Bongo Girl

Last updated

Bongo Girl
Nena - Bongo Girl - Cover.jpg
Studio album by Nena
Released 28 September 1992 (1992-09-28)
Studio Spliff Studio, Berlin
Length52:20
Language
  • German
  • English
Label Epic
Producer
Nena chronology
Nena die Band
(1991)		Bongo Girl
(1992)		 Und alles dreht sich
(1994)
Nena solo chronology
Wunder gescheh'n
(1989)		Bongo Girl
(1992)		 Und alles dreht sich
(1994)
Singles from Bongo Girl
  1. "Manchmal ist ein Tag ein ganzes Leben"
    Released: 1992
  2. "Conversation"
    Released: 14 December 1992
  3. "Ohne Ende"
    Released: 1 June 1993

Bongo Girl is a studio album of German pop singer Nena, released by Epic Records on 28 September 1992. [1] Singles from this album are "Manchmal ist ein Tag ein ganzes Leben", "Conversation" and "Ohne Ende". [2]

Nena German singer and actress

Nena is a German singer-songwriter, actress, and comedian who rose to international fame in 1983 with the Neue Deutsche Welle song "99 Luftballons". In 1984, she re-recorded this song in English as "99 Red Balloons". Nena was also the name of the band with whom she released the song. The re-recording of some of her old songs rekindled her career in 2002 and she has sold over 25 million records, making her one of Germany's most successful music artists.

Epic Records American record label

Epic Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, Inc., the North American division of Japanese conglomerate Sony. The label was founded predominantly as a jazz and classical music label in 1953, but later expanded its scope to include a more diverse range of genres, including pop, R&B, rock, and hip hop. Epic has released music by artists including Glenn Miller, Tammy Wynette, George Michael, The Yardbirds, Donovan, Shakin Stevens, Europe, Cheap Trick, Meat Loaf, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Ted Nugent, Shakira, Sly & the Family Stone, The Hollies, Celine Dion, Mariah Carey, ABBA, Anastacia, Boston, Dave Clark Five, Gloria Estefan, Pearl Jam, Rage Against the Machine, and Michael Jackson. Along with Arista, Columbia and RCA Records, Epic is one of Sony Music Entertainment's four flagship record labels.

Contents

Background

Bongo Girl was Nena's second solo album and, having been recorded in Berlin, was mixed at Eddy Grant’s Blue Wave studio in Barbados. [1] It took its name from a nickname Nena acquired in Jamaica when taking to the stage at an open air reggae concert and spontaneously playing the bongos. [1] Contributors to the album included the father of her two surviving children (Benedict Freitag) as well as two members of the former Nena band (including her former boyfriend, Rolf Brendel) and Frank Becking from her pre-Nena group, The Stripes. [1]

Eddy Grant Guyana born British reggae musician

Edmond Montague Grant is a Guyanese-British vocalist and musician. He was a founding member of the Equals, one of the United Kingdom's first racially integrated pop groups. He is also known for a successful solo career that includes the platinum single "Electric Avenue". He also pioneered the genre ringbang.

Nena (band) German Neue Deutsche Welle band

Nena was a German Neue Deutsche Welle band. In 1983 and 1984, their German-language song "99 Luftballons" reached number one in the singles charts of countries around the world.

The Stripes were a German pop music ensemble founded on 2 July 1979 in the town of Hagen by Rainer Kitzmann, who played guitar. The lead singer was Gabriele Susanne Kerner, before she became known as Nena Kerner, who would later form the band Nena. Another future member of the band Nena, Rolf Brendel, played the drums. Frank Röhler played bass. The band was known for singing exclusively in English. They released five singles and one studio album, after which they split up on 3 March 1982. Their song "Ecstasy" was a minor hit.

Bongo Girl marked, according to Allmusic, a "striking contrast" from its predecessor Wunder gescheh'n in that it was, "distinctly relaxed and upbeat ... very pleasingly carried through on Nena's melodic strength and the sense of fun that pervades the album". [3] Reinforcing the change was Nena's new look – short hair and more feminine attire – which may have been influenced by Madonna then in her Erotica period, the parallel well illustrated by the fact that in the same month (October 1992) that the American appeared topless in the French edition of Max [4] (as part of the publicity surrounding the release of her book Sex ), Nena appeared naked (albeit with bodypaint) in the German edition of the magazine which coincided with the release of Bongo Girl. [5]

<i>Wunder geschehn</i> 1989 studio album by Nena

Wunder gescheh'n is the first solo album by German pop singer Nena. It was released in November 1989, two years after the demise of her band in fall 1987. The title track, "Du bist überall" and "Im Rausch der Liebe" were released as singles and had moderate success.

Madonna (entertainer) American singer-songwriter and actress

Madonna Louise Ciccone is an American singer-songwriter, actress and businesswoman. Referred to as the "Queen of Pop" since the 1980s, Madonna is known for pushing the boundaries of songwriting in mainstream popular music and for the imagery she uses onstage and in music videos. She has frequently reinvented her music and image while maintaining autonomy within the recording industry. Although having sparked controversy, her works have been praised by music critics. Madonna is often cited as an influence by other artists.

<i>Erotica</i> (Madonna album) 1992 studio album by Madonna

Erotica is the fifth studio album by American recording artist Madonna, released on October 20, 1992 by Maverick and Sire Records. The album was released simultaneously with Madonna's first book publication Sex, a coffee table book containing explicit photographs featuring the singer, and marked her first release under Maverick, her own multimedia entertainment company. Erotica is a concept album about sex and romance, incorporating her alter ego Mistress Dita, inspired by actress Dita Parlo. Some of its songs also take on a more confessional tone, influenced by the loss of Madonna's two close friends to AIDS.

