Land of the Bigs

Hey, hey, he’s a monkey!
And people say he monkeys around
But he’s too busy singing
In the middle of México Town!

With his outlandish dance moves and carnal passion for raucous bluegrass music, Chango Con Banjo is chimply irresistible! Famous for boogying up a storm on the renowned Avenida Juárez, this funky monkey has been a real ba-boon to the tourism industry since arriving in 2017.

Beloved Méxican artiste José Sacal constructed Chango from bronze, with the aim of bringing a little levity to a chaotic corner of México City. With his preposterous proportions and oversized guitar (which appears to be a Gibbon Les Paul), this Big really is capuchin-credible!

At three metres tall, Chango dominates the streetscape and attracts of steady stream of curious, yet delighted, admirers. His madcap antics are certainly more palatable than the area’s other street performers, who consist of tone-deaf accordion players and street urchins dressed as Spider-Man.

Chango’s behaviour may be colourful, yet his complexion is anything but. He rocks an understated copper hue, which belies his extravagant personality. Call me crazy, but I think the locals should paint him orange-utan!

So popular is this hirsute heartthrob that he even dictates México City’s fashion trends. It’s not uncommon to see Chilangos of all ages strolling through the streets with gaudy monkeys perched atop their happy heads.

Bigella and I, forever the fashionistas, weren’t going to miss out, and blissfully explored the city with colourful critters cuddling our craniums.

It’s the perfect attire for a day of monkeying about in México!

Hey, Mr. Tamarin Man, play a song for me!

Whilst Chango’s bombastic message of love and acceptance comes through loud and clear, this guitar-wielding gorilla does not actually make a sound. I guess José ran out of time to wedge a bluetooth speaker within his bronzed banjo.

However, one simply needs to close their eyes, block out the noise of the passing traffic, and imagine the ebullient concoction of tunes he would play. (Please be mindful that doing so will leave you open to pickpocketing – a small price to pay for such a wholesome experience)

Monkey Wrench by the Foo Fighters. Dance Monkey by Tones and I. His cadence is a sumptuous gumbo of virtual pop-punk pranksters Gorillaz, death metal bad boys Part Chimp and rowdy, guitarless garage rock foursome The Apes. Although largely bereft of vocals, when present, they are eerily reminiscent of Bono-bo from U2.

He then launches into a medley of songs by the rock visionary Warren Zevon – namely Porcelain Monkey, Leave My Monkey Alone, Monkey Wash, Donkey Rinse, Gorilla, You’re a Desperado and the snappily-titled Monkey (which did not, surprisingly, appear on his 1992 live album, The Monkey and the Plywood Violin).

What can I say? Monkeys made Warren an Excitable Boy!

Chango’s performance is mesmerising, but would be even better if he was joined by a band primate on a marmo-set of drums!

By the way, what do you call a 1000kg brass monkey with bananas in his ears? Anything you like, he can’t hear you!