Mr Bongo
Mr Bongo started life in 1989 as a small record shop underneath Daddy Kool’s Reggae Store on Berwick Street in London. They were the first shop to sell vinyl releases from independent hip hop labels such as Def Jam, Rawkus, Nervous and Big Beat outside of the USA. They also became an established bearer for hard-to-find, classic Latin music, particularly Brazilian, outside of the Americas. They moved their first office to Brighton in 1999 and have been there ever since.
43 products
Restoring, reissuing and contextualising iconic tracks from Ousmane Kouyate & Ambassadeurs Internationaux, Rail Band, Les Messagers du Mali, Mystere Jazz de Tombouctou and many more, the second compilation in this series dives ever further into the richness of post- independence music emanating out of Mali. One in which traditional foundations and instrumentation, blended with modern musical advances and influence.
Almost fifteen years since the release of her self-titled debut LP on Mr Bongo, reggae's orator of love Hollie Cook is returning to the label for Shy Girl, her fifth studio album and her most authentic yet. Woven with tight grooves, beautiful vocals and catchy melodies, Shy Girl hears singer and songwriter Hollie Cook revel in her contemporary lovers rock sound, more confident and open to vulnerability than ever before.
Casas, the follow-up to his debut album Pearl from 2015, brought a bigger, more epic, and richer production quality to the table. Fusing the worlds of MPB and hip hop, Rubel' s sophomore LP built on the momentum of its predecessor, gaining a LatinGrammy nomination along the way. Mr Bongo is proud to be giving Casas its first worldwide release on vinyl and CD outside of Brazil and Japan.
Mr Bongo reissue Bobby Williams' coveted deep funk rarity Funky Super Fly from 1974. Rich in raw, gritty, from-the-heart grooves, the influence of James Brown is strong, yet the tracks are distinctly Bobby. Oozing style and substance, the album is full of fiery horn sections, strutting guitars and infectious basslines tracked by plenty of prime breakbeats.
Asha's debut self-titled album is a wonderful fusion of jazz, soul, blues, and disco. It includes an outstanding cover version of J.J. Cale's 'Right Down Here'; a track which Asha has made very much her own by flipping it into a deep-funk groove with sultry ethereal vocals and a drumbeat almost ready- made for samplers of the future.
Glenn Fallows and Mark Treffel released their first album, 'The Globeflower Master Volume 1', on Mr Bongo in September 2021.
With its lush, warm and timeless productions paying homage to classic 60s and 70s soundtrack composers, it was very well received and struck a chord with the scene's connoisseurs.
