Customer Reviews

Amour Fou / Crazy Love

5 star:		(3)
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I discovered Kanda Bongo Man after researching the history of soucous and exploring the variety of forms soucous takes, created by various artists. The web allowed me to review quite a few styles by soucous artists, most of whom reside in France and in Africa. Prior to hearing Kanda Bongo Man, I ranked Yoko Enzenze the best -- this is no more. Kanda has more zest. Great music to get mindless to. Highly recommended. This music is the exact opposite of Death Rock. Enjoy!

This is definitely one of my favorites in a very large collection of afro-pop. I bought the LP when it first came out in the late 80s then upgraded to the CD when the vinyl was worn out. High energy dance music (good for listening to while cleaning the house!). I just love these classic soukous, which start out slow then pick up the tempo about 1/2 through the cut, i.e. when the percussionist, lead and rhythm guitarists launch into the "seben". Amour Fou and Bayembi are nice long tracks which just soar. You will, too. Diblo "diamond fingers" Dibala's arpeggio style solos have never been better. Astounding speed, accuracy, and sensitivity on the frets. I get a kick out of Kanda when he stands back during the solos and shouts encouragement. I read somewhere that he asked Diblo to slow down during the recording session!

I've been a fan of Congolese music since I heard Shaba Kahamba by chance one morning on a public radio music show. I've been hooked since, and Kanda Bongo Man has become one of my favorite artists. I was totally blown away by this album - I bought most everything of theirs on Itunes, and got the suspicion that some of their work was out of print (as unfortunately is the case with so much music out of Africa). Sadly, many many incredible African artists got screwed over by their European record labels - damn, what a frickin surprise.

I luckily got this CD for a good deal here on Amazon. Every single track pops out and is ridiculously good, without a doubt the best Kanda Bongo Man record I've come across and possibly my favorite Congolese record ever. If you like Congolese pop, buy this record, whatever the cost. It's that good.