PREPARE A POSE FOR THE LONDON FREEZE
30 APRIL 2008
LIVERPOOL STREET STATION
18.24-18.28
SPREAD THE WORD
Here’s what happened in New York:
Brought to you by Improv Everywhere...
Some of the impressive eyewear featured in the video below
A video has surfaced of Madilu System’s amazing funeral, the biggest in years. After some reverent ogling of the open-top casket, you can see some impressive crowd scenes, the arrival of various local dignitaries and pop stars and some impromptu singing.
They say a blog should have a niche. Seeing as it’s standing room only in the design and technology departments, I’m making a bid for funerals in Kinshasa....
Farewell to a legend
Sometime last year, I was listening to a rhumba band in a Kinshasa pizza restaurant. Reacting to the opening chords of the Franco classic ‘Mario’, a fellow diner of impressive girth stood up and gestured for the microphone. I didn’t recognise him, but an awestruck waiter told me that the big man had once been part of Franco’s TPOK Jazz. As he sang, he danced with one arm around the waist of a somewhat slimmer woman, like this:
He was Bialu Madilu, also known as Multi Système, Grand Pharaoh, Grand Ninja, Sa Majesté and Grande Baleine. Born in Matadi, in the province of Bas Congo, he sang with Simaro and Tabu Ley Rochereau before joining TPOK Jazz. Sadly, he died on Saturday, and all of Kinshasa is in mourning. Radio stations have been...
Papa Wemba, King of Rumba, dressed for the occasion
MAG and UNICEF have had the bright idea of signing up Congolese music legend Papa Wemba as their Ambassador against Landmines.
I have a great video clip of the dapper gent performing Show Me the Way at the ceremony last night, and will seek have permission to show it here, in the name of mine action diplomacy :...
A female mountain gorilla carries her child on her back. Kahuzi Biega national park, South Kivu
It was admittedly a self-indulgent New Year’s resolution, but I’m nonetheless pleased to have fulfilled it so soon. Actually, I was supposed to meet some gorillas in 2006, but somehow never got around to it.
Their bulk is impressive, but they were untroubled by our presence, more interested in munching leaves and sheltering from the rain.
You can watch the big silverback having his veggie breakfast while junior practices his ballet moves here. (If you listen carefully, you can here the frenzied beeping of a Uruguayan peacekeeper’s camera. There was just no stopping him.)
More info about the park and its conservation challenges here and here....