Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
"Tour around the world - Rough Guide with Richard Bona" !, December 9, 2006
With roots in Cameroon, now living in New York City, Richard Bona has gained a reputation over the last decade for his musicianship and songs.
"Tiki " combines pop and jazz with a few African sensibilities, in other words embracing the music he listened to from afar and adding some home cooked flavor. The end result is a sound that will please fans of Paul Simon, Sting, Bonnie Raitt, and Trilok Gurtu.
"Tiki" sounds as if one was to go on a tour around the world, a "Rough Guide with Richard Bona" if you will.
"Esoka Bulu (Night Whisper)" has him entering a jazz lounge, where the evening is cool and so is the musicianship, kind of a Herbie Hancock-meets-Michael Franks hanging out with Seu Jorge.
The Brazilian influence, or I should say the African influence to Brazilian music, surfaces clearly in "O Sen Sen Sen" and "Manyaka O Brazil".
Being a bassist, Bona gets to honor one of the musicians whose music people continue to celebrate, the late Jaco Pastorius. Bona covers "Three Women" with the help of a double quartet of classical musicians, and the chilling effect brings the song to another level. He gets into some laid back funk in "Ba Senge", then reaches out to soul fans with "Please Don't Stop", a duet with singer John Legend. Legend
is able to add his finesse and style here, and when Bona himself answers back during the chorus, it is a musical exchange one wishes would happen more often in today's pop music.
Singers from Africa rarely get the kind of recognition in the Western world they fully deserve, and language can be an unfortunate barrier.
A foreign song has to be a novelty in order to be treated seriously, which in itself is funny.
Richard Bona is a first class artist with incredible music, regardless of the language, and "Tiki "works as a album to chill out to on a Friday evening after work, a romantic situation on an early Saturday morning, or simply an album to play when you want to hear real musicianship from an artist worth supporting.
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10 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A Solid Bona album, September 9, 2006
I'm just going through this CD for the first time but my take is: more of the same.
That is, once you get past the opening track, which was obviously Bona's bid at getting airplay. He shres the vocal duties on this track with someone who sings in english-it's in a funky smooth jazz vein and in all honesty it's a pretty weak effort. Thankfully, from there the album goes uphill, comparing well with my personal favorite, Reverence and his two other solo efforts. It's more of the same, but in Bona's case, more of the same turns out to be not too bad a thing.
Bona seems to have a formula-each record is a potpourri: a little afro pop, a little funk, a little folk and a bit of jazz, the inevitable sweet ballad and yes, the obligatory classically influenced string ensemble feature. It's all here, even another snappy cuban influenced number and a taste of his afro roots stuff harkening back to his first release. Even a samba...It may be a formula, but as formulas go, it's a winning one.
This is an album that will please Bona fans, but for those looking for breakthrough sounds and new territory to explore, look elsewhere. This is comfortable, extremely well produced world jazz/pop that fills a room with good vibes and infectous grooves. it may not be a main course, but it's a very tasty snack for the ears.
A later thought: After listening to this CD for a year or so, I will say that it has grown on me. And there are some stunning tracks such as track 14, which really has some innovative stuff going on, combining western classical orchestral elements with african folk grooves-lovely. Didn't mean to sound overly critical- I am a huge fan of this artist!
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Leaning towards a produced less organic sound, May 1, 2007
I've all Richard's albums and been a fan for some time. I bought this album without hesitation, especially after seeing his performance on the Mike Stern Live DVD - check this out if you're into jazz/rock!
Whilst this album is still blessed with the musical gifts that only Richard Bona has, it has leaned towards a more commercial and produced sound and I think it is mixed poorly. Gone is the lovely organic sound that just seeps through you...(Reverence is killer for this). His voice (and other instrumnents) throughout are tilted up in the high frequencies, I find it hard to relax when listening to it. Esoka Bulu demonstrates this aptly and the drum brushes are wafer thin and lack meat to the instrument. The piano sounds like a Casio 100...and I'm sure it wasn't. Calcabro De Copacabana is similar.
Also I think the songs just lack the credibility vs say Reverence which is my fave presently. 'Please Dont Stop' sounds like something that would come off a Victor Wooten album rather than a Richard Bona one. Thankfully this doesn't pervade the album except on the first track although I find Ba Senge heading in vaguely similar territory.
Overall good music generally let down by an ordinary commercial oriented mixing desk and I expect a desite to appeal to a wider mainstream audience...yes the musical message is still there but there's better than this in his previous repertoire as a total experience.
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