Wednesday, March 27, 2013

Bonga - Kualuka Kuetu (1983)

The sun is flooding through the windows, and one might imagine that the palm trees behind Bonga on the album sleeve are just in reach. Spring is indeed here, though the two feet of snow over the weekend and this morning's -18° F thermometer reading have dampened any enthusiasm for its arrival. Still, the fluffy white stuff, the work in moving it out of the way, and the abrupt cold have kept me off my bike, letting me focus on music and a few other important things.

Listening to Bonga is always such a pleasure. Weaving Angolan folk music with influences from other lusophone countries' cultures. Threads from Cape Verde, Brazil and Portugal abound, but where do they originate? There has been such coevolution of music that those threads are found in the music of each of those countries.

This album, from relatively early in Bonga's long career, alternates between ballads and dance-oriented sembas, with a few surprises. The birimbau in "Pió-Pió" is delicious. Listening to this great, uplifting album as I write, I realize it might not be THAT cold outside. Time to ride!

PS. This is the third Bonga album I have had the pleasure to digitize. The others can be found here!

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Sweet! I only own Angola '72, so it's nice to hear his other works. Gonna have to delve into your older Bonga posts as well. Thanks so much for spreading the joy, -john

BR said...

Thanks so much for this & for all the other great music you post. Your labors are very much appreciated.

Apurva Bahadur said...

Many thanks for sharing! Apurva from Pune, India.

Anonymous said...

Thanks very much for this. The more Bonga there is in life, frankly, the better.

Anonymous said...

Bonga is great! His music filled my heart with sun and joy.
Thank you!

Guitarradeplastico,scraping oddities said...

Thanks very much