Banana Mundo - Single Review: Bananas of the World
The intriguingly named Banana Mundo is an 8-piece musical collective from New Plymouth. Boasting members from around the world, the collective includes musicians from France, Argentina, Venezuela, Switzerland, England, Uruguay, and our own little piece of paradise, Aotearoa New Zealand. Self-described as 'Latin/afrobeat', the first single Bananas of the World dropped on the 11th of September and is a compelling, feel-good, world track.
Lyrically, the song is somewhat frivolous. Singing passionately about bananas will always be taken as good-natured, family-friendly silliness, regardless of any deep, metaphorical statement that may lay under it. It feels almost as though there is an in joke that the listener isn’t quite in on. But this inherent lyrical silliness is also an integral part of Bananas of the World. This is a song designed to make the listener feel good, crack a smile, and get hips moving to the infectious groove being laid down and it 100% achieves this.
Musically (and vocally), Bananas of the World is a solid number. It would be very easy for an 8-piece musical collective to become a wall of sound, or have instruments fighting for sonic space. Instead, this is layered, light, textured, and (perhaps most importantly) uplifting. Instead, the musicians work together wonderfully, creating the space needed for each instrument to shine in its own right. Short instrumental ‘lead breaks’ are handled well, long enough to demonstrate their mastery over their instrument but also short enough that the listener doesn’t lose interest. Fans of world-music, especially those infused with Latin beats will find something to love in this track – but you’ll have to just embrace the good natured fun/silliness.
I’ve definitely found a new track to add to my summer soundtrack.
About Banana Mundo
Hailing from New Plymouth, the w(b)est coast of beautiful New Zealand, the band features French keysanova Severin Thiebaut on hot salsa flavoured keys, the brassiliant English tenor and soprano trombone player Tombone Roberts, local west coast Kiwi legend Robin Wells on jazzy sax, genio de la guitarra (guitar genius) Andres Duran from Uruguay, the hottest accordion player in all of the west Naomi Kuttner, “máquina de percusionista” aka “the love rhythm” Argentinian percussionist Nico Paladini and the world's tallest man from Venezuela en la batería (on drums) Christian Jacobsoni Rangel.
The explosive 8-piece band Banana Mundo is fronted by the musical swiss army knife Andre Manella on bass, clave, percussion and lead vocal.
Visit the muzic.net.nz Profile for Banana Mundo
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