While Twins fans were watching their team lose to the Marlins a few blocks away, fans of Richard Bona were luxuriating in his winsome music at The Dakota on Thursday, September 26th.
Watching Cameroonian Bona and his band play was equally as exciting as watching a sporting event. There was constant communication—a smile, a raised eyebrow, a shoulder shrug—between Bona on electric bass and Jesus Pupo on two sets of keys, a grand piano and an electronic keyboard. Their playing was dynamic and engaging.
Ludwig Afonso hails from Cuba as does Pupo. Playing the rhythm section of the show, he laid the foundation for his bandmates’, rising up to shine on solos in turn. True jazz performers, they read one another on stage, mixing up their sounds into a perfect blend.
All three filed onto stage, opening with the irresistible Muntula Moto (The Benediction of a Long Life). Dressed in earthy colors of greens and browns, Bona strummed and picked his electric bass while singing in Douala.
They followed the first number with Three Views of a Secret, starting smooth and easy then segueing into a more syncopated rhythm with a dash of vinegar. This piece crescendoed into peerless piano-playing by Pupo and then an equally accomplished drum riff.
A danceable, though no one did, number was third in the set, Bilongo. Bona plays his guitar imbued with a sense of humor, sometimes exaggerating the motions and flashing a huge smile at the audience. He calls out, “This is the first time I’ve ever been in Minneapolis.”
Then, like a cat walking on stage, the band began to play Eyala, slow and intimate. This was one of my favorites. It’d be easy to close my eyes and lose myself to the sound, but I don’t want to do that because seeing the performers ping off one another and bolster one another is also part of the beauty of live-music.
Bona tells us that Miles Davis was a huge influence on his music. He then plays a song by Davis, All Blues, though cautioning us not to try to clap along on this intricate, “ninja” number. Pupo plays simultaneously both keyboards, his fingers striking out at the keys as if the piano keys were on fire and he can’t rest his hands for long. The musicians are so hot, so in-tune, so intense and electrified that I wanted to jump up and cheer them on.
Bona quips after the song, asking the audience, “Was that good?” Not waiting for an answer, he laughs and cuts in, “Of course, I know it’s good.” Anyone with ears can hear how polished the band played.
His bandmates exit the stage momentarily and Bona pulls out his Black Magic Voodoo Machine also known as a looper. He lays down tracks interspersed with regaling us about the history of the machine and how he likes to use it in his music both to create and to perform.
Bona uses some call-and-response with a very enthusiastic audience. He butters us up telling us we’re “better than Miami.” I’m not sure if he’s improvising on the spot, but the music he puts out, all his own original work, is layered and rich and complex. Every good thing you’ve ever heard about jazz is embodied in Bona’s playing.
“I see a lot of Cameroonians here tonight,” he calls out and the crowd cheers back at him because he’s right. The entirety of the Dakota has been opened with few empty seats in sight.
“I feel like dancing,” Bona says, and rejoined by his bandmates, they launch into O Sen Sen Sen. It’s fun and playful. The crowd spontaneously claps and cheers as they play. Toward the end of the song, they jump up onto their feet demanding an encore.
Bona steps off stage to grab a beverage and Pupo lays down a solo on piano. Pupo nearly eclipses Bona in sheer skill, his playing is inspired leaving us breathless. But Bona’s deep, deep knowledge of what he’s playing and the permutations he takes with each song, his love for the music and how he shares it with his audience elevate Bona into the maestro that he is.
With an encore imminent, Bona obliges, returning to the stage singing in Spanish, Alfonsina y el mar – Mercedez Sosa, leaving the audience satisfied and certain to return for his next engagement.
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About Susan Budig
Susan is based in Minneapolis and reports on general assignments for Mshale with a focus on entertainment. In addition to reporting, she is also a writer, poet, teacher and coach.
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