Bondeko

You can?t bottle magic. If it is ever to be repeated, it will happen organically and when the time is ripe. Which perhaps explains why we have been kept waiting more than a dozen years for the triple alliance of Gerald Toto, Richard Bona and Lokua Kanza to reconvene and record Bondeko, the belated follow-up to their acclaimed magical collaboration on 2004?s Totobonalokua. That album was hailed as a landmark in crossing boundaries and traditions and blending languages ??and ancestral cultures to create a musical portrait that was at once timeless and yet ultra-contemporary, a universal expression of the rich musical diversity of the world?s African diaspora. Although the temptation might have been strong to attempt to repeat its success with an instant follow-up, all three musicians had their own solo careers to follow and the album was left to stand alone as a one-off celebration of a unique collaboration at a special moment in time. The record they made together became a word-of- mouth sensation, particularly in France, where it sold impressively, despite little promotion and no supporting tour dates. And as the years went by and the three pursued their diverse solo projects, each of them was repeatedly asked when they were going to reunite to make another album. Although their busy schedules meant that their paths seldom crossed, the three kept in touch, as musicians do, until Gerard Toto eventually suggested that it might be time to pick up the story again. He floated the idea to Richard Bona and Lokua Kanza, who readily agreed. It took time to surmount the logistical difficulties of synchronising three very full diaries, but the three eventually found a window to come together to record Bondeko. Fittingly the word translates as ?friendship? or ?fraternity? in the Congolese language of Lingala, one of the many tongues spoken by our cosmopolitan trio. Released like its predecessor on No Format! and produced by the label?s founder Laurent Bizot, Bondeko picks up where Totobonalokua left off, yet more nuanced and finely detailed, marinated in the wisdom and experience of their individual musical adventures during the intervening years. Crafted but without artifice, virtuosic yet spontaneous, it?s a record which is both playful and profound. Sensual melodies and fluid, swaying rhythms overlap, as roots intersect and three distinctive musical personalities melt into one, their voices combining as felicitously as the exquisite harmonies of Crosby, Stills and Nash or the unique vocal layerings of Bobby McFerrin. All three drink from the profound wellspring of Africa but represent different musical streams and tributaries of its mighty river. Lokua Kanza was born in the Democratic Republic of Congo, began his career playing in rumba bands but has a conservatoire training. Over half a dozen solo albums, he has established himself as one of the continent?s most elegant troubadours and a thoroughly modern griot singing variously in Swahili and Lingala, as well as in French and English. Gerald Toto was born in France to Caribbean Creole parents from the Antilles. An audacious world music adventurer, in addition to recording his own atmospheric and experimental albums, he?s worked with artists as diverse as the Algerian rai singer Faudel and Parisian hipsters Nouvelle Vague. Richard Bona was born in Cameroon and has been called ?Africa?s answer to Sting?. The New York Times described him as combining "Jaco Pastorious?s virtuosity, George Benson?s vocal fluidity, Joao Gilberto?s sense of song and harmony.? A virtuosic multi-instrumentalist who began playing at the age of four, his 2005 solo album Tiki was nominated for a Grammy award and he?s collaborated with many of the world?s top stars from Chaka Khan and John Legend to Bobby McFerrin and Quincy Jones. Sometimes collaborative recordings involving great artists can end up disappointingly sounding like less than the sum of their parts. Toto, Bona and Kanza sound like they were born to play together. A summit meeting in which a shared sense of freedom and adventure shines out like a beacon. A trinity of voices entwined as one, multi-faceted and yet with a united vision. Friendship. Fraternity. Bondeko.