Brazzaville UNESCO City of Music Festival Series

Brazzaville became UNESCO's first African City of Music in 2013, a designation tied to its role in shaping Congolese rumba through bandleader Paul Kamba and Les Bantous de la Capitale. Rather than a single event, the status funds ongoing initiatives such as an artistic residency for visually impaired musicians and backing for citywide festivals including Les Feux de Brazza.

Brazzaville became the first African city admitted to UNESCO's Creative Cities Network when Director-General Irina Bokova named it a City of Music in 2013, a designation rooted in the Republic of Congo capital's specific claim on Central African music history: Congolese rumba itself traces to Brazzaville, where bandleader Paul Kamba and the orchestra Les Bantous de la Capitale helped shape the genre's early sound in the mid-twentieth century.