Details: Vinyl LP pressing. Remmy Ongala called his sound "ubongo beat," since "ubongo" means "brain" in Swahili and this was music with conscience and groove. Songs for the Poor Man was the band's first album to feature lyrics in English as well as Swahili, and the first recorded in the West. Here is a band firing on all cylinders: a bassist, saxophonist, three percussionists, and three guitarists delivering an East African take on soukous, while giving their leader's distinctive rasp the space to soar.