IMN - International Music Network

When Richard Bona’s new album Ten Shades Of Blues appears this autumn, ten years will have gone by since his first project, Scenes From My Life (released in 1999), a whole decade. In the case of Cameroonian bassist and singer Richard Bona, it’s not so easy to condense a decade into just a few short lines because the man is such a multiple character, with many lives impelled by his permanent curiosity and desire to play. And each of these traits lies at the heart of his latest recording to date, an album devoted to the blues and “its key notes that can be recognized in all cultures.” So here we have a new album open to all kinds of encounters, a record on which Richard Bona is our guide taking us on a tour with his Indian, country and jazz musicians to the four corners of the earth…

“I like each of my albums to have a theme, a project behind it. This time I chose the blues. I look at the blues from the universal angle: you can find it in Africa, in America and in India. People put a style to it, a style with guitar and vocals. But I see it first as a scale, one that’s present in different traditions and expressions in music. Ten Shades Of Blues means ten nuances, ten different ways of playing the blues.” So Richard Bona put this new album together in the way that some people prepare a world-trip. “I went to Madras, and Bombay, and Nashville, and New York. Each time, I was playing with guys I’d played with before at some point.” How does he define the blues? “A few notes where each one has the strength to reach out and touch you. They’re present in all kinds of popular music everywhere in the world, they resound in people’s hearts. There’s also a particular way to play them and join them together.”

Ever since his solo debuts in 1999, Richard Bona has defended the idea of music that’s universal: generous and accessible to all. He was born in 1967 in Minta, a tiny Cameroon village, into a family where both his mother and grandfather were singers. Richard was playing the balafon by the time he was four, and then he taught himself to play the guitar. Later, in the capital of Douala, a jazz-club owner played him records by bassist Jaco Pastorius; Richard decided he’d teach himself to play the bass as well. In 1989 he went to Europe, living in Germany for a while before moving to France to complete his bass education. He took lessons for some seven years in Paris, and at the same time he became a familiar figure in the capital’s clubs, where he met Didier Lockwood and Marc Ducret, and the Africans Manu Dibango and Salif Keita. “It was a very formative period; I was meeting people whose styles varied.” In 1995 Richard went to New York. For the next few months he visited the city’s famous jazz clubs and worked with Michael and Randy Brecker, Pat Metheny, Larry Coryell, Mike Stern, Steve Gadd, Joe Zawinul, even singer Harry Belafonte. Richard Bona suddenly had a reputation for being one of the best bassists of his time, and by now he was also giving people a glimpse of his other talents as a composer and singer. A solo career was beckoning.

Scenes From My Life was released in 1999. It was followed by Reverence (2001), Munia: The Tale (2003), Tiki (2006, with John Legend and Djavan) and the live album Bona Makes You Sweat in 2008. The musician found his audience immediately: his brio as a fluid instrumentalist made everything seem easy, and his slender singing-voice had real melody; coupled with these musical talents were his gifts as a natural showman, for Bona appeared to be born for the stage. Above all, his compositions naturally took in different sources: Africa, jazz, fusion… Bona was still highly sought-after as an instrumentalist, and he regularly received calls from some of the greatest musicians, including the late Joe Zawinul, Mike Stern and Larry Coryell. His reputation went beyond jazz and world music however, and he caught the attention of such stars as Bobby McFerrin, Paul Simon, Chick Corea, Chaka Khan or George Benson. In 2004, Richard Bona joined his talents with those of Lokua Kanza from the Congo and Gerald Toto from Martinique, and together they released TotoBonaLokua.

Far from slowing down his rhythm, Bona the globe-trotter has maintained his pace, and one look at his 2009 schedule is enough: a tour with Sylvain Luc and Steve Gadd last winter, plus dates with Bill Evans and his group Soulgrass, a summer of festivals alongside Richard Galliano (with Gonzalo Rubalcaba and Clarence Penn)… all this activity shows that Bona has remained an eclectic. “Frankly, that’s why I do what I do. I get bored when I stay inside one format; once I’ve done it I want to move on to something else. Why wouldn’t I? I feel like a student, in the sense that I know what I don’t know.” Ten Shades Of Blues, Richard Bona’s fifth studio CD, synthesizes his thirst for new things, even if Bona’s unmistakable stamp can be heard after just a few bars: “It’s my role to make all this coherent. It wouldn’t be nice for the listener to zip from one mood to the next if there wasn’t a link.”

Richard Bona gives you his take on the intention and feeling behind each song from his album, track by track:

Take One: I wanted to open the album on my own over a vocal theme. Singing is the basis of the blues: people expressing their pains and joys. This is sung a capella, but without lyrics; I just sing the notes I’m playing on the guitar. And Take One is a nod in the direction of the Take 6 vocal group.

Shiva Mantra: This is an invitation to meditation. I recorded the street-sounds in New Delhi. The blues is a religion in India. The title is an incantation meant for the goddess Shiva, who’s worshipped by everyone over there. I recorded the tune in Bombay, added percussion in New Delhi, and we recorded the singer in Madras. I’d met all of these musicians on previous tours: Shankar Mahadevan and Nandini Srikar sing vocals; Vivek Rajgopalan plays the mridangam, a little finger-drum, and the ganjira, a kind of tambourine, and also sings konnakol (vocal percussion); Satyajit Talwalkar plays the tabla and also sings konnakol; and Niladiri Kumar plays the sitar.

Good Times: I feel close to urban blues and soul in America, close to artists like Donny Hathaway. Here I’m accompanied by Frank McComb, an excellent singer I’ve known for several years. I played bass on his first album.

M’Bemba Mama: I wanted to pay a tribute to all mothers, including mine. The title means “The tears of the mother”. It’s not necessarily sad. These are the joys and sufferings of a mother: they’re there to protect us all their lives. Playing with me here are Sylvain Luc (guitar), Jean-Michel Pilc (piano) and Obed Calvaire (drums).

Kurumalete: This is the name of a sorceress. In Africa, when someone dies, they invoke a sorcerer. In fact, here I’m asking people not to hide systematically behind their beliefs, but accept destiny rather than looking for whoever’s responsible or some spell. When I was little I heard this phrase, “If you don’t stop crying I’m going to call Kurumalete.”

Souleymane: The story of a boy with bad manners.

African Cowboy: This is me, a little bit. My life. Ryan Cavanaugh, a Texan, plays banjo, and Christian Howes is on violin. They come from country music. I love that music. The banjo’s one of our instruments also. And there again, country music uses the notes of the blues.

Esukudu: The word means a school. I’m asking young people not to overlook the need to learn and better themselves. I’ve been lucky enough to meet musicians in France and America who’ve taken me forward. Exchanging with people from other cultures is most important.

Yara’s Blues: Yara is the name of my wife. I wrote the lyrics in Duala and a friend of mine translated them from Duala into English.

Sona Moyo: This song is for my brother-in-law. Where I come from, the brother-in-law has to provide a dowry. Today it’s a camel or a sheep; before, it was cashew-nuts or tobacco… But this guy’s from Brittany!

Camer Secrets: On this composition, the first beat moves systematically. Before, people in Cameroon used to dance to that. Today very few people know how to follow these composed rhythms. So that’s where the title comes from, the secrets of Cameroon.