Richard Bona, the Cameroonian bass icon and vocalist heralded by fans as “the African Sting,” will headline the 2019 Gold Coast Jazz Festival, which is set to take place December 7-8 in Flamingo, Costa Rica. Long known in world music circles, Bona became a sensation in the jazz world after appearing on albums with The Pat Metheny Group in the mid-2000s. “Richard Bona is one of those rare musicians that comes along every now and then that is pretty much unprecedented,” Metheny told JAZZIZ publisher Michael Fagien in the March 2002 issue of JAZZIZ. “There has just never been a guy like him on the jazz scene. His talent is truly multidimensional, but it’s his singing that really takes me to someplace special.”
Today’s Song of the Day comes from Bona’s most recent album, Heritage, from 2016. On it, he explores the entwined legacies of African and Cuban music. “Muntula Moto” has been recorded by Bono before, but here it receives a fresh makeover courtesy of a sizzling Afro-Cuban groove and Bona’s rippling, smooth-as-silk bassline.
Feature photo of Richard Bona courtesy Adam Hart
