I left the Congo to try and find a better life in Morocco, I traveled for 7 months, by bus and train, crossing more than 11 African Countries before arriving here;
When I arrived in Morocco, they suggested me to come to the Foundation, a place where I was able to find people from my same cultural background, other musicians and where I made friends …

The Foundation has given me a lot of opportunities: to be in a quiet place where I can sing my music, to express my culture and to simply be myself.

”Placide, Congolese refugee and Singer of the band “Coton D’Afrique”, playing at the Festival Rabat Africa

Placide is one of the many musicians that every year animate the Festival Rabat Africa, organized by the Fondation Orient-Occident in Rabat in occasion of the World Refugee day. In fact, every year, the Festival welcomes musicians, dancers and artists from the most diverse cultural horizons: Africa, Maghreb, Europe, United-States, with the purpose of strengthening the value of respect within and between diverse cultural traditions. Music is central at the Festival Rabat Africa: music is the central means for the discovery of peoples’ histories, their habits and lifestyles, and for the expression of people’s own cultural traditions and trajectories. This becomes possible thanks to the contribution of all the artists that bring their journeys, talents and instruments together to concert beyond cultural, and any other, limit.