• Subscribe to our multimedia feed on iTunes

Kafka statue in our mystery city (flickr image by Eisenheim)

• one of the largest ancient castles in the world
• a so-called Lennon Wall dedicated to John Lennon’s songs
• a bronze statue of Franz Kafka
• a quirky Frank Gehry building
• a 15th century astronomical clock

hmmmmmmmm….what’s missing? That’s it! A bust of Michael Jackson.

Well, a Michael Jackson bust was supposed to be unveiled this Sunday on what would have been the King of Pop’s 52nd birthday. But there was so much controversy around it that the ceremony has been postponed. So what great Central European capital are we talking about?

… and the city we’re looking for is Prague, capital of the Czech Republic. The BBC’s Rob Cameron is there. He says the whole story started with a determined group of Michael Jackson fans in Prague.
Download MP3

Photo by AFP

• The BBC discussion and slide show

The last one died in June after 42 years in power. Now the country is waiting to find out who won the right to replace him. Three candidates have claimed victory.

Election officials in the capital Libreville are urging people to remain calm. One of the top candidates is the son of the late president. He’s got a musical career under his belt — supporters say he would be the first rapping president.

We’ll tell you more about him in our Global Hit segment. First you need to name the country in west-central Africa where they’re still waiting for election results…

That’s the answer to our Geo Quiz — Gabon.

A presidential vote was held there on Sunday. The winner gets to fill the shoes of the late Omar Bongo Ondimba. He was in power for 42 years — until his death in June.

One of the candidates now vying for the job is the late president’s son — Ali Ben Bongo. He — and two other candidates — have all claimed victory. Opposition leaders have accused the younger Bongo of trying to steal the vote.

Meanwhile, election officials in Libreville are urging calm — as they continue to count ballots. Ali Ben Bongo may be a politician now — but he’s got a past as a musician. He got his start in 1977.

He was 18 years old at the time — and went by the name Alain Bongo. His first album was called “A Brand New Man.” After releasing the record — Alain Bongo toured West Africa. He was backed up by a 30-piece American band.

Cost was no object for the president’s son. Through the years, Ali Ben Bongo also indulged his musical passion by inviting American artists to Gabon. Michael Jackson made the trip. So did Jay-Z.

And even after making the transition to politics, Ali Ben Bongo just can’t leave music behind. In fact, candidate Bongo rapped at a hip-hop festival — in front of 10,000 people. The rapping candidate may yet be proclaimed Gabon’s president.

He and the rest of the country will have to wait for the official results. But there’s no question that Sunday’s vote was historic — after four decades of rule by the elder Mr. Bongo.

Gabonese musician Lord Ekomy Ndong marked the occasion with a rap of his own — called “30-08-09.”

The sounds of Gabonese rapper Lord Ekomy Ndong close our program today.

As promised, this week’s Technology Podcast is devoid of any news, or non-news as the case may be, related to Michael Jackson. Instead, WTP 250 has a heavenly host of stories we hope you’ll find intriguing. At right is a picture of a page from one of the oldest Christian bibles in the world. It’s called the Codex Sinaiticus, and it was written in the 4th century AD. After it was found in a monestary in the Sinai, it’s various pages and fragments were scattered to collections across the world. Now, those fragments and pages have been reunited online. We’ll hear an interview with the British Library’s Head of Collection Care, Helen Shenton. The British Library is one of the partner institutions involved in putting the Codex online. We’ll also have updates on two stories we’ve been following closely in recent weeks. First, the violence in post-election Iran continues, and technology continues to play a critical role. Reporter Cyrus Farivar will update us on the global geeks who are trying to keep the information flowing into and out of the country. We follow that with a look at the violence that has flared in western China, and assess the ways and means that the Chinese government is using to control the way that violence is portrayed. We speak with Xiao Qiang, founder and co-editor of the China Digitial Times. And then we end the podcast with a lovely little story of musical collaboration. The members of Hal and the Big 5 have never actually jammed together. Instead, they’ve traded music tracks in cyberspace, and then mixed it all together. Too cool.

Remember, you can subscribe to The World’s Technology Podcast via iTunes or RSS.

We’re going to close today’s program with the recollections of a man who grew up in Liberia. Emmanuel Gardiner was in his teens when he and his family left the west African nation after a 1980 coup.

Emmanuel Gardiner lives in Boston and works as a marketing manager here at WGBH.

More Global Hits

We’re looking for a country in eastern Europe where a village may soon change its name to “Jackson.” The village’s current name is Oktyabrskoye. There’s a subtle clue in that name, even though the event to which it relates is ancient history now.

So, which country is the village in? Here’s a big clue to help you out: The country’s capital gives its name to a famous chicken dish...

Answer: The village is in Ukraine. Oktyabrskoye takes its current name from the October Revolution of 1917. You know — the one that gave birth to the Soviet Union.

The name was imposed on the village during the Soviet era, when Ukraine was ruled from Moscow. But a local lawmaker thinks changing the name makes good economic sense.

Oleg Kislitsyn says the villagers hope to create a Michael Jackson museum in an effort to attract tourists and “Jackson” is a lot easier to say than “Oktyabrskoye”.

Soul Source: Jackson Five Remixes, Vol. 2

My parents weren’t eager to turn me on to pop music. Classical…and if the mood suited them…jazz was where they directed my ears. I found pop music eventually, like kids always manage to find the candy aisle in the grocery store.

My parents did finally give me a pop album when I was ten: it was a SHARED present for my sister and me.

It was “ABC” by the Jackson Five. I’ll bet my parents thought that the title meant it was somewhat educational. And it was.

An education in soul and — when you hear Michael singing — a nod to the notion that you can start making music as early as you want:

Everyone has their quintessential Michael Jackson music. The album “ABC” remains the one for me. Apparently it remains the one for a lot of Japanese fans of Michael Jackson as well.

Including a collective of DJ’s who remixed his music. The Japanese have long been keen curators of all Michael Jackson material.

Broderick Morris is a producer who arranged several visits for Michael Jackson to Japan.

“No one does it like the Japanese fans, who wait for Michael when he arrives from the airport to the streets of Shibulia to Disneyland Tokyo, it’s just crazy and I’ve watched Michael, I’ve watched tears come out of his eyes from the love the Japanese fans give him here.”

So we leave you on this Friday with a Japanese take on Michael Jackson. It’s from a brilliant 2001 collection of all-Japanese remixes of Michael and the Jackson Five.

Here’s that unforgettable opening track on ABC…The Love You Save…remixed here by Sunaga’t Experience with a decidedly Brazilian flair.