Awilo Longomba delivers “Makusudi”. After decades in the game, the man still understands how to move a room.
The word makusudi means basically on purpose, intentional, deliberate. Fitting term honestly, everything about a veteran like Awilo Longomba feels premeditated at this time. Not in a chilly sense, but more in a way of a person who knows just what works.
You can hear soukous guitar runs all over this, the signature rippling pattern he’s carved out his career on. The rhythm group remains tight and quick, congas working some serious work underneath. The classic Congolese dancing sound, not trying to be relevant by following any modern trend.
Awilo Longomba sings with the same laid-back charisma he’s always had; decades in, it hasn’t dimmed. Doesn’t sound like he’s attempting to prove anything anymore. Just doing what he does, and doing it well.
Lyrically it’s light, largely about dancing, moving, living completely and on purpose. No hefty stuff weighing the track down. The words are almost minor here; much of the message is carried by the beat.
“Makusudi” doesn’t reinvent the wheel that is Awilo Longomba’s sound and, frankly, it doesn’t need to. There’s a reason the formula has stood the test of time. Some things are OK as they are.
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