Mama Africa’s Casa Museu: a home for Angolan art, music and youth

The uniqueness of Aminata Goubel, better known as “Mama África,” a former actress, respected journalist and diligent international cultural activist, welcomes us into her home – the Casa Museu. Located along the seaside of Luanda, her abode displays celebrate Angolan culture, and beyond. It is a living and breathing Angolan, and African culture.

Casa Museu is colourful and playful on the eye – curated by Mama Africa with masks, art, and instruments.

“People are here to look. Is it a hotel? Is it a restaurant, is it a house? This lady is crazy, come on,” Goubel says. “You can come visit. It’s Mama Africa. I drink and pass on culture every day of my life. I don't know how to live without it.”

She continues: “I have a cause. The cause is Africa and Africanity. A better Africa, a happy Africa, an Africa where there’s no war, no hunger, an Africa where you can see the beauty of the child's eyes, the happy smile, the woman's eyes, with her traditional clothes, her natural hair.”

Aspiring generations

Her mother and daughter also spread the message of ‘’Angolanness’’ – through mother Mama Kuiba’s cooking, and through her traditionally dressed corporate daughter, Fátima Marlene Goubel. Her daughter says her mother’s legacy has inspired her.

“What I can do is to show the young people, my generation, or the younger generation that comes after me, that it's possible to be African, to look African, to have African hair and to wear African clothes  and still be young and still be a singer, still be a doctor. You can be anything and still look African.”

Casa Museu has become a place where Young people come to consult, talk to Goubel and drink in a little bit of the culture. Visitors are also treated to a game of batuque – a popular game embraced by Angolans.

Giving Angola a voice

After four decades as a journalist, Mama Africa still plies her trade for the national radio – the Radio Nacional de Angola.

“For me, she embodies the concept that the journalist is a journalist every day. I would define her as someone who lives her daily life a way of defending and showing what the African continent is to the world,” says Luisa Rogerio, Journalist and President of the Journalist Accreditation.

Thus the importance of Casa Museu as a place of solace for all generations has been key to rejoicing in Angola’s rich history. The iconic Mama Africa is determined to pass on her rich cultural knowledge to all current and future generations.