Bonga - Bairro (2008)

Barcelo de Carvalho, better known by his "Africanised" name of Bonga, has had a long and intriguing career. He's a sportsman who left Angola during the colonial era to become an athletics champion in Portugal, while at the same time working under his second identity as a singer and activist supporting the struggle for Angolan liberation. Not surprisingly, his double life was discovered and he was forced to flee, becoming a musical hero back in Africa while living as an exile in Holland and France. Like that other great Angolan veteran Waldemar Bastos, Bonga developed a hybrid style though, in his case, Angolan semba is mixed not with Brazilian influences but with sad-edged morna from the Cape Verde islands or with Congolese dance music. He's now in his mid-60s, but his soulful, husky voice is as distinctive as ever on this new set, on which he's composer, arranger and producer. The songs are backed by rippling acoustic guitar, accordion and his own work on harmonica and dikanza, an African percussion instrument made from bamboo. They range from the soulful lament of the title track to the lilting West African soukous dance work-out Mana Minga. Bonga deserves a far larger following outside the Portuguese-speaking world.