Dispatches: Mr. A checks in from Congo

Natacha and I just got off the phone with her father, Monsieur Agbenou - Hubert to his friends - and WOW is his English getting better! I’d better start back with the Rosetta Stone French.

Mr. A  left Benin to go down to Brazzaville, Congo. He’s helping to campaign for the current president, Denis Sassou Nguesso who is running for re-election. The election takes place this month.

Don’t get the two Congo’s confused

It’s important to understand that there are two Congos, that are often confused in media reports. Mr. A is in the old French Congo ( Republic of Congo ) and not the Belgian Congo ( Democratic Republic of Congo ) where there has been so much violence of late.

Map of Central Africa, showing the Republic of Congo. 

Geography of Congo

Congo is located in the central-western part of sub-Saharan Africa, along the Equator. To the south and east of it is the Democratic Republic of Congo. It is also bounded by Gabon to the west, Cameroon and the Central African Republic to the north, and Cabinda (Angola) to the southwest. It has a short Atlantic coast.

The capital, Brazzaville, is located on the Congo River, in the south of the country, immediately across from Kinshasa, the capital of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

The southwest of the country is a coastal plain for which the primary drainage is the Kouilou-Niari River; the interior of the country consists of a central plateau between two basins to the south and north. Forests are under increasing exploitation pressure.

Natacha is from the other large city, Pointe Noire, on theAtlantic coast of Congo. Sitting right at the Equator, theclimate is temperate and consistent year round, with temperatures about 75 degrees.

A change in diet for Mr. A

The bigger news, as far as I’m concerned, is that my friend went back to Africa with a different idea about eating … derived from my table, I suppose.

Less meat. More vegetables. And, maybe a bit of an increase in the whole grains.

It’s something that can help everybody live a longer healthier life, with the added benefit of being a more environmentally sustainable model for the planet. It’s even less of a strain on our budgets to eat less meat.

Musical tradition of Congo finds its way to Cuba

The band and nightclub scene used to be pretty lively in Brazzaville, and the rumba styles that are still popular remind me an awful lot of my favorite Cuban stylists made famous within the Afrocubanisimo movement.

true watershed event popularling the Cuban version was the release of Buena Vista Social Club (1997), a recording of veteran Cuban musicians organized by the American musician and producer, Ry Cooder. Buena Vista Social Club became an immense worldwide hit, selling millions of copies, and made stars of octogenarian Cuban musicians such Ibrahim Ferrer, Rubén González, and Compay Segundo, whose careers had been damaged by the consequences of the revolution of 1959.

The swinging sounds of Les Bantos de la Capitale

The most famous group to come out of the Congo musical tradition, Les Bantos de la Capitale, and here’s a clip that, if you love Buena Vista Social Club, you’ll recognize the rythyms and tonal similarities.

I know that if I should ever visit Congo, at least I’ll feel right at home with the music.

maven