Kongos (2012)

Their debut album cover has a schematic face and the word Kongos and when I saw it in Musica my first impression was that this was some anonymous electronic project who did not care to show us their real faces because the musicians were too old or ugly or ordinary. I did kind of make an association with Johnny Kongos, ex-South African who made name for himself in the UK and Europe in die late Sixties. I wondered whether he had made some kind of comeback.

Then I saw a poster for a Kongos gig, supported by Machineri, and I guessed it was a local band and, if Machineri played support, that Kongos probably was not electronic group. Given Machineri's current media profile I also guessed that Kongos must be a bigger deal than I would have thought, if they are the headliners.

Finally, I read a piece about the band in the Top of the Times, the Friday supplement to the Cape Times, and the mystery was somewhat cleared up. The Kongos connection was indeed Johnny Kongos, but the band members are his four sons who are based in the UK or USA, have recorded and released this album and were touring in South Africa, partly as return to their father's home country and partly to publicise their efforts. The photograph that accompanied the article showed the band members sitting in a circle, ostensibly playing their instruments and I noticed an accordion and immediately I thought of a similar photograph of the Band and then believed we were dealing with some kind of semi-acoustic, laid back, organic and countrified style of music.

After that it was but an easy step to buy the CD at my local Musica store, take it home and spin it.

And I liked it. It was more electric and beat driven than I had suspected, with some AOR elements as well, but it is a damn fine record, especially the big beat driven tunes where the boys go for fun and entertainment rather than sensitive lyrics and anthemic tunes.  The first track immediately took me back to Paul Simon's Graceland style and, taken together with local band Hot Water's take on the same kind of influence, I now believe that Graceland's wonder and beauty has finally percolated down to a generation untainted by bias or cultural boycotts, who can truly appreciate the synthesis Simon wrought between his style of music and mbaqanga. Maybe this is no trend at all, but it is palpable that Kongos and Hot Water at the very least must have listened to Graceland and liked the concept.

It seems that John Kongos wrote or co-wrote all the songs on this album and that would probably mean that the South African roots, such as they are, are more likely to be his than his sons' as I would imagine that this country is no more than a holiday destination for them.

Johnny Kongos was a pop singer; John Kongos became a rock kind of guy. Nowadays he is an AOR kind of guy and about half the songs on the album reflect that inclination and somehow detract from the good stuff. Of course, the production values are high and all the songs are faultless in what they deliver. The simple fact is that the Africanised tracks sound better and the AOR tracks are not superior to anything similar out there. The rhythm based tunes are the tunes that take this album from the ordinary and anonymous to the special and memorable.

Kongos will probably not sell millions of units. I have not seen this record reviewed in any of the UK music magazines I buy.  Kongos could well have a career in music, whether as a gigging band and maybe one day one can read about their record smashing world tour. On the other hand, they may have to make do as studio musicians or take proper career jobs to support their families.  We'll have to wait and see. If they only release this one album ever, though, it will not be a bad testament to their abilities and their dad's talents as songwriter and producer.

The band's South African tour has been advertised on MK and the final gig was at the Up the Creek festival near Swellendam on 4 February 2012. I guess this must mean that their commercial profile has been significantly enlarged in this country.  We'll see, though, whether this means that they will become anything like local superstars while they remain a cult everywhere else in the world.