Two Little Things
The first is that the Congolese like to sing and they sing in public. It is common to pass people walking down the street singing; loud enough to be clearly heard but not so loud as to be intrusive. They aren't embarrassed and nobody makes fun of them.
They do it and nobody cares, so I do it and nobody cares either. It is fun to run down the road singing Men of Harlech or the Greenland Whale Fisheries song. I like it.
I like it also that the people on the street here will help you if there is trouble. If somebodies or body tries to take you down or rob you, the bystanders will assist you, right now. Once I realized that, I felt much better about walking around. Of course, if the street is empty it is a different situation.
They do it and nobody cares, so I do it and nobody cares either. It is fun to run down the road singing Men of Harlech or the Greenland Whale Fisheries song. I like it.
I like it also that the people on the street here will help you if there is trouble. If somebodies or body tries to take you down or rob you, the bystanders will assist you, right now. Once I realized that, I felt much better about walking around. Of course, if the street is empty it is a different situation.
posted by Carl at 4:08 AM
3 Comments:
Carl,
We have a gift store just east of Bentonville, AR. FWIW, this is in not only the richest county in the state but one of the richest in America...there are said to be more billionaires per capita in this county (Benton, AR) than any other. Not that they shop at our store, but there's a lot of money floating around here being near the headquarters of Wal-Mart, Tyson Foods, J.B. Hunt trucking, the big Bella Vista retirement community, etc.
So I see a wide variety of people since our store's pretty much smack dab in the center of the county...we get people from every economic scale.
And in the music mix I've downloaded to play on our store speakers, I have plenty of the DRC's own (when it was the Belgian Congo) Kanda Bongo Man.
And NO one ever gives us grief about his lingala-laced tunes. The music fits right in even alongside our "Christmas mix". He always seems to brighten the mood of the store.
Glad to hear others like to sing down there as well.
Kurt:
the music here is good. it is a shame it doesn't receive more exposure in the states. Maybe you guys can see about importing things from the DRC for your store? There are a huge number of things produced here every year.
I did sing in the Shorty days. Remember when we hit turbulence, I would start to sing the theme song from Gilligan's Island....the weather started getting rough, the tiny ship was tossed....
At least that is what I was thinking.
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