Bondeko

You can't bottle magic. If it is ever to be repeated, it will happen organically and when the time is ripe. Which perhaps explains why we have been kept waiting more than a dozen years for the triple alliance of **Gerald Toto, Richard Bona** and **Lokua Kanza** to reconvene and record *'Bondeko,'* the belated follow-up to their acclaimed magical collaboration on 2004's *'Totobonalokua.'*

*'Bondeko'* picks up where *'Totobonalokua'* left off, yet more nuanced and finely detailed, marinated in the wisdom and experience of their individual musical adventures during the intervening years. Crafted but without artifice, virtuosic yet spontaneous, it's a record which is both playful and profound. Sensual melodies and fluid, swaying rhythms overlap, as roots intersect and three distinctive musical personalities melt into one, their voices combining as felicitously as the exquisite harmonies of *Crosby, Stills and Nash* or the unique vocal layerings of *Bobby McFerrin.* All three drink from the profound wellspring of Africa but represent different musical streams and tributaries of its mighty river. **Toto, Bona** and **Kanza** sound like they were born to play together. A trinity of voices entwined as one, multi-faceted and yet with a united vision. Friendship. Fraternity. *'Bondeko.'*

Watch the album teaser [here](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6dT1fmnoY3Y) and to *'Ma Mona'* [here](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xIwRXnTb0yw).