Chart performance

Bongo Girl spent three months in the German charts, reaching a top position of No. 32. [6] Three singles were released from the album [2] but only the first ("Manchmal ist ein Tag ein ganzes Leben") charted, peaking at No. 48. [7] The promotional videos for the first two singles were both filmed in the Caribbean (Eddy Grant appearing briefly in the "Conversation" video). This overall record of modest success resulted in Nena's recording contract with Sony not being renewed, although Sony and Nena were reunited 22 years later when the company obtained the distribution rights to her twelfth solo studio album, Oldschool . [8] [3]

<i>Oldschool</i> (Nena album) 2015 studio album by Nena

Oldschool is a studio album by German pop singer Nena, released on 27 February 2015. Having received some negative publicity at the time of the release of her previous album Du bist gut for refusing in interviews to talk about the 1980s, Nena chose to celebrate the past with her next studio album. The first single released from the album, "Lieder von früher", enthuses about the pleasure of dancing to old records, and the title track happily reflects on Nena's being best known for a few songs from the 1980s. The album was produced by the Hamburg hip-hop artist and rapper Samy Deluxe and features a duet with Nena’s eldest surviving son, Sakias. Although published on Nena's own record label, The Laugh and Peas Company, distribution rights were agreed with Sony Music, 22 years after the company dropped Nena as a recording artist following the indifferent performance of her second solo album Bongo Girl.

Bongo Girl tour

Live performances have been a prominent feature of Nena's career. The band toured extensively in the four years they were at the height of their fame and, during her subsequent solo career, Nena has given almost 500 concerts. [9] However, in the first decade after the band's split in 1987, during which time Nena had five children, her only tour was the 1993 Bongo Girl tour. [9] This tour differed in two main ways from all her others. Firstly Nena's new look (short hair, often barefoot and revealingly dressed including a skirt made of bananas) [10] and secondly the setlist which followed her career to date chronologically, opening with "99 Luftballons" (which normally comes towards the end of her concerts) and other Nena band classics followed by the highlights of her previous solo album before concluding with an almost complete rendition of the Bongo Girl album. [11]

99 Luftballons 1983 Nena song

"99 Luftballons" is a song by the German band Nena from their 1983 self-titled album. An English-language version titled "99 Red Balloons", with lyrics by Kevin McAlea, was also released on the album 99 Luftballons in 1984 after widespread success of the original in Europe and Japan. The English version is not a direct translation of the German original and contains lyrics with a somewhat different meaning.

As the 1990s, the commercial lowpoint in Nena's career, progressed, Bongo Girl's songs disappeared from her live concerts although "Manchmal ist ein Tag ein ganzes Leben" was the only song from her four studio albums of the 1990s to feature in the 2002 three-hour-long concert which marked the 20th anniversary of the breakthrough of the band and helped relaunch her solo career. [9] Even then the song's appearance was brief and possibly spontaneous (an unaccompanied 70-second version following Nena asking the audience if there is anything else they would like her to sing). [12]

Track listing

No.TitleTitle translationLength
1."Manchmal ist ein Tag ein ganzes Leben""Sometimes a Day Is a Whole Lifetime"4:02
2."Was dann""What Then?"3:10
3."Ich kann nich' mehr""I Can't Take Anymore"3:46
4."Mach dir keine Sorgen""Don't Worry"4:52
5."Ohne Ende""Without End"3:23
6."Alles viel zu schön""All Much Too Beautiful"2:58
7."Was immer du tust""Whatever You Do"3:53
8."Conversation" 4:16
9."Bongo Girl" 3:47
10."You Don't Have to Cry" 4:09
11."Mein König""My King"4:05
12."Keine Lügen mehr""No More Lies"4:11
13."Weit über den Ozean""Far Across the Ocean"4:01
14."Outro" 1:41

Charts

Chart (1992) Peak
position
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100) [6] 32

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References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "Bongo Girl". Nena.de. Retrieved 27 October 2016.
  2. 1 2 Singles from Bongo Girl at Nena.de. Retrieved 27 October 2016.
  3. 1 2 Severa, Alan. "Allmusic review –Bongo girl". Allmusic.com. Retrieved 5 January 2015.
  4. ↑ "Madonna – Max Magazine, October 1992". Eil.com. Retrieved 5 January 2015.
  5. ↑ "Nena nackt: So wild war sie in den 90ern wirklich!". Loomee-tv.de. Retrieved 5 January 2015.
  6. 1 2 "Offiziellecharts.de – Nena – Bongo Girl" (in German). GfK Entertainment Charts. Retrieved 5 November 2017.
  7. ↑ "Manchmal ist ein Tag ein ganzes Leben (single)". Offiziellecharts.de. GfK Entertainment. Retrieved 5 November 2017.
  8. ↑ "Nena signs for Sony". Schlagerplanet.com. Retrieved 19 February 2015.
  9. 1 2 3 "Nena tours and set lists". Nena.de. Retrieved 6 January 2015.
  10. ↑ See Neue Welle TV program 100 Grad broadcast 30 March 1993.
  11. ↑ "Bongo Girl tour dates and set list". Nena.de. Retrieved 6 January 2015.
  12. ↑ See Nena feat. Nena live DVD (released 24 March 2003).
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