The Comedy of Errors: Vonga Aye - Probleme Eleki (12 June 1992)

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Thank God, I have soukous to help me get over the election...

It’s interesting isn’t it?  You wait five years for a female led soukous track to grab your attention, and then Peel played another one just a week later.  Like M’Pongo Love, Vonga Aye was a protege of Empopo Loway who provides lead saxophone on this track.  Unlike Love though, Vonga didn’t leave much of a legacy behind - just a pair of albums from around 1983/84.  Probleme Eleki is taken from a  three way collaborative album between Vonga, Loway and guitarist Nico Kasanda.  I love the way the brass and the guitar-lines play off each other together with the “problembe problembe” refrain.  I don’t think Vonga is much of a singer, maybe she or Loway didn’t think so either, hence the sudden end to her discography.  But several of her tracks are on YouTube and are as irresistibly infectious examples of danceable soukous as can be found.  Her own gift doesn’t sound exceptional, but she could inspire magic all around her.

Video courtesy of MKm - Tabaro Music