Dennis Sassou Ngueso has been elected the President of the Republic of Congo, for the 7th term after gannering 88% of the votes, against his challenger Guy-Price Kolelas who succumbed to covid-19, before results were out
This is what we wrote about the two Congos, back in 2019!
The two Congos are captured in Franco’s song, CONGO MIBALE
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 line up 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 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 a King Leopold’s property, a colony of the Belgium, while the other was French colony
These the two towns, the worlds closest capitals and again this could be one the world’s largest metropolis, considering that Kinshasa is a city of more than twelve million people
To enter Brazaville from Kinshasa, you take a boat ride to cross the navigable Ebale Ya Zaire, a giant snake of more than 4k from the South Eastern DRC, before eventually pouring her waters to the Atlantic
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 who 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 boflo bread, never asked for the opinion of the natives or even considered their interests
That’s why Moody Awori’s brother isn’t even his fellow countryman.. The catographers who drew the boundaries of these two East African countries bisected their farm into two, making his bother Ugandan, while Moody remained Kenyan
Strangely, even non Congolese have a hard time differentiating 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 native of DRC excelled in Brazaville while some natives of 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 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 latter 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,
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 then incumbent, Pascal Lisouba
Like Uganda’s Obote, he has been president twice
DRC current president is Felix Tshisekedi who won last years’ elections. That was the very first time the country had a transition through elections
One more thing about 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 veteran journalist from Braza, my good friend Clement Ossenonde, he laughed off and told me if one is shout 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
We veered off the topic abit, but kept going, just to make it better, in the spirit of the nine imaginary stadiums someone decided to build inside his stomach, instead of five real ones in Kamariny etc
Good morning my fellow Hoof-Eaters
Source: KENYAGIST.COM