Jan 16, 2011: Sapeurs

UT found this article in the Guardian, about a book called, "Gentlemen of Bacongo".
The article calls them "sapeurs", but they look like pimps to me.



The strangest part of the story is their location, Bacongo is a small suburb of Brazzaville in Congo, Africa.
These "sapeurs" would certainly stand out in any city, but in Bacongo, "like a sore thumb", would certainly apply.



In the middle of that poverty, I can't help but wonder what these guys do for a living?
Other questions come to mind also;
Are they laughed at?
Are they envied?
Are they hated?
Are they targets?
A lot more questions than answers. :biggrinpi

I think their job is to dig a tunnel under the foundation of the castle then burn away the supporting framework of their tunnel so the castle wall collapses.

I didn't know they had castles in the Congo. Cool. How do they keep their clothes so clean?

Good link, Nirvana.

Eminent Sapeurs show greenhorn, Sapeurs, the ropes: how to behave socially, how to perfect their decorum and maintain their propriety, how to dress, how to talk, how to walk. Exalted by their community, Le Sapeurs are treated like out-and-out celebrities and wallow in the warmth of exaltation like the poseurs they indubitably are. Often paid to attend weddings, funerals and anniversaries their role is to confer events with a certain je n-est sais quoi that, inherited from an infinitely more courteous age, is entirely deficient in this the 21st Century

frog bois?

I know of these people from a BBC documentary about Papa Wemba and his influence on the fashion and music scene in Zaire (The Importance of Being Elegant).
Well worth watching if you have access to it.

Elegantly dressed people paid to attend an event in order to be decorative ... hmmmmmmmm ... ain't that usually a job for the girls?

limey;706064 wrote:

Elegantly dressed people paid to attend an event in order to be decorative ... hmmmmmmmm ... ain't that usually a job for the girls?

aka wife.

must....not ask... how much for wife.......aaarrrrghhh

: snicker :

like Geisha

I wonder if they play musical instruments or recite poetry or anything

Like Roman times

Like Beau Brummel

WARNING: THE NEXT POST CONTAINS GORE. CARRY ON.

xoxoxoBruce;705968 wrote:

...I can't help but wonder what these guys do for a living?

Apparently at least one of them is a butcher...we hope.

Or a rodeo star.


Apologies for the gore.

For your information, Congo was a place where people used to speak French and probably still do.

In French slang, the word "sape" designates clothes to be worn, at first formal clothes and then by extension all kind of clothes.

Seems like a good way to mess up your clothes - holding buffalo lungs on your shoulder.

Buffalo Shoulder..... in the heart of America
Stolen from Africa....



I'll get my coat.....

monster;707433 wrote:

Buffalo Shoulder..... in the heart of America
Stolen from Africa....

*chortle*