The other side
I feel obliged to write something about Luanda, the capital of Angola. It's one of those places packed with contrast and other interesting things to write about. I was there doing a couple of shows, and we were extremely well hosted, so I kind of saw the rust behind the paint but I only really experienced the thick coat of shinny colorful paint. What most people know about Luanda is that it's one of the most expensive cities in the world, well I'm here to narrow things down by stating that it probably rates among the 3 most expensive cities in our solar system. Theoretically it might have something to do with the ridiculously large sums of American Dollars floating around due to investments and other monetary injections. I think one would have to be at the Range Rover factory in England to see as many of those cars as the average citizen of Luanda sees everyday. Don't get me wrong, it's not just Range Rovers roaming the streets, there are millions of cars, probably because fuel is comparably cheap there, and this abundance makes traffic chaotic. (See picture below, and trust me, it gets much worse) Next to all these cars, the average inhabitant, when he's not inside a mini-bus, is walking like he has some place important to get to. It's that type of city.
But I digress. I didn't want to write about such contemporary African phenomena, I wanted to write about places, music, familiar accents, people, and other things that make this particular city so similar and yet so different from Maputo, the city where I grew up.
Besides the obvious similarities that stem from both countries having been colonized by the Portuguese, having achieved Independence sort of at the same time, and not much later gone through civil war for a good couple of years, Luanda, Like Maputo but in a much more steroid driven form, is currently going through a structural regeneration process. But many locals believe that this regeneration isn't necessarily a good thing. All sorts of things are happening, like old buildings being demolished to give way to Wall Street style skyscrapers. I understand the need to build new, but why not expand the city instead of getting rid of what's already there? People informally did it with the thousands of shacks that surround the city. Why get rid of things that have historical meaning? Crap, I'm doing it again! I really don't want to write about these issues.
OK, our first show was at a place called Miami Beach located on the Ilha de Luanda (Island of Luanda). It's not really an Island, it's a thin peninsula that became the entertainment strip of the city. I'll call it New Luanda, and it caters for tourists and locals who are financially privileged. It's still a pleasant place to spend a few hours having a drink looking at the ocean. Many drinks later you might even feel like you're in the real Miami. The other end of the spectrum is the Elinga Teatro, the second venue we performed at. I'll call it Old Luanda, and this one caters for a diversity of patrons, from poor to rich, black to white, tourists to locals, and that's what makes the atmosphere inside the place so splendid. It's a really old building under constant threat of demolition from the municipality. The people who take care of it have managed to fence off these attempts for about three years but everyone knows that sooner or later, under the hammer of the powers that be, those walls are coming down.
In the midst of the surprising turnover our show had we spotted a couple of Angola's most gifted MC's, together they're a collective know to the world as Conjunto Ngonguenha. The Conjunto is made up of: MC's Keita Mayanda and Ikonoklasta, MC/Singer/Musician Leonardo Wawuti and MC/Musician/Producer Conductor, of Buraka Som Sistema fame. Many of the songs also feature the talented MC K. It's relevant to mention them not only because they're full of talent and their music is really pleasant and inspiring, but because they've designed a lyrical Satire that unfolds like a movie, helping anyone who's curious to know more about Angola, it's good things, bad things, the day to day life, the funny and the sad. Because of this and more, to me they offer, alongside a select few others, the best contemporary Hip-Hop made in Africa right now. Yes, the formula is so well crafted that it applies to most African countries. I know the template works for Mozambique because we share many of the same truths and lies. Unfortunately the music loses most of it's charm if you don't understand Portuguese. (Below you can listen to two of their songs)
I better finish this post before it gets out of control again and because this has become much longer than I originally planned. Sorry, and by the way, If you like what you hear you can download their debut album here, at least while the link is available.
* The pictures are courtesy of the internet. The songs are courtesy of Conjunto Ngonguenha
