MUSICAL MOTHERLANDS

MUSICAL MOTHERLANDS

THE TWO CONGOS are captured in Franco's song, CONGO MIBALE, which translates to the two Congos.

In this song, an OK Jazz song, released on the Ngoma label in 1968, Franco shared what he thought of the two Congos. The probable lineup of the day was Franco on solo, Simaro on rhythm, and Celi Bisthou on bass. Dele Pedro on sax and Christophe Djali on trumpets. Franco sings the lead vocals as he is backed up by Boyibanda, Youlou, and Lola. The theme is colonialism. 

Franco wonders why there are two countries named Congo yet these are the same people living in the same place. The capital of DRC, Kinshasa, and the capital of the Republic of Congo, called Brazaville, lie side by side, on the two sides of the mighty River Congo, known as Ebale Ya Zaire, to the locals, probably in the spirit of brotherhood. Remember DRC was King Leopold's property, a colony of Belgium, while the other was a French colony. These are the two towns, the world's closest capitals, and again this could be one the world's largest metropolises, considering that Kinshasa is a city of more than twelve million people.

To enter Brazzaville from Kinshasa, you take a boat ride to cross the navigable Ebale Ya Zaire, a giant snake of more than 8k from the southeastern DRC. Franco laments that both sides of the river speak the same language, Kikongo, Lingala, etc, swim/bath in the same river, and dance to the same music rumba, but they are told they are citizens of two different countries and are even supposed to be feuding over the boundary, etc. He blames this anomaly on colonialism and indeed the scramble for Africa that subdivide Africa like a piece of bogle bread, never asked for the opinion of the natives or even considered their interests.

This rekindles stories of the prominent Awori family of Kenya.  Moody Awori, Kenya's one-time VP is Kenyan, while his brother isn't even his fellow countryman. The cartographers who drew the boundaries of these two East African countries bisected their farm into two, making his brother Ugandan. Strangely, even non-Congolese people have a hard time distinguishing between these two countries. In music circles, fans only know rumba is done by musicians from Congo, without bothering to check that these are two different entities, each with her own musical superstars.

When OKJ ruled in Kinshasa, Le Bantous called the shots in Brazaville. Some natives of DRC excelled in Brazaville while some natives of the Republic of Congo excelled in Kinshasa. Whereas Le Bantous had musicians from Kinshasa like Papa Noel, OKJ also had musicians from Brazaville, among them bassist Celi Bitshou, singer Youlou Mabiala, clarinet player Jean Serg, Edo Nganga, etc. Musician/ politician, Franklin Boukaka of "Le Bucheron" fame, the unofficial anthem of Africa, was a native of Brazaville and died in a February 1972 attempted coup on Marien Ngouabi who was also later assassinated.

Franklin Boukaka also did a song with a similar theme, as that of Franco's "Congo Mobale". His was titled "Pont sur le congo", translating to Bridge over Congo. The Republic of Congo has had at least five presidents, two having seized power in military coups. The current president, Dennis Sassou Nguesso was first president between 1979 and 1992 and became president again in 1997 after overthrowing the incumbent, Pascal Lisouba.

Like Uganda's Obote, he has been president twice. DRC's current president is Felix Tshisekedi who won last year's elections. That was the very first time the country had a transition through elections. One more thing about the Republic of Congo, there is an existing lie, which has been gowned and graduated into a full "truth" by years of telling and re-telling, that musician Theo Blaise Kounkou is a sibling of Allain Kounkou. When I asked a veteran journalist from Braza, my good friend Clement Ossenonde, he laughed off and told me if one shouts the name Kounkou in the streets of Braza, everyone will look your direction because the name is so common among the locals.

He said the two aren't relatives at all. Indeed, Master Mwana Congo the solo wizard is also called Kounkou. The two Congos are both home to musical gods.

By Jarome Ogola

Jabulani Radio Livestream

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