00:00A few days ago, the sappers of the Congolese capital commemorated the memory of the father of Saap.
00:06Several dozen sappers gathered at the grave of Stevosniakos, who died 31 years ago
00:13and whose 1989 song, La Religion Akitendi, elevated the pursuit of fashion to a way of life.
00:22Normally, Saap is an art and a culture, but our authorities neglect it and don't want to give us any
00:29value.
00:30Give us a good place or talk about it.
00:38Saap is an art and a state of mind, and the way it is presented here now is art.
00:46Wearing a top hat and carrying a feather umbrella,
00:50a sapper strikes a pose perched on a low wall along a boulevard in the heart of Kinshasa.
01:00A sapper is someone who is creative, someone who works hard.
01:05A sapper can even sell flowers, earn money to buy new clothes, send their children to school, etc.
01:11Today, Coco Linguala is an African sapper, a modern sapper.
01:15I am in a world of creation, invention and manufacturing.
01:18Create your own brand and wear it.
01:20So, I created it, and today, people wear it.
01:24Mate Kassabeshu, one of the few female sappers present,
01:28came from Brazzaville, the twin capital on the other side of the Congo River,
01:32and has benefited a lot from the sap art.
01:36Many haven't had the same opportunities that I have had.
01:40I thank God because I haven't been in the fashion industry for very long,
01:44but I have had a lot of success.
01:48I have modeling contracts and lots of other things
01:51that have given me a value that I might never have achieved in my whole life.
01:57It's helped me a lot.
02:03LASAP, the Society of Ambience Makers and Elegant People,
02:06is a clothing identity movement that began during the colonial era in Brazzaville,
02:11then in Leopoldville, the former name of Kinshasa,
02:14when young people began to adopt and repurpose the clothes worn by the colonialists.
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