''Bongo Girl'' is a studio album of German pop singer Nena, released by

Epic Records Epic Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America Sony Corporation of America (SONAM, also known as SCA), is the American arm of the Japanese conglomerate Sony Group ...

on 1992. Singles from this album are "Manchmal ist ein Tag ein ganzes Leben", "Conversation" and "Ohne Ende".Singles from ''Bongo Girl'' at ''Nena.de''. Retrieved 27 October 2016.
"Manchmal ist ein Tag ein ganzes Leben"

"Conversation"

"Ohne Ende"
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Background

''Bongo Girl'' was Nena's second solo album and, having been recorded in Berlin, was mixed at

Eddy Grant Edmond Montague Grant (born 5 March 1948) is a Guyanese-British singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, known for his genre-blending sound; his music has blended elements of pop, British rock, soul, funk, reggae, electronic music, Afr ...

’s Blue Wave studio in Barbados. 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. 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 Rolf is a male given name and a surname. It originates in the Germanic name ''Hrolf'', itself a contraction of ''Hrodwulf'' ( Rudolf), a conjunction of the stem words ''hrod'' ("renown") + ''wulf'' ("wolf"). The Old Norse cognate is ''Hrólfr''. ...

) and Frank Becking from her pre-Nena group,

The Stripes The Stripes were a German pop band 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. Anot ...

. ''Bongo Girl'' marked, according to Allmusic, a "striking contrast" from its predecessor ''

Wunder gescheh'n ''Wunder gescheh'n'' (German for "Miracles Happen") 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 ...

'' 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". Reinforcing the change was Nena's new look short hair and more feminine attire which may have been influenced by

Madonna Madonna Louise Ciccone (; ; born August 16, 1958) is an American singer-songwriter and actress. Widely dubbed the " Queen of Pop", Madonna has been noted for her continual reinvention and versatility in music production, songwriting, a ...

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 Max or MAX may refer to: Animals * Max (dog) (1983–2013), at one time purported to be the world's oldest living dog * Max (English Springer Spaniel), the first pet dog to win the PDSA Order of Merit (animal equivalent of OBE) * Max (gorilla) ...

'' (as part of the publicity surrounding the release of her book ''

Sex Sex is the trait that determines whether a sexually reproducing animal or plant produces male or female gametes. Male plants and animals produce smaller mobile gametes (spermatozoa, sperm, pollen), while females produce larger ones (ova, oft ...

''), Nena appeared naked (albeit with bodypaint) in the German edition of the magazine which coincided with the release of ''Bongo Girl''.

Chart performance

''Bongo Girl'' spent three months in the German charts, reaching a top position of Three singles were released from the album but only the first ("Manchmal ist ein Tag ein ganzes Leben") charted, peaking at 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''.

''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. 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. 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) 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. 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. 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).See ''Nena feat. Nena live'' DVD (released 24 March 2003).

Track listing

Charts

References

External links

Nena.de
the official Nena website * {{Authority control 1992 albums Nena albums German-language albums Epic Records albums