(African Jazz, Smooth Jazz) Muntu Valdo - The One & The Many - 2011, MP3, VBR 180 kbps

CD Description
The One & The Many is the much anticipated new album from one-man maverick musician Muntu Valdo. For the last three years Muntu has been wowing audiences across the globe with his ingeniously creative manipulation of technology, innate musicality and generous sincerity. He has toured all over the world, from Paris to Douala, Womad UK to Mexico, London Jazz Festival to Singapore and back. He has played alongside some of the biggest names of African music new and old, such as Staff Benda Bilili, Ali Farka Toure, Keziah Jones, Tony Allen, Richard Bona and Manu Dibango, and has forged exciting new collaborations with the likes of cult folk visionary Alasdair Roberts and Damon Albarn’s Africa Express.
Muntu Valdo is a Sawa from the coast of Cameroon in West Africa. Now based in London, he delivers his unique ‘Sawa Blues’ solo, with just guitar and harmonica and using live technology to underpin his powerful melodies – conjuring up multi-layered loops and mysterious sound textures thanks to a constantly expanding armada of pedals at his feet.
With The One & The Many, Muntu Valdo wills us to stand up and unleash the power of the many inside each and every one of us. A touchingly honest new album, Muntu Valdo has successfully pulled together a rich diversity of elements and environments, commanding us to recognise an artist deeply rooted in the riches of his heritage and culture, whilst striving for modernity, open to and pushing towards the future.
"Muntu Valdo is a literal one-man band, providing all the singing and playing every instrument, from guitar to harmonica, like a Cameroonian Phil Collins. The comparison half fits his lyrics of anguish and betrayal wrapped in in lushly sumery tunes, never more so than on 'Ate Aye'. The water calabash splashes like a river and crickets punctuate a massed chorus on 'Djongo'. 'Timba' is lolloping country'n'west African."
David Hutcheon - Financial Times * * * *
"Backing his sensitve guitar playing and dreamy voice with distinctively textured, self-created loops and rhythms, London-based Cameroonian one-man band Valdo translates a compelling live sound successfully to disc. The best tracks have an airy, poetic feel that's a bit Brazilian, a bit Cape Verdean, while keeping a toe in the world of international busking folk."
Mark Hudson - The Daily Telegraph * * *
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