Bonga won a lasting place in the hearts of Angolans nearly 30 years ago when he began to sing of Africa's humiliation, the misery of exile and rebellion against colonialism. Along with Fela Kuti, Bonga is a pioneer of "Africanity" and has tirelessly denounced the partisan and ethnic conflicts that have devastated his country for almost two decades.
Jose Adelino Barcelo de Carvalho was born in 1943 in Kipri (Angola). Early on, his political convictions led him to reject his "colonial" name and take on the more authentic one of Bonga Kuenda. His aim - apart from recovering a certain anonymity - was to make a statement about his stance on identity and anti-colonialism. Bonga Kuenda is an African name that means "who is looking, who is always ahead and moving". At the time, Bonga lived in a shanty town or "musseque", which means "built with sand" in Kimbudu, the language of one of Angola's main ethnic groups.
Bonga was introduced to music at a very early age by his father who was accordionist in a group that played rebita, the music of the fishermen in Ilha de Cