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While in town a couple of weeks ago for World Music Festival Chicago the great African singer and bandleader Samba Mapangala (a native of the Congo who achieved his greatest fame after relocating to Kenya) went into Delmark’s house studio, Riverside, to cut “Obama Ubari Kiwe (Obama Be Blessed),” a song he also performed during at least one of his festival sets. In the studio he was joined by members of his own group, Virunga, as well as guitarist Nathaniel Braddock and saxophonist Greg Ward of Chicago’s Occidental Brothers Dance Band International. The tune is a lovely, lilting slice of benga, with luminescent guitar lines snaking around the infectious but easygoing groove. There are some introductory English-language rhymes from Fanaka Ngede, a Kenyan rapper based in Minneapolis, but for most of the song Mapangala’s effortlessly fluid cry takes center stage; in part, his Swahili lyrics say, “Obama, leadership is a gift from God, and you have it / Please help to bring peace, change, and hope to all Americans, and all the world / We love you!” You can hear the song at Mapangala’s MySpace page.
UPDATE: Here’s the video for “Obama for Change:”
