Mbongwana Star Photo: Supplied
Nick Bollinger reviews the cosmic Congolese sounds of Mbongwana Star.
African music may be based on centuries-old traditions, but that doesn’t make it immune to innovation, and this band from Kinshasa, capital of the Republic of Congo, is proof.
Mbongwana Star’s frontmen, Coco Ngambali and Theo Nsituvuidi, were previously members of Staff Benda Bilili, the predominantly wheelchair-bound band who had been a highlight of New Plymouth’s Womad festival in 2012. I’d been sorry to learn later that the group had broken up amid financial acrimony; a cruel irony, having stuck together through years of poverty, when most of the group literally lived in Kinshasa’s public parks. But it is great to find that there’s life after that.
African music may be based on centuries-old traditions, but that doesn’t make it immune to innovation, and this band from Kinshasa, capital of the Republic of Congo, is proof.
Mbongwana Star’s frontmen, Coco Ngambali and Theo Nsituvuidi, were previously members of Staff Benda Bilili, the predominantly wheelchair-bound band who had been a highlight of New Plymouth’s Womad festival in 2012. I’d been sorry to learn later that the group had broken up amid financial acrimony; a cruel irony, having stuck together through years of poverty, when most of the group literally lived in Kinshasa’s public parks. But it is great to find that there’s life after that.
The bright dance mood harks back to the earlier band but the sonic inventions can be credited, at least in part, to Mbongwana Star’s one non-Congolese member: Liam Farrell, alias Doctor L. Irish-born and Paris-based, Farrell originally played in punk bands, but since some time in the 90s has been involving himself in collaborations with African musicians. He produced Black Voices, the wonderful solo album of Afrobeat pioneer and Fela Kuti sideman Tony Allen. And Farrell’s role in this latest project is multi-faceted. At times he’s the bass player; at other times the electronics guy. And throughout it he seems to have been hovering over the soundboard, lending an almost Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry sonic playfulness to the whole thing.
But there are a few moments when the tempo relaxes and, amid all the lunacy, you’ll find beautiful and soulful moments, like the Hendrix-meets-Mayfield ‘Coco’s Blues.’ Mbongwana Star’s From Kinshasa is soulful, playful, funky, and, at times, completely nuts. And I can’t get enough of it.
The bright dance mood harks back to the earlier band but the sonic inventions can be credited, at least in part, to Mbongwana Star’s one non-Congolese member: Liam Farrell, alias Doctor L. Irish-born and Paris-based, Farrell originally played in punk bands, but since some time in the 90s has been involving himself in collaborations with African musicians. He produced Black Voices, the wonderful solo album of Afrobeat pioneer and Fela Kuti sideman Tony Allen. And Farrell’s role in this latest project is multi-faceted. At times he’s the bass player; at other times the electronics guy. And throughout it he seems to have been hovering over the soundboard, lending an almost Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry sonic playfulness to the whole thing.
But there are a few moments when the tempo relaxes and, amid all the lunacy, you’ll find beautiful and soulful moments, like the Hendrix-meets-Mayfield ‘Coco’s Blues.’ Mbongwana Star’s From Kinshasa is soulful, playful, funky, and, at times, completely nuts. And I can’t get enough of it.
Songs played: From Kinshasa To The Moon, Nganshe, Coco Blues, Malukayi, Shegu, I Million C’est Quoi?
