Richard Bona and Hindi Zahra

Thursday November 05, 2009

From guardian.co.uk
http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2009/nov/05/richard-bona-hindi-zahra-review
By Robin Denselow

African artists have always been particularly open to outside influences, but this concert was remarkable both for the extraordinary array of styles and the skill with which they were blended together.

Richard Bona is a distinguished jazz player who has worked with the likes of Pat Metheny and Joe Zawinul, but here the Cameroonian bassist was out to show that jazz and blues are just part of his range. He and his band constantly changed direction, from African songs to funk, flamenco, Brazilian and Caribbean influences, mixed in with quirky demonstrations of his musicianship that veered towards good-humoured cabaret. This musical kaleidoscope was held together by light bass runs that provided the foundation for guitar, keyboard and horn solos from his impressive band. Bona’s gently exquisite vocal work was equally notable.

He looked like a pop star, sporting dreadlocks and jeans, but opened with a drifting song dominated by his high, delicate voice, before showing off the band’s dynamic range with a switch to jazz funk. From then on, the changes kept coming, from the mellow African tune M’Bemba Mama to the excursion into brassy Indian styles on Shiva Mantra, and a dazzling display of musicianship and technology in which he sampled his own solo vocals, adding layers of overdubs.

It was an excellent night, too, for Hindi Zahra, a theatrical Paris-based Moroccan singer with an almost equally eclectic approach. She started out with slinky, soulful songs in English, switching to French for north African and flamenco-influenced pieces. Then she suggested that she was capable of far more, with a brief, frantic improvisation that made her sound like a north African Patti Smith. With her debut album to be released next year, Zahra promises to be a major new discovery.

African Cowboy	5:07	Richard Bona
Good Times	4:34	Richard Bona

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