- published: 19 May 2016
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The Bakongo, or the Kongo people (Kongo: “hunters”), also referred to as the Congolese, are a Bantu ethnic group who live along the Atlantic coast of Africa from Pointe-Noire (Congo Brazzaville) to Luanda, Angola. They are primarily defined by the speaking of Kikongo, a common language.
In the late 20th century, they numbered about 10,220,000.
Before the early twentieth century, there was no single name in Africa for the group; in the earliest documented ethnonyms of the seventeenth century, those residing in the Kingdom of Kongo called themselves Esikongo (singular Mwisikongo); those in the Kingdom of Loango called themselves Bavili (singular Muvili), and in other parts of the Kikongo-speaking world they had different names as well. Late nineteenth century missionaries sometimes applied the term Bafiote (singular m’fiote) to the group, though it is unclear whether the term was ever used by local people to describe their own identity. Since the early twentieth century, Bakongo (singular M’Kongo or Mukongo) as an ethnonym for all members of the Kikongo-speaking community has gained popularity. The group is identified largely by speaking a cluster of mutually intelligible dialects rather than by large continuities in their history or even in culture. The term “Congo“” was more widely deployed to identify Kikongo-speaking people enslaved in the Americas.
Come with me now
Come with me now
I'm gonna take you down
Come with me now
I'm gonna show you how
Come with me now
I'm gonna take you down
Come with me now
I'm gonna show you how
Afraid to lose control
And caught up in this world
I've wasted time, I've wasted breath
I think I've thought myself to death
I was born without this fear
Now only this seems clear
I need to move, I need to fight
I need to lose myself tonight
Come with me now
I'm gonna take you down
Come with me now
I'm gonna show you how
I think with my heart and I move with my head
I open my mouth and it's something I've read
I stood at this door before, I'm told
But a part of me knows that I'm growing too old
Confused what I thought with something I felt
Confuse what I feel with something that's real
I tried to sell my soul last night
Funny, he wouldn't even take a bite
Far away
I heard him say (come with me now)
Don't delay
I heard him say (come with me now)
Come with me now
I'm gonna take you down
Come with me now
I'm gonna show you how
Afraid to lose control
And caught up in this world
I've wasted time, I've wasted breath
I think I've thought myself to death
I was born without this fear
Now only this seems clear
I need to move, I need to fight
I need to lose myself tonight
Come with me now
Come with me now
I'm gonna take you down
Come with me now