Tshala Muana - Biduaya (1989)

As the 1980s came to a close, zouk music was extremely popular in dance halls all over the world. It should be no surprise that Tshala Muana would open her album Biduaya with a track imbued with zouk, but perhaps it also signals a phase shift in her career where the music became less tied to her mutuashi roots.

This album is certainly more "produced" than the other two Muana albums offered on this site, at least in the dominant use of keyboards and programmed rhythms. When I looked at the cover, while listening to the album as I digitized it, it occurred to me that the music was about as natural as her hairdoo.

The two best songs on the album are Tshala's own, the title track "Biduaya" and "Ngoyi," and it might be my imagination, but I think she sings with more conviction on them than on the three songs by Dino Vangu. Of course her two songs are produced by Souzy Kasseya, with a completely different band than on the other songs. They make the album worthwhile. There is also a version of the classic "Africa Mokili Mobimba;" a yawn version.

Enjoy!