Bonga is the sole spokesman for the richness of Angolan music, supported on
international stages by his younger brother Waldemar Bastos. A politically
committed artist, Bonga began by denouncing Portuguese colonization in the 70s:
his albums Angola 72 and Angola 74 focus on this theme. Exiled by Salazar's
regime, Bonga continued a fight that extended after Angola's independence to the
country's corrupt elites. To listen to a Bonga album is to plunge into a music
that is at once African, European and Brazilian, of unprecedented finesse and
richness, and of moving sensitivity. Bair...