WOMAD

Muntu Valdo

From Cameroon

Freewheeling, harmonica-blowing troubadour
These days, the dear old NME isn't known for championing music that doesn't squeeze its legs into a pair of super-skinny jeans. So it must be a very special debut album from outside the indie constituency that makes the paper declare it "a rapturous record that shudders with joy and passion". That record was Gods & Devils, the opening salvo from Cameroonian troubadour Muntu Valdo. Armed, like all the best troubadours, with acoustic guitar and harmonica (the latter a very portable instrument that's strangely under-used on Muntu's home continent), his music boasts the intricate guitar lines we'd expect from central Africa as well as resonating with the easy, sun-drenched Brazilian grooves of Milton Nascimento and Seu Jorge. Seen most recently supporting Staff Benda Bilili, of late the self-styled Prince of Sawa Blues has also been collaborating with folk anti-hero Alasdair Roberts and Richard Thompson's daughter Kamila. The world is knocking on his door.

(Biography written by Nige Tassell 2010, photography by Alex Quest)

Muntu Valdo - On Tour With Staff Benda Bilili

Muntu Valdo's Latest Twitter Posts

Muntu Valdo's » Myspace Page

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