Mbongwana Star @ NAC

There is no doubt at all that Mbongwana Star are one of the most interesting African musical projects that have crossed over in recent years. Formed by two former founders of Staff Benda Bilili, the Congolese band made up of street musicians featuring a core of paraplegic members, their debut album From Kinshasa is an effortless fusion of traditional African rhythms and vocals with electronics, hip hop beats and fuzz guitar. Hopes were high indeed for this show.

First up though was New Zealand solo artist Estère who, other than a cursory glance on YouTube, I knew absolutely nothing about. Armed with Lola, her trusty MPC, a keyboard and a rack of drums she was incredibly impressive. I started off noting the references – FKA Twigs, tUnE-yArDs, Prince, even Art Of Noise - but after a few songs I stopped because actually what she is doing is completely original. Using her self-composed, pre-programmed beats as the base to her songs, she danced exuberantly, sang with the requisite levels of sass and exuded a quiet confidence which warmed the audience up nicely. She provided one of the most memorable support sets I’ve seen this year and I hope her home country appreciates what a talent they have.

The hall was busy with a real sense of anticipation in the air as first Mbongwana Star’s guitarist, bassist and drummer took the stage, soon to be followed by Coco Ngambali and Theo Nzonza, the two guys from Benda Bilili entering via a special wheelchair lift installed for the event. The sound was loud and the high energy start immediately got the audience fully into it. Malukayi, perhaps their best known track, was played second song in, and I began to feel something wasn’t gelling. Whereas on record their sound is a perfect amalgamation of traditional and modern, live it felt like it was two disparate genres being forced together. On the album the guitar is part of the sonic soup, but live it dominated and jarred slightly. I didn’t like the scratchy tone, the drums sounded flat where they should have sounded crisp, with that snap of the snare you would get from a reggae band. It even felt a bit amateurish at times, lacking that professionalism I would expect from a touring band. I have to stress that all around me people were really into it, and as the set progressed so I found myself getting more into it too. The best songs were the ones where the guitar was lower in the mix, allowing the vocals and bass to lead the way. Coco and Theo’s voices showed their years of experience and worked in tandem with their backing vocalist, dancer and percussionist.