Malonga Casquelourd
November 5, 1947 -- June 15, 2003
“A wonderful friend who
freely, joyfully
and expertly taught us all
how to dance.”
Please email your thoughts and reflections to
memory@epa.net to
create a Memory Book
for the Casquelourd family.
Dear friends,
I knew Malonga Casquelourd for over 25 years since he
first came to East Palo Alto and taught Congolese dance and drums. I was very
blessed to be there every day for two years when we used the abandoned
Ravenswood High School from 1977-1979. He was a very dear man and a wonderful
friend who freely, joyfully and expertly taught us all how to dance.
Because he meant so much to
people in East Palo Alto, Oakland and many other places, let’s create a Memory
Book on the EPA.net community website that we can give to his family. Please
send in your thoughts, feelings and remembrances to memory@epa.net.
All responses will be posted on
http://www.epa.net/ as they come in. Two to
three paragraphs would be a good length for submissions so we don’t have to
edit. All thoughts are welcome, even a single sentence. You can send pictures
in as well for an online gallery.
I spoke to his family and
they said that it was important to let all the people who loved Malonga know
about his sudden and tragic death on Saturday, June 14. He died in a car
accident caused by a drunken driver. See the June
16 and June
18 San Jose Mercury for the news on the fatal accident, and about his life
as a teacher, dancer, drummer and involved artist.
There was a gathering to honor
Malonga’s memory on Thursday, June 19, 2003 at the Alice Arts Center in
Oakland, his musical home for the past 26 years. Six hundred people whose
lives had been touched by Malonga came to be together and remember him. For
more ways to remember Malonga and offer support to his family go to www.congorhythms.org.
With love and respect,
Sheila Bostic
