Photographer: Lamote, Carlo (1928-2017).
Title: untitled (Danseur du Mwami).
Date: 1950-1955.
Country: Burundi.
Medium: unmounted gelatin silver print.
Size: 24,1 x 18,1 cm.
Condition: very good.
Reference: CLIV1209/1.
Provenance: Collection family Carlo Lamote.
Extra: typed note with identification in French on verso.
Congopresse: 31.407/18.
Dancer of the Mwami of Burundi. These dancers are young men selected from the best families of the Watutsi nobility. They are renowned for the beaiuty of their dances, whose perfect execution requires many years of training.
Location: Gitega (former Kitega).
Photographer and cameraman Carlo Lamote (1928-2017)) left for Congo in 1950 to work for the colonial information service. For ten years, he travelled to every corner of the Congo, Rwanda and Burundi to highlight the colonial achievements. Propaganda is the name of the game, but he turned out to be an excellent photographer. Together with his colleague Henri Goldstein, Lamote has shaped our image of the Belgian Congo. Open any book about the 1950s in the colony and you will find their names under the photos.After independence, he set up his own film production company and news agency, with Visnew, ABC and CBS as regular customers. He was also the founder of Congovox, the news service of the Congolese state broadcaster.