Wawali Bonane
Resolve

Though the music is familiar I was trying to place the name of this artist. But then when he started singing it all came back to me. He was the Rochereau backing singer who was better than his boss. I feel sorry for Tabu Ley Rochereau. He lost his girl, then he lost his voice, and then he lost his band. There's also the Pygmalion story here: As is well known, Tabu Ley promoted Mbilia Bel from dancer to singer to co-star and then she ditched the poor sap (That's what you get for calling your dancers the Rocherettes!). He called Mobutu names then appealed for asylum in France claiming he couldn't go back to Zaire, but was turned down. So he came on tour to the USA and was so well-received he moved here. But his voice wasn't up to the rigours of a two-hour show every night, so he hired a singer who could sing just like him. At some point the band ditched him and became Yoka Nzenze. I don't know what Tabu Ley is doing now. When I met him he commented that all his generation had died, but there is a renewed interest in Congolese rumba so if he can get a band together there should be a spot for him, though not the Las Vegas casino he probably feels he deserves.

Meanwhile, or whinemeal, there's Wawali Bonane with his fine voice and a laid-back soukous groove that periodically tears it up. The music is formulaic but there's real drums (& congas) to make up for the synth. They cover a Jhonny Bokelo song, "Sandoka," and a ballad, "Fote ya biele," that uses my favourite groove "the Peanut Vendor" as the main structure. But the Bokelo track should have ended the album, instead there's a remix of the wet ballad (and when Congolese do wet ballads they are sodden) that is not that different from the forgettable version that appeared earlier in the sequence. A truly grave mistake, but you can always cut it after "Sandoka." --Alastair Johnston