Gentlemen Of Bacongo

This new photographic essay celebrates the extraordinary style of Brazzaville’s sapeurs.

It was with more than a touch of excitement that I opened up Daniele Tamagni’s pictorial essay featuring the Gentlemen Of Bacongo – an area of Brazzaville in the Republic of Congo that is the birthplace of The Societe Des Ambienceurs et des Persones Elegantes – le SAPE. In a city that has been ravaged by three civil wars since independence we get to witness a cult of elegance that operates along strict guidelines . For the sapeurs of Bacongo, style is a religion. As we see these men walk the unpaved, garbage-strewn streets of their neighbourhood in their tailored finery one is confronted with a confusion of feelings. Many of Le SAPE in this book live in poverty, they have scrimped, saved and hustled in order to acquire clothes which have made them local celebrities. It seems ironic that these dreamers, who may have saved for years to buy that elusive and exclusive suit, have been hired to advise politicians and government officials on how to dress. They are part of a refined and glamorous clique which in 2009 has a reputation world wide.

The roots of Le SAPE go back a long way. Soldiers returning to the Congo after fighting for the French in WW1 brought with them European clothes but it was one G.A. Matoua who generated both uproar and admiration by being the first ever Congolese to return from Paris in 1922, fully clad in authentic French attire. He is regarded as the first Grand Sapeur. Also, it’s generally agreed that, over in Kinshasa, Le SAPE’s commitment to European tailoring and style was a reaction against President Mobutu’s dictatorial decree that everyone was expected to dress in traditional African costume and for Mobutu that was the ‘abacost’ (“A bas le costume” – “down with the suit”).

It was back in the early Nineties, that I first encountered the SAPE. It was an encounter rooted in a passion for Congolese music. To get the cream of the Congolese rumba and soukous - Papa Wemba & Viva La Musica, King Kester Emaneya, Evoloko Jocker, Koffi Olomide, Bozi Bozania, Youlou Mabiala and the Grand Maitre Franco – you had to go to Paris. It was on one such mission that we happened upon an afternoon concert featuring Viva La Musica. The venue was a small, modern, Parisian palace of culture. Their heavenly vocal harmonies, with Papa Wemba’s distinctive voice at the core, swept up and into the gods propelled along by pristine, looping guitar riffs. But it was their look that blew us away. They were immaculately clad from head to toe in Japanese and Italian designer wear, as were the majority of the small but dedicated audience. Stino changed his clothes three times during the set! There was not a traditional piece of African cloth in the house.

This book, with an empathic introduction from Paul Smith, takes us on a fascinating journey. Gone are the excesses of Eighties designer wear. These dandies have strict rules about colour and their accessories – ties, braces and walking sticks/canes. Cigars and hand crafted pipes are also large! There is a very traditional tailored look happening in Bacongo and it puts our post hip hop, casual and sportswear-driven look to shame.

The relationship of Le SAPE to colonialism is complex. Albeit, unconsciously, these guys might give credence to a philosophy whereby the values of their former rulers is somehow better, more advanced than their own traditions. On the other hand, they live life, they embrace the thrill of style, and it needs to be stated that the urban poor in the cities of Europe have always had those individuals who invested heavily in their clothes, adopting and subverting the attire of the upper classes. The Gentlemen Of Bacongo are also part of that lineage and they’ve inspired this scribbler to get his Trickers brogues restored to their former glory and exercise some of his wardrobe that’s been sadly neglected.

Gentlemen Of Bacongo by Daniele Tamagni is published by Trolley Books.