From Congo gun runner to bassist

“Life in the Congo wasn’t the easiest, especially as a young child. When I was 15, a war broke out in my birth country.

There was a lot of upheaval, and plenty of tribal killings. Due to the circumstances, I ended up moving schools more than 16 times.

Moving from one school to another was hard. It made me lose interest, and you can imagine with all the moving, school wasn’t very popular with me. So I decided to seek other opportunities.

The country was going through a very turbulent time. I always believe that when there is an upheaval, there’s always a lot of opportunity. When people see negative, I see the positive, and so I used that to the fullest.

Because of the war, there was a high demand for firearms, and so I became a gun-runner. I used to supply the black and white people in the Congo and did three runs in Angola. It was that time as well when I started a music band, called The Titans. I was the bass guitarist. I used my guitar case as decoy to deliver machine guns and automatic rifles.

I would walk with it under the nose of the national army. It was exciting and I got an adrenaline rush from it.

I was at an age where I felt invincible. I eventually got into trouble with the authorities, however. I ended up going to jail.” (Jacques Lambiotte, Joburg)