Benin’s Consul in Liège, Dr Benoît Akando, supports Le Solfège Bénin with a donation of instruments

The ceremony, held to mark Labour Day, took place at the Le Solfège school’s premises. It featured discussions, a tour of the facilities, and the official handover of the musical equipment. Beyond its immediate impact, the gesture reflects a determination to further structure artistic learning and improve training conditions.

Behind this initiative are the Consul of Benin in Liège, Dr Benoît Akando, and Ms Christelle Knops (deputy director of the Académie Royale César Franck de Visé). Committed to developing cultural projects, Dr Akando frames this action within a spirit of cooperation aimed at fostering the transfer of know-how and supporting local initiatives. “We found a solid structure, driven by passionate people, with work already well under way,” he said, recalling his encounter with the school.

Founded by Espoir and Esther Darboux, the Le Solfège music school is now run by their daughter, Henriette Darboux. Trained in France, she chose to carry on and build up the family project in Benin. The school currently has around fifty students and offers instruction ranging from early musical awareness to instrumental practice, including piano, guitar, drums, violin and singing.

Material support rooted in lasting cultural cooperation

The donation, consisting of three transverse flutes and a clarinet, aims to improve the school’s teaching capacity. According to the school’s leaders, this equipment will help expand the range of training on offer, with certain disciplines having until now been limited by a lack of suitable equipment.

Beyond this support, the initiative is part of a broader vision of promoting music as a lever for education and empowerment. The partners emphasise an approach based on exchange, the passing on of skills, and the promotion of artistic practices. The stated goal is to create an environment conducive to the emergence of new talent and to help structure the music sector.

This initiative also opens up prospects for training, artistic creation and cultural exchange between the two countries. It reflects a determination to durably strengthen ties between institutions and cultural stakeholders, in a context where access to structured music education still remains limited for a large part of the population.