Music
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Amsterdam MWA concert review
Westerpark, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
31 December 2007
The Music of the World (MWA) annual Award ceremony has become a fine Amsterdam tradition. The stage was of a very high standard and Afropop caught this years Show, with the elected Upcoming Artist of the year Jimmy Omonga arriving just at midnight.
His band was in fabulous form and Omonga hit the stage with a slamming Kanisa Te. One of the two tracks on the Sampler CD that gave him his international release and nomination as best new artist.
Then it was right into the fray with a long, tuneful take on Zakina, and by this second song, we were in the grip of collective ecstasy. This was music making you feel that you are in Africa, completely magical.
Jimmy blew everyone away with he third and last ballad Nakonda. Omonga sang with fury and I have a lot of respect for Omonga as a songwriter. Old, young, hippie, rocker, blues fan or any other were all moved by this tune. The only criticism is that he was only given three songs. It took the crowd about 10 minutes of clapping, cheering and complaining that there were no encores.
Staatskrant, Amsterdam January 2008 (Translated from Dutch)
- Staatskrant Amsterdam
Discography
2007: The Sampler - Hippo (HiP S01)
includes two songs of Jimmy Omonga
2008: Jimmy Omonga Destin (HIP009)
Recorded in the Paris Studios, Fishoek, Cape Town, South Africa.
Photos
Bio
Born in Kinshasa, Congo, Jimmy Omonga taught himself guitar, sang in a church choir, wrote his first songs at sixteen and formed a band that played all the clubs in Kinshasa.
With his cool voice and style Jimmy gained a considerable name and following for himself.
He played in Luanda, Angola in 1995. Two years later he set up a new group in Cape Town, where for the first time he combined his Congolese Afropop with the sophisticated South African choir tradition.
In 2007 two of his songs were released on a sample-CD during the international Womex Music Fair in Seville, Spain. It touched hearts as it did in Africa and only months later Omonga was elected Newcomer of the Year 2008 at the MWA (Music of the World Award) in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
Everybody was absolutely thrilled, as it was for the first time an artist had won that prize without having a full album on the market.
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