Bonga — Best Of

Here we have a twenty-track CD bringing together the cream of the crop from the back catalogue of Angolan folk and semba singer-songwriter Bonga- aka José Adelino Barceló de Carvalho.  He has been recording since the early 70s, and is seen as having one the golden/greatest voices in world music- as it blends rich/ felt soulfulness with slightly ragged/gravely edges. This compilation first appeared in 2009, and this is a Lusafica CD reissue of the release.

The CD comes in a colour mini gatefold- its front cover shows a picture of Mr Carvalho, standing in front of a bright seascape. Sadly it’s a very sparse bit of packaging- just a four-panel affair, with no booklet or liner notes- we just get tiny/ not fully dated/detailed track credits, and that’s it. 

José Adelino Barceló de Carvalho was born in the Bengo province of Angola in the year 1942.  At the age of twenty-three, he left his home country to become a track and field athlete, he ended up being the Portuguese record holder for the 400 metres.  He had sung from the age of fifteen- so this side of things had been a keen interest, and by the year 1972, he had hung up his shorts to become a full-time singer/ musician.  Since then, he has released thirty-three albums.

The compilation is seemingly not laid out in chronology with tracks from the 70s  sitting alongside those from the 2000s- which is a little odd/frustrating. But it certainly is a well-flowing collection, which gives one a good idea of the scope of Bonga’s work, and a good (enough) jumping-off point to further investigate his discography.

We open with the track “Mulemba Xangola” which finds Bongo collaborating with Cape Verde singer-songwriter Lura. It finds a blend of tightly strummed acoustic guitars, afro percussive tautness- with some wicked drum rolls, bird whistlers & bass-toned drumming. And of course Carvalho’s smooth- lightly throaty vocals, and Lura’s more dartingly soulful delivery.

Moving through the disc we have the jaunting ‘n’ jiving almost Cajun feel of “Marimbondo” with the bitter-sweet accordion seesawing, sitting alongside the rich-but-urgent guitar strum, and tight-slightly squeezing percussion. We have gracefully waltz guitar struts meet gravely soulful – yet rapid vocalising of “Barrio”.

In the second half of the compilation, we move lightly horn-touched darting ‘n’ shifting guitar/ percussion settings of “De Maos A Abranar”. Though to more gently cascading guitar strums ‘n’ struts of “Kianje” which features male backing vocals, and lovely richly felt soulful lead vocals from Mr Carvalho. The disc is finished off with three remix tracks- which are somewhat mixed in quilty, moving between sounding a little dated in their electro beat make-up, a little tagged-on/unnecessary, and just ok.

As compilations go, Best Of is a sonically well-sequenced affair and gives one a good idea of Bonga’s output. I just wish there had been an inlay booklet, or linear notes breaking down where/ when the tracks came from.