The funeral day began in Luanda at 9 am at the church of São Joaquim, Praia do Bispo, in Luanda, and the seats were all filled (with due social distance due to Covid-19), in a much simpler ceremony than that of Kinshasa. It had a male quartet (not always very harmonious) in the hymns and the emotional testimony of a family member from Sindika.
The first mass was in Luanda, in the church of São Joaquim, in Praia do Bispo
–
But before and until the broadcast passed to Congo, Zap, which also wanted to honor the founder and administrator, had an Angolan singer, Sandra Cordeiro, who sang from La Voce di Maria in Italian, to Girassol in Portuguese from Brazil.
Sandra Cordeiro performed several songs at Zap’s studio in Luanda
–
The Kinshasa ceremony was more exuberant and longer, despite the rain: it took place at the National Museum of the Democratic Republic of Congo and, in addition to the mass, it had many testimonies, speeches and a lot of music, from a choral group to a soloist and one of Sindika Dokolo’s favorite singers, Lokua Kanza.
Moment of tribute to Sindika in Kinshasa
–
The most solemn moment took place in the sobriety and silence of Westminster Cathedral in London, from where the body of Sindika Dokolo left for the cemetery. Profusely decorated with giant flower arrangements in the same tones as those in Luanda and Kinshasa, the church was the one with the least presence, about thirty people, due to Covid, said the priest, “but which had the assistance of many people from Angola, Congo, Mozambique and Portugal and around the world ”through YouTube.
Moment of the ceremony in which the daughter of Sindika and Isabel intervenes
–
It fell to the couple’s eldest daughter, whose name in kigongo means Greatness, as a friend of the father told us (the other names of the children mean Alegria – son of Sindika from a previous relationship to Isabel’s), Independence, Guide and Protected and Surrounded by love) read an important message. The young woman, who, unlike her mother, wore no mask or visor, read the words the brothers wrote about her father in perfect English and that of a friend in impeccable French. The youngest son said he missed his father: “I miss you Daddy, I wish I could play with you again. I wanted to laugh with you. Happy Halloween”.
The eldest daughter of Sindika and Isabel read what she and each of the brothers wanted to say about the father
–
In addition to this daughter and Sindika’s sister (made the first biblical reading), Isabel dos Santos, visibly moved, also participated, saying the faithful’s prayer: she prayed for Sindika, for Sindika’s family and friends, for Africa: “For that we have strength for the challenges and that can grow to its potential and that we are prepared to give our help ”.
From the cathedral the coffin left for the cemetery in a hearse, accompanied by half a dozen cars. Once there, Isabel and her children walked behind the coffin while Zap skipped messages from public figures, such as that of supermodel Naomi Campbell, cutting images of the graves with that of friend Lokua Kanza, who in Kinshasa played Wapi Yo – an impressive sung lament. In Kinshasa, Alexi Waku’s powerful voice sang Alleluia by Jeff Buckley while several figures sat at a long table to write in blank books, before ending with Unforgettable. In Luanda, the Zap announcer ended the broadcast with a sense “forever King”.
–
