NEWS
COLONEL BANGALA
This is Leopoldville Governor Alphonse Bangala , immortalized in Franco's 1966 song 'Colonel Bangala' which has superb sax by Verckys, equally superb soloing by Franco and Franco himself sings as he is backed by Mujos and Boyibanda. President Mobutu faked a coup to gauge who was loyal and who was not, among his top government officials. The fake coupe was headed by Bangala who recruited and sought the support of several cabinet ministers, politicians, military guys, and other state officials.
Those who fell for the trick were executed among them former Prime Minister Evariste Kimba, together with three cabinet members, Jerome Anany (Defence Minister), Emanuel Bamba (Finance Minister), and Akexandre Mahamba (Minister of Mines and Energy). They were tried on May 30, 1966, and executed before an audience of 50,000 spectators. Franco sang a song in praise of Bangala, for 'sanitizing' Kinshasa. This must've been paid for. Franco's friendship with Mobutu was erratic and they also had some commercial engagements as some of the dozen songs done in praise of Mobutu, were actually paid for.
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