We saw Jalen Ngonda in concert at Rockstore: we confirm, an angel has indeed visited!

On the Rockstore stage, Jalen Ngonda seemed at home and without any suspicion of effort, beyond reality! JBE

The Rockstore in Montpellier welcomed Jalen Ngonda on Tuesday March 19, a young American soulman author of a remarkable first album on the reference label Daptone Records. On stage, he revealed his natural talent and supernatural voice!

After the patriarch, the kid and, in one case like the other, a slap so fair, so beautiful, so pure, that it seemed like a caress. After Robert Finley, Jalen Ngonda, and the Rockstore for the witness, and the public for the spouse. Tuesday March 19, the rock temple of Montpellier welcomed the latest sensation signed by Daptone Records, the reference label for vintage soul, and it was marvelous.

Author of a first album close to timeless perfection, Come around and love me, the young American singer of Zambian descent was expected. Without being full (a Tuesday evening, come on), the Rockstore was present and attentive. After the first part beautifully performed by MT Jones, Jalen Ngonda presented himself as one might expect without the brass and strings that sparkle on his recording but with the said repertoire, so well-spoken that a little dress it up; in this case, a round bass like a dancer's ass, a precise and concise keyboard like a clerk, a sober, dry and stubborn drum like a spanking on a dusty dance floor and a electric guitar… like the one who grabbed him, Jalen Ngonda: always classic but never banal, always retro but never obsolete, always simple but never easy, in short perfect.

Naturally the bulk of the set is made up of the artist's only long format repertoire. Once again, even stripped of their chic arrangements, the songs dazzle with their obviousness: both perfectly for now and totally out of time. From Come around and love me until Rapture, all the songs are played, in a different order, and with a sobriety that could have frustrated if it were not the indisputable truth: drunkenness is elsewhere (and higher also) ; it is in the incredible voice of Jalen Ngonda. Firm timbre, virtuoso technique, the young man excels in both full voice and falsetto. Without ever giving the impression of forcing one's nature, nor trying to impress the gallery.

To tell the truth, each time he underlines his sentimental pleas with his supernatural falsetto, and this is not rare, we seem to see the darkness pierced by ;rsquo;a small hole through which a celestial light rushes in, and this is rare. I might as well tell you that at the end of his set (increased by four very beautiful encore pieces, alone and with his group), it's as if the Milky Way was sparkling inside from the Rockstore… Or maybe it was us who really took off very, very high?