959 until his death in 1992.


Kimbanguism is a branch of Christianity founded by Simon Kimbangu in what was then the Belgian Congo 
(now the 
Democratic Republic of Congo). The Kimbanguist Church (fully Église de Jésus Christ sur la Terre par 
son envoyé spécial Simon Kimbangu, or The Church of Christ on Earth by His Special Envoy Simon 
Kimbangu), is a large, independent 
African Initiated Church with an estimated 5,500,000 members.  


The Kimbanguist Church was the first
independent African church to be admitted (in 1969) to membership in the World Council of Churches.









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