Kanda Bongo Man

Whatever happened to Kanda Bongo Man?
Each successive recording of late seems to have less and less of his vocal contributions as he deigns to pass the baton to his accompanists. His previous CD Sweet which was reviewed last year was good even if it didn't recreate the supercharged soukouss glories of yesteryear. On his latest recording Balobi Kanda seems to have relegated even more musical and vocal duties to the rest of the band.

The sweet voice that so thrilled when the king of kwassa kwassa reigned supreme seems to be a frail husk of itself. Also the band seems to be fairly perfunctory a lot of the time. It's admirable that a Congolese artist of Kanda's past reputation should mine the roots of the rumba eschewing more fashionable paths, but on Balobi the music seems to be flailing around for direction. It's a shame really because the songs are good and the vocal harmonies extremely so, particularly on the title track. It's just that sum is less than its parts. I wonder what long-time fans of Kanda are thinking when they listen to this. RJ July 2003