American Jazz Legend "Louis Armstrong" swings in the Congo

October 1960, American Jazz legend "Louis Armstrong", then US State Department's goodwill ambassador, makes a grand tour of Africa, sponsored by Pepsi-Cola International, to promote the opening of five new bottling plants in West Africa. In Leopoldville, now Kinshasa of the then newly independent Republic of Congo, Louis was met by drummers and dancers and carried on a throne. The band later also appeared in Elisabethville at the time the independent state of Katanga of President Moïse Tshombe. Upon his arrival, somewhat miraculously, the war stopped and the warring parties declared a one-day ceasefire, with large crowds welcoming Armstrong as he passed through the city. Reports estimated that Armstrong played for over 175,000 people in the Congo.

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