Sounds of Africa: Richard Bona

There are so many reasons to look forward to Fridays and that is particularly the case this week. It's just been work work work all week long! As a result, I'm really beat and looking forward to this weekend. Even through I wish I could break dance into the weekend, I'm much more in the mood for a good drink and some chilled music, hence a little Richard Bona (aka Bona Pinder Yayumayalolo) is just what the doctor ordered. This Cameroonian singer, bassist, composer and all-already-talent guy came out of the womb making music. This is usually the case when everyone in your family is in the music making business.

His last album Tiki was a great combination of African and Latin beats that are fun to listen to yet very smooth. As I listen to his music, I'm reminded of last weekend when I attended a friends party and while mingling and laughing, my ear kept being tuned into the great music that she was playing. It's like, I know this is suppose to be background music, but everything about this artist says "listen to me now!"

In addition to being able to get previous albums of his on iTunes/Amazon, you can listen to Bona's new album The Ten Shades of Blues over at his website. It is yet another fantastic combination of various genres that somehow mesh so well. I'm currently loving the song M'Bemba Mama from this current album as well as several other songs including O sen sen sen (very Congo meets Latin America but jazzy), Eyala, and Laka M'Ba.

I hope you get a chance to listen to this amazing artist that that you have a great weekend! See you back here on Monday!