The African Folk Soul of Bongos Ikwue: Beloved Nigerian Singer-Songwriter’s First U.S. Release

The 1970’s were an extremely fertile era for music. In America, progressive soul and funk broke new ground while London spawned the punk rock scene and Kingston, Jamaica gave the world roots reggae. In Nigeria, an extraordinarily diverse and dynamic cultural scene yielded not only Fela’s Afrobeat and juju’s peak with Sunny Ade and Ebenezer Obey but also myriad rock and funk groups such as BLO and The Funkees. One of the most popular singers on the Nigeria scene at that time was Bongos Ikwue, whose personalized style of African folk and American soul music made him completely unique; he drew on traditional music, highlife, reggae, Congolese styles, Afrobeat and American soul, country, funk, jazz and rock.

He could be viewed as an African Bill Withers—an intimate, earthy singer-songwriter who delivers home truths with soulful, unpretentious vocals. Somehow, Bongos blended those wildly diverse musical elements in a completely organic way and did so successfully for decades, blazing a trail for African singer-songwriters at a time when the very concept of “singer-songwriter” was a novelty in the African music universe (since then such artists as Vusi Mahlesela, Rokia Traore, Richard Bona, and most recently Michael Kiwanuka have validated that concept).On February 13, 2013, Bongos Ikwue celebrates more than forty years as a recording artist with WULU WULU  his first release outside Nigeria, which  has marked his resurgence and finds him delivering—at age 70 no less!—possibly the finest recording of his career. For his many long-time Nigerian fans, this will be cause for celebration. For international audiences it may well be a revelation.

“I never retired,” says Bongos and then replies enigmatically when asked why he chose to record a new album at this point in his career. “There comes a time, there comes a time and there comes a time. I create whatever comes my way. I am proud and knowledgeable about my roots and gave sufficient time to writing songs for the people.”
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