Syssi Mananga is a Belgian-Congolese multiple award-winning singer-songwriter and artivist. She made her public debut with her first album, “Retour aux Sources” (Back to Roots, 2013).
Syssi Managa Biography
Mananga experiments with her songs in Lingala, Lari, French, English, and Spanish, fusing musical influences such as Kongo rhythms, jazz, soul, zouk, and pop. Having graduated from the United States as a developer. “Retour aux Sources,” her debut album, was released in 2013. Tala Ngai,” the album’s debut single, won the RFi Couleurs Talents competition.
Her career eventually developed to the rhythms of singles, collaborations, and beautiful scenes, earning her nominations in the Best Central African Artist Category in international musical awards (Kora Awards and Afrima Awards in 2016, AFRIMMA Awards in 2017, Tam Tam d’Or de la Decade in 2017) and awards for best songs (Tam Tam D’or for “Ndjele” in 2013).
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Syssi narrates stories inspired by her professional experiences and music. Ranging from the absurdity of war as seen through the eyes of a child soldier. From the daily struggle of a fisherman to satisfy the needs of her children to the significance of environmental protection.
Syssi Mananga Albums/Music
Syssi creates songs in Lingala, Lari, French, English, and Spanish. Fusing musical influences such as Kongo rhythms, jazz, soul, zouk, and pop. Syssi’s songs address issues such as pride in one’s heritage, and the folly of war as seen through the eyes of a child soldier. The fortitude to stand up for freedom, the necessity for environmental stewardship, and love and forgiveness. She has collaborated with artists from Congo, Ivory Coast, Guinea-Bissau, Cap Verde, Tanzania, Kenya, Sudan, France, Italy, Belgium, Germany, and Denmark during her musical career.
She has two albums: Retour aux Sources (2013) and Mopepe Mama (2021).
Mananga’s inspiring second album is an expressive ballad of freedom and motherhood. With one notion urging adventure and the other urging roots. Mopepe, which means “wind” in Lingala, is a mixture of the boundaries she crosses as readily as the breeze and lineages she nurtures within. Mananga is the daughter of a Congolese mother and a Belgian father. Describes herself as “a cross-border woman with a mixed heritage, in a mixed relationship”—and in the eight years since her debut album, she has also had four children with her Danish husband.
Recognitions and Awards
| 2020 | Semi-finalist International Songwriting Contest |
| 2019 | Winner Beyond Music Project |
| 2017 | Winner Beat Street Award |
| 2017 | AFRIMMA Nominee (Best Central Africa Female Artist) |
| Tam Tam d’Or de la Décennie (Meilleure Chanson Métisse) | |
| 2016 | Kora Award Nominee (Best Central Africa Female Artist |
| 2016 | AFRIMA Nominee (Best Central Africa Female Artist) |
| 2014 | Finalist Global Rockstar Contest (Africa) |
| 2013 | Winner Tam-Tam d’Or 2013 (Congo Music Award) |
| 2012 | Winner Contest Couleurs Talent de RFI 2012 |