Words by Justin Turford
There’s quite a few elder statesmen and women from the so-called ‘world music’ scene returning with some killer music right now, their energy and progressive visions startling and inspirational in equal measures. One such artist I didn’t expect to turn up with a brilliant new record was the Congolese singer and musician Bony Bikaye! Best known for his 1983 cult masterpiece ‘Noir et Blanc’, this hypnotic Afro-electronic album, in collaboration with French visionary Hector Zazou and the avant-garde electronic composers CY1, still remains a highly impressive release. Its New Wave / Krautrock-esque production that bleeps and klangs behind Bony’s innovatively delivered vocals still sounds like the vanguard of Afro-futurism before it was titled thus. The Belgian label Crammed Discs was always one of the most prophetic of imprints, its deep post-colonial connections with Congolese musicians and Europe’s most original producers led to many an inspired sonic moment.
Bony had, however, long left the music business behind, the usual disappointments I suppose. Decades on, his home was now Paris, and Paris was where his musical flame would fire up again.
Bony Biyake and TONN3RR3
Forty years on and Bony has found himself new collaborators and its like he never left. The cockily titled ‘It’s a Bomb’ is a bomb, the sorcery of his previous work still intact, Parisian electronic outfit TONN3RR3 the perfect foil for his undimmed talents.
Bony is a man of many voices and it was this vocal shapeshifting that caught the attention of TONN3RR3’s Guillaume Gilles when they were both invited to a Congolese workshop for University students in Paris. “As it began, there was soon a sense that something greater was at play. Bony began to tell mythological stories in his Lingala tongue (tonal), emanating from his north Congolese homeland, verbalising rhythms he’d dreamt up. Guillaume soon realised that with TONN3RR3’s ability to hybridise all sorts of musical forms, the project should expand. They signed up the full TONN3RR3 trio (Guillaume, Olivier Viadero and Yoann Dubaud) invited percussionist Gaëlle Salomon (Femi Kuti) and synth player Guillaume Loizillon (musicologist and professor who originally made the Bony connection - he was an original member of CY1!), and re-focused and relocated to the Paris based studios of TONN3RR3.”
There wasn’t one single approach to creation on the album and so there isn’t just one grand idea that holds the record together, except perhaps Bony’s voicings which swerve from gentle whispers to the wildly unhinged. If anything his voice has improved with age! Some tracks were born from true collaborations, some had pre-existing rhythmic foundations, others were instrumentals in need of Bony’s input but put together, this is a remarkable album in its scope and delivery.
The arpeggiated dread-laden chugger ‘Balobi’ cracks open the album brilliantly with an unswerving groove that hums with attitude. Listening to Bony’s wildly expressive voice (sounding like Screamin’ Jay Hawkins at points!) over this bubbling electronic monster reminds me somewhat of the Nigerian artist Obongjayar who has surely been influenced by the Congolese master? Apparently Bony exhibits a ‘family of voices’ throughout the record, ‘acting’ the role of different characters in his actual family, so that there could be several characters in each song. It explains a lot about his performances and most importantly, it adds that special something, that chaos which is often missing in precisely structured electronic music. He sings and speaks like a horn player or at least a soloist of some sort, riffing on motifs but also flying off in tangents: beautifully unpredictable.
The brooding clave-propelled number ‘Keba Na Butu’ sees Bony growling over a moody house/kuduro inspired groove, TONN3RR3’s Parisian clubbing background showing its colours here with warm bass and a well-structured dancefloor-crashing arrangement.
‘Akei’ nearly falls over itself with clattering percussion, vintage synths and organ, and a particularly deranged vocal. There’s some delicious multi-instrumental melodic interplay in the background that makes this pretty weird song strangely lovely.
‘Bana Disco’ is a straight up Afro-disco-house bumper in an updated DJ Gregory / Cassius vein, Bony’s youthful falsetto and repetitive hooks taking its peak-time party sound into edgier realms.
The electro-rumba mayhem of ‘Prisoner’ has an insistent mania about its energy. The vocals are relentlessly breathless, the drum programming distorted, only the guitars offering a calming influence but not much. I quite love this and can’t wait to test it on the right crowd!
The charming ‘Zela’ is a mish mash of traditional Congolese soukouss rhythms (programmed through a Groovebox and with sparse live contributions), cheeky and cheap-sounding synths and a heart-warming vocal turn that sees Bony clearly singing in different characters. There’s some particularly sweet keys work halfway through that lifts the song even higher.
‘Are U OK?’ is an amalgamation of 80s synth-disco pop and 90s Laurent Garnier style epic French house with sparkling arpeggiated keys and dramatic chord changes. Bony once again brings the difference, his ‘Are U OK?’ refrain just one of the many characters that wander through this piece.
‘Zala Gentil’ is a syncopated oddity that once again plays with the traditional and the synthetic with captivating percussion, reedy synths with big riffs and layers of voices that confuse and enthral. A perfectly constructed curiosity.
‘La Foret Et Les Dieux’ (tr. The Forest and the Gods) sounds like Spaceman 3 jamming with Pierre Barouh, its beatless journey the sound of retro ambient keys, a spoken story parlé en français and a backdrop of field recordings that include an annoyed dog. Tres bien.
The title track ‘It’s A Bomb’ is a surprisingly home-made sounding electronic Congolese rumba dancer, its drum machine sound very 80s and unlike the obviously high end gear TONN3RR3 use throughout this album. Having said that, the life-affirming energy and joy exemplified by classic rumba is present and correct, swirling organ and circular guitars driving a tight groove that Bony is obviously having a ball on.
As Guillaume said, “The important thing for us was to give a common meaning to these hybridisations. We didn’t want to make African music, nor European music rather just music which aimed to bring disparate cultural fragments together, and to resonate.”
My word does this album resonate! As someone who is lucky enough to be sent a lot of shit-hot new music from around the globe, I hope I can sense when something has that extra magic in its arteries and this fantastic and welcoming return from Bony Bikaye has that witchery all over it. The individual musical talents and egoless group dynamic of everyone involved here has delivered the bomb they bragged about in the title. This is neither African nor European music, it is just a really great record. 10/10.