Munia: The Tale

Munia: The Tale

ASIN: B00009XBXJ

Editorial Reviews
Product Description
The beauty of music and instruments has intrigued Richard Bona since the days of his childhood in the Minta village of Cameroon. As a young boy in West Africa he made his own wooden instruments and performed as a singer and multi-instrumentalist for various religious ceremonies, weddings and celebrations in his village. Appropriately dubbed, "The African Sting", Richard Bona has been showcasing his West African inspired genius all over the world for the last 15 years. His unique style is situated at the crossroads of a horde of influences - jazz, bossa nova, pop music, afro beat, traditional song and funk. This fusion in conjunction with Bona's poignant voice is what constitutes his latest release, Munia (The Tale).

Munia, which means "tale" in the Douala language, tells its own eclectic musical story that could only be authored by Richard Bona. The album is packed with a variety of flavors, which include tropical rock, "Balemba na Bwemba", rhumba "Couscous" and an exhilarating fusion piece "Engingilaye". Collaborations with notable musicians like Salif Keita (vocals), Djely Moussa Conde (kora) and Bailo Ba (traditional flutes) on the zesty "Kalabancoro" or the virtuoso Romero Lubambo on the acoustic guitar on the vivacious bossa nova "Bona Petit" complete with Bona singing in French make Munia a world classic.

Munia: The Tale,Richard Bona,Verve,Contemporary Jazz,Jazz,Jazz Music,Pop,World Fusion

Average customer rating:

A MUST HAVE!

Multifaceted.

Amazing

Another great CD. Spread the word!

Matured Richard Bona

Munia: The Tale
Richard Bona
Manufacturer: Verve
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | International | Styles | Music
General | Jazz | Styles | Music
Jazz Fusion | Jazz | Styles | Music
Verve | Verve Music Group | Specialty Stores | Music
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ASIN: B00009XBXJ
Release Date: 2003-09-30

Tracks:

Bonatology (Incantation)
Kalabancoro
Sona Mama
Painting A Wish
Engingilaye
Dina Lam (Incantation)
Balemba Na Bwemba
Muto Bye Bye
Bona Petit
Couscous
Playground

Album Description

The beauty of music and instruments has intrigued Richard Bona since the days of his childhood in the Minta village of Cameroon. As a young boy in West Africa he made his own wooden instruments and performed as a singer and multi-instrumentalist for various religious ceremonies, weddings and celebrations in his village. Appropriately dubbed, "The African Sting", Richard Bona has been showcasing his West African inspired genius all over the world for the last 15 years. His unique style is situated at the crossroads of a horde of influences - jazz, bossa nova, pop music, afro beat, traditional song and funk. This fusion in conjunction with Bona's poignant voice is what constitutes his latest release, Munia (The Tale).

Customer Reviews:

A MUST HAVE!.......2006-10-02

In 2005, I saw Munia: The Tale on a friend's desk in his record label office in France and asked him for a copy. He gave it to me and I haven't stopped playing it since. Even though it may not be at the top of the list, it is a recurrent favorite and gets a couple of spins per month. This is Richard Bona at his best. It captures who he is better than all of his other records. Start here if you're new to him. I'll buy your CD back from you if you don't find some inspiration and awe in this one. Munia changed my life.

Multifaceted........2005-09-03

"Munia" is the third album by bassist/vocalist/multi-instrumentalist Richard Bona. Proving himself again not content to rest on prior successes of "Scenes from My Life" and the stunning "Reverence", Bona keeps reaching in different directions, for different sounds, and with different collaborators. The result-- his albums are never boring, nor are they ever repeats of previous records, but sometimes he misses a bit.

"Munia" starts off well enough, opening as did the previous record with an a capella piece featuring layered harmony vocals before bleeding into a funky, laid back groove on the stunning "Kalabancoro", featuring vocalist Salif Keita. But this sound isn't one Bona pursues largely on the record-- instead he explores two directions-- an electric jazz mode and an acoustic guitar mode.

The electric jazz material works quite well for me, from Miles Davis tribute "Painting a Wish" to the lovely closer "Playground". The former is a delicate, lovely and organic piece featuring Kenny Garrett turning in a superb soprano sax performance and some lovely work from Bona, the latter finds Bona shedding his Jaco Pastorius update sound in favor for a Marcus Miller slap-n-pop melody statement (although he delivers a smoking fingerstyle solo). Admittedly, "Engingilaye" has an ugly smooth jazz feel to it that makes it just too pop and too clean for my tastes.

The acoustic stuff though I find of mixed quality, many of which are largely unexciting ("Sona Mama", "Couscous"). Probalby more critical is the repetitive nature of some of this material on the record-- the songs pretty much blend into each other. But still, there's a couple really stunning moments-- lovely fingerpicked ballad "Dina Lam" features a vocal so totally infused with pain that it is palpable, and lullabye-ish "Muto Bye Bye" is sweet and playful before bleeding into a great jazz sound with brushes and lovely bass work.

All in all, a mixed bag from Bona-- I applaud his bravery in trying different sounds and his virtuosity is never a question, but "Reverence" is a better effort.

Amazing.......2004-02-27

i love Richard Bona's latest effort, Munia: The Tale. After listening to him with Bobby Mcferrin on Beyond Words, i loved his lyricism on the bass. Then in the summer, i had the pleasure of seeing him live as a guest at a mcferrin concert in montreal. His voice is amazing and its really in view on this cd. Bonatology is a beautiful introduction that really hooked me and made me want listen to every song without skipping.

Im glad that he is getting more (but still not enough) recognition after touring with Metheny. so get this cd, or any other Richard Bona cd, you won't regret it.

Another great CD. Spread the word!.......2003-11-20

I first became aware of Richard Bona from his rendition of "Redemption Song" on Lee Ritenour's "Twist of Marley" CD. After that, I discovered he had performed with other artists I like, such as on Bob James's "Joyride."

Since then, I've bought each of his CD's. Unlike some other reviewers, I don't necessarily think this is my favorite, but it doesn't matter. It's still great. You don't need to understand Richard Bona's words; his voice (like an angel's) and music convey the feeling and meaning of his songs.

I wish more people knew about him. Whenever I can,I turn people on to his music.

Matured Richard Bona.......2003-11-18

The 1st cd got people talking bcos it was good. The 2nd album was a bomb but for me it sends me to sleep because of the softness of the music.But this cd is a "MUST HAVE" because it's very matured & full of swinging nicely done tunes which is something a little bit different from all the other albums.Listen to " Bona Petit" ....Mama, & other songs they show maturity,great vocals, higher quality of music. Ofcourse he tries to fuse African sounds & morden instruments to a good extent he succeeds to make an impression & sticks to the formular...listen to the African horn at the beginning of one song of the songs.People must accept that even though this is an African artist from Cameroon, these guys are no longer playing kora, ngoni,djembe etc in their music they have become very much part of a Westernised music in a good way & have tried to retain a little sound from Africa. I believe Salif Keita is featured here? Also highly recommended is Sokouba Bambino Diabate's Sinikan CD.

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