Um Bongo

It wasn't till I trawled through my back pages that I discovered the last time I saw Kid Congo was way back in 2010. Yet seeing him again on Saturday night it was like he'd just walked back in the room after, I don't know, making a phone call. OK, maybe he was a bit greyer and, yes, sporting a few more lines around his eyes (perhaps it was a longer than average phone call) but he was still Kid* Congo. And still as urbane as ever. Still as punchy. And just as tight as he ever was. His disciples had turned up in their droves to see one of his all too infrequent UK appearances at Nottingham's legendary Boat Club and they weren't disappointed. Oh, and he was wearing a rather fetching jacket**. Here he is from a few years back over at Seattle's KEXP.

Kid Congo Powers & The Pink Monkey Birds - Live on KEXP (2014)

 

* Maybe that's the thing about Kids; isn't Kid Jensen still a Kid despite his advancing years on whatever Smashie & Nicey classic station he's currently at the helm of? 

** About that jacket - here it is in colour.

They do it in The Congo

Like a headless ghoul, Paul McCartney roams this blog moaning and wailing and appears when you least expect him. Preparing for next Thursday's move I came across this eye catching stamp from the Republique Democratique Du Congo. It's been in my 'to frame' file for as long as I can remember. It'll have to wait 'til we get to the new place now.

But what do we know about The Congo? Well, there's this for starters:



The DROC is situated in Central Africa. With a population in excess of 70 million it has access to the Atlantic Ocean through a 25 mile stretch of coastline and the five mile wide mouth of the Congo River. Depsite over 200 languages being spoken, French is the official language. As with many African countries, it's had its fair share of wars and upheavals. And when I say war, I mean millions killed between the late '90s and the early part of this century - statistics not seen since WW2.

From 1971 to 1997, it was, of course, known as Zaire. In October 1974 its capital, Kinshasa, played host to one of the greatest sporting clashes of all time: the classic Ali v Foreman fight, aka The Rumble In The Jungle:

Great fight (Ali won it in the 8th), great record (further proof, if proof were needed, that all great bands have two drummers).