I have been mentoring the young countertenor Serge Kakudji since I met him in 2007 in Kisangani, Congo (DRC). Since then, he has astounded me with his maturity, his spirit, his friendship and most of all, his hard work on an already prodigious talent.
Born in 1989 in the south of the Democratic Republic of Congo, Serge Kakudji has shown prodigious vocal talent since his mid-teens. There is no formal music schooling available in his home town, and insufficient vocal training at the one music school in the capitol for his talent.
From the age of 7, Serge was in a children's choir, where he started learning about the voice and became interested in classical music. When his voice changed, he found difficulty singing in the tenor range, and thus continued singing as a soprano in choir. This accounts for the beauty of his countertenor voice now as an 19-year-old. He has won accolades from all who have heard him for the beauty of tone and warm expressivity of his voice.
With the help of the Espace Culturel Francophone in his native Lubumbashi, he took part in many workshops and cultural encounters organized in Lubumbashi, as well as an atelier in Zimbabwe and a production with Faustin Linyekula in May 2007. He won many prizes, notably the "best voice of Katanga" in a competition organized by the Franco-Congolaise Alliance in Lubumbashi in 2001 and best voice in the first Festival Nzenze "Ngoma ya kwetu" Competition in 2006.
He performed in Faustin Linyekula's dance theater piece "The Dialogue Series: iii Dinozord," a co-production of the Vienna "New Crowned Hope Festival" and Brussels' Royal Flemish Theater, which was invited to the prestigious Avignon Festival in France and a following European tour. In the meantime, Serge produced and starred in an opera in swahili "Likembe Opera" which he created with break dancer Dinozord and his longtime pianist in Lubumbashi.
While in Belgium, he met my friend Fabrizio Cassol and inspired him so much, Fabrizio and Alain Platel invited him to star Platel and Cassol's next project with Ghent-based Les Ballets C de la B, Pitié (in which I also took part.) He has been on tour with Pitié, an adaptation of Bach's St. Matthew Passion, for the past year. The tour of almost 100 shows has taken him to most of Europe's capitals and secondary cities, Japan, and finished up in Greece and Kinshasa this past summer. He has gotten rave reviews playing/singing/dancing the role of Jesus in the show.
Check out Serge's blog (in French) if you are interested!
Serge is even featured on the album put out of Pitié, now available for download and sale at Cypres Records.
Here is a video of Serge in action!
Serge is mainly self-taught. I invited him for a few months to stay with my former boyfriend and me in Brussels the Spring of 2007 to look for European schools and to study. He studied privately with a theory teacher, with several voice teachers (besides myself!) and he sat in on all of our "Rake's Progress" rehearsals at the Theatre Royale de la Monnaie. He soaked up solfège during this time, and now fires off the names of notes faster than I ever could!
Best of all, Serge was very happy to be accepted to study as an irregular student at the Institut de Musique et de Pedagogie (IMEP) in Namur, Belgium where studied for a year. The program there was very methodical, it had a very small class size and the teachers were great! The only drawback was the school system in Belgium, which requires most Congolese with a high school diploma to re-do their last two years of high school in Belgium if they want to study in upper education, even for a course of study like music that teaches you from the ground up!. This is obviously not financially feasible for most, and harder still to procure a visa for. This isn't a written policy, but a de facto reality for most Congolese who want to study in Belgium. So, despite Serge winning the First Prize at the "Prix Jacques Dôme" - Vervier's International Singing Competition - competing with undergraduate singers up to 25 years of age, Serge could not continue at the IMEP. Many thanks to the Belgian Consulate at the time who helped us secure a visa to study that one year, at least, to my ex-boyfriend Jan who has continued his support for Serge and to the IMEP, for allowing Serge to study as an "irregular!"
Because he could not stay as a student in Belgium, I had advised him to study in France. (If he spoke good English, I'd advise the U.S. or England, but it would be too hard an adjustment for him, I think.)
I am happy to report that Serge has been accepted at the Conservatoire Nationale Regionale de St. Maur. He has found a lovely teacher there named Yves Sotin, with whom he works well.
However, he will still need help for funds in his studies. Singing is a long road of study. His living costs are high, as he is now in Paris. I have been paying his tuition, and everything up to this point has come out of my pocket. Although he has earned some money this year with Pitié, he has been helping his family back in the Congo and he will need the money he has made for his living expenses for the next few years.
If you would like to contribute to his musical education, please contact me at
I can not stress enough how talented this young singer is, the love he has for singing, the hard work he has already put into his studies, and the temperament and personality he shows in his performance. He deserves a chance to perfect his craft. He has a great chance to go far, but only if he can continue his studies in a good environment. Any amount of contribution would be welcome. If anyone has ideas for grant and scholarship help, they would be appreciated for the next years, as well!!! Since he is not European, he normally does not fall under the umbrella of scholarships they give out.
Best wishes,