TOTO BONA LOKUA – Toto Bona Lokua

“Toto Bona Lokua” was the debut of Cameroonian Richard Bona, Congolese Lokua Kanza and West Indies’ Gérald Toto. It was originally released in 2004, spread by word of mouth and was very well received, especially in France – with little promotion and no joint tour. The reprint appears as a harbinger of the second album “Bondeko” and is therefore available on vinyl for the first time. “Toto Bona Lokua” contains a dozen songs, which are mostly performed a cappella and only occasionally and very sparingly are instrumented with piano, percussion, guitar or bass. The album grew out of more or less unplanned sessions “just ‘to see’ what we can do together; what we have to say to each other, to exchange, to share,” as the trio themselves note. As different as the cultural backgrounds of the three musicians are, they manage to playfully and easily combine African and Caribbean elements with the power of their voices alone.