ABSTRACT
This chapter provides general background information for those also developing – or planning to develop – research in the field of applied ethnomusicology and social development studies on the possible social impacts of music-making (SIMM). The multi-disciplinary qualitative research methodology is presented and connected with existing literature and research. It explains how this research was developed in close collaboration with local Congolese researchers, the interestingly complex realities of the research and the connections with the field of development studies. Specific attention is given to the troubled context of the lives of the research participants, their capacity for resilience and agency, and the impact of them coming of age and starting their own families. The important omnipresent place which music has in Kinshasa is highlighted, as well as the specific contexts of children fleeing/being driven from their families after being accused of witchcraft, and young men who had been members of violent gangs.
