hello, music world, richard bona has done it again, this time he has topped himself and he gone 'solo' and by that i mean is his nu cd 'ten shades of blue' does not feature his usual band members but he has basically created new music on his own and 'popped round the world' (that's an ode to patrick oke a radio dj in the 80s naija radio) and explored nu beats, sounds and nuances.Ten shades is basically ten ways of interpreting the BLUES.
Where do i start from, he kicks off at the indian sub continent and experiments with indian sound and cooked up the brilliant 'shiva mantra' and boy does it work while not losing his african sensibility. 'shiva' is complete with sitar,tabla, ganijira and a beautifully work indian vocal percussion and underpinning it all bona's vocals and music. On 'Good Times' we has the vocal excellency of Frank Mc comb (one of the probably most ignored and underated singer /songwriter of this generation) and Gregoire maret(harmonica)also features on this song bringing out the essence of the blues and so giving it the stevie wonder vibe.Mbemba Mama is a tribute to mothers.all other songs are exploring the blues from all musical angles and infusing various musical instruments from fiddles, banjo tablas, organs ,harmonica,fula flutes etc.
This is probably in my humble opinion bona's best cd to date and i can say that because i have all his cds and coincidentally this nu cd marks 10 years of recorded music from him. he has come a long long way from 'scenes from my life' his first cd . musicians featured are Jojo Kuoh (Camerounian drummer from Fela kuti band) for the afrobeat effect on african cowboy and souleymane,Gregoire Maret -harmonica , shankar mahadevan, nandini srikar ,vivek rajgopatan,satyajit talwalkar on vocals and vocal percussion to mention a few
bona would be in concert at the barbican centre london on the 2nd of november 2009 and hopefully i should be there.
I have had this cd on repeat ever since i have had it, the more i listen the move i am loving it. the one song i am loving the most is track 8 esukudu what kills me is the vocal arrangement from 3.40 into this song and boy to describe it in one word .... peace
Saturday, October 10, 2009
Friday, October 02, 2009
the estatic
friday 2nd october 2009
bu's sleeping, wifey is out, fola and seun upstairs xboxing or something
mos def's nu cd 'the estatic on rotation
i want to try and write something about this cd while it plays and hopefully i will get some inspiration.Firstly, it sounds very middle eastern but funky. dante smith has always pushed the boundaries both in hip hop and acting and also as the host of def poetry jam, the broda is a real reniassance man, music, film and poetry.
produced mainly by madlib and his kid bruv oh no, yes you heard right oh no (black people i hear you say) and yes we also have another producer nicknamed NO ID !!
i still can't find anything to write about the cd but just to keep it short its different and i will stop there but if you like your hip hop different, cop it
guests Fela kuti , rick the ruler, talib kweli
peace
The guardian says
bu's sleeping, wifey is out, fola and seun upstairs xboxing or something
mos def's nu cd 'the estatic on rotation
i want to try and write something about this cd while it plays and hopefully i will get some inspiration.Firstly, it sounds very middle eastern but funky. dante smith has always pushed the boundaries both in hip hop and acting and also as the host of def poetry jam, the broda is a real reniassance man, music, film and poetry.
produced mainly by madlib and his kid bruv oh no, yes you heard right oh no (black people i hear you say) and yes we also have another producer nicknamed NO ID !!
i still can't find anything to write about the cd but just to keep it short its different and i will stop there but if you like your hip hop different, cop it
guests Fela kuti , rick the ruler, talib kweli
peace
The guardian says
Thursday, October 01, 2009
songs and stories
Today happens to be the independence day of my homeland nigeria,naija or nja whateva you might wish to call it , we are 49 years old !! happy indepedence day nja
The title of this blog is songs and stories which happens to the title of GB's new cd (for the uninitiated) that's george benson!! Was at Bond street 2 days ago and dropped by HMV like i normally would browsing and this cd caught my eye, i first thought it was a greatest hits but on closer inspection found out it was his new offering and what made me actually buy it was the fact that it was co-produced by the 'superman' of bass M2, Marcus Miller and that for me was worth the £10 i paid for it.
It's essentially a cover cd featuring songs sang and written by donny hathaway 'someday we all be free', james taylor 'dont let me be lonely tonight', the troutman brothers (roger & larry popularly known as zapp band) 'nothing but a party', toto's- show me love 'christopher cross 'sailing', Tony Joe White's 'rain night in georgia and the marcus miller original 'exotica' and much more .
Honestly, i seriously think george is BACK not that he left anyway, cos i dont think he can make a bad cd, even if he tries and dont forget he's been around a long, long time and i mean like 40 years or more playing music.This cd features the complete george and what i mean is that we get him singing ,scatting and guitaring ...the 'gb way' on his ibanez guitar, and the total package is let loose on the marcus miller penned 'exotica' and also on track 11 living in high definition(lamont dozier) which too me is purely joy and not forgeting the smokey robinson gem 'one like you'.This song should be filed under instant classic and it features the great man on backing vocals
His more recent cds have really understated his genius on the guitar and i think songs and stories take us back his 'breezing' and 'masqurade' days and the george benson we all fell in love with back in the 70's and early 80's (boy i am growing old)
highly recommended and a must for gb or music lovers
please visit http://georgebenson.com/ for more information
The title of this blog is songs and stories which happens to the title of GB's new cd (for the uninitiated) that's george benson!! Was at Bond street 2 days ago and dropped by HMV like i normally would browsing and this cd caught my eye, i first thought it was a greatest hits but on closer inspection found out it was his new offering and what made me actually buy it was the fact that it was co-produced by the 'superman' of bass M2, Marcus Miller and that for me was worth the £10 i paid for it.
It's essentially a cover cd featuring songs sang and written by donny hathaway 'someday we all be free', james taylor 'dont let me be lonely tonight', the troutman brothers (roger & larry popularly known as zapp band) 'nothing but a party', toto's- show me love 'christopher cross 'sailing', Tony Joe White's 'rain night in georgia and the marcus miller original 'exotica' and much more .
Honestly, i seriously think george is BACK not that he left anyway, cos i dont think he can make a bad cd, even if he tries and dont forget he's been around a long, long time and i mean like 40 years or more playing music.This cd features the complete george and what i mean is that we get him singing ,scatting and guitaring ...the 'gb way' on his ibanez guitar, and the total package is let loose on the marcus miller penned 'exotica' and also on track 11 living in high definition(lamont dozier) which too me is purely joy and not forgeting the smokey robinson gem 'one like you'.This song should be filed under instant classic and it features the great man on backing vocals
His more recent cds have really understated his genius on the guitar and i think songs and stories take us back his 'breezing' and 'masqurade' days and the george benson we all fell in love with back in the 70's and early 80's (boy i am growing old)
highly recommended and a must for gb or music lovers
please visit http://georgebenson.com/ for more information
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