Toto Bona Lokua

Richard Bona, Lokua Kanza; Richard Bona; Gerald Toto, Gerald Toto | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (July 19, 2005)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Sunny Side
• ASIN: B0009Y2708
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #98,422 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Every once in a while an album just stops you in your tracks. Typically it comes at you from left field, bowling you over with its imaginative artistry and beauty. Such is the case with this unprecedented collaboration between Cameroon's Richard Bona, Congo's Lokua Kanza and Paris-born Gerald Toto, whose parents are Caribbean. This surprising collaboration (which sounds little like their solo work) strips songs down to a bare minimum, with the three singers alternately singing lyrics, melody lines, harmonies, and even staccato rhythms. Conventional guitar, percussion, and other instruments occasionally provide spare backing (such as on Bona's "Kwalelo" and "Ghana Blues"), but the meat of this album is always in those voices. Melding their instruments into soulful but haunting vocal calliopes, the group singing illustrates the entire range of the African Diaspora ­ Toto's "L'endormie" sounds like a cross between atmospheric electro-rockers TV On The Radio and delta blues legend Robert Johnson while his "Help Me" is stripped down soul. Undoubtedly one of the top albums of 2005. ­ --Tad Hendrickson

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars excellent collaboration, October 23, 2005

By 

K. Aaron "Surphilosophy" (Northern California) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Toto Bona Lokua (Audio CD)

I did not hear about this on NPR. For me, the tour by Richard Bona is going to coincide with a trip I am taking soon, and saw the recording as the newest release, so I bought it.

I am familiar with Lokua Kanza, as one of the most beautiful voices that I have ever heard out of Africa. Saw him live acoustic in 2002, with his backup singer only, and it was an unreal show, "chicken-skin" through most of the numbers. One of the best.

This album will haunt you, and it would be surprizing to find anyone who did not like it. Humans respond well to harmonized voices, and this CD showcases some ethereal harmonies. Enjoy..!

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellant original cd, September 19, 2005

By 

David Lowell (Riverside California) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Toto Bona Lokua (Audio CD)

This is the first truely unique cd I've purchased in a very long time. As a musician I find it difficult to find new music worth listening to however I heard a review of the CD on NPR and had to get it. Trust me on this if you have a need to listen to something that is interesting, look no further. The story is a french studio owner got the idea to bring together a few very tallented jazz artists to do a cd of origanl work. He contacted three african singers, each from different areas and all fairly unfamiliar with each other. Over a period of a week or so the three made this album. Mostly acapella (and impromptu) with the addition of some acustic bass & guitar and lite drum work. The three did all the music and the product is truely beautiful. I highly recomend this cd.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Three Times the Charm, September 18, 2005

By 

martin j. (Bridgeport, CT) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Toto Bona Lokua (Audio CD)

The first couple of times that I played Toto Bona Lokua, the songs really didn't seem to have anything special. Upon the third listen, I was blown away by the harmonic beauty and rhythmic sublimeness of each note from this amazing trio.
I went from being unimpressed to being down-right possessed! (Now, I can't get the music out of my head, or my heart - and I really don't want to.) Yes, the CD was a bit of a slow-burn, but a little patience allowed me to experience this truly unique and disarmingly enchanting piece of music. . . Just let go and listen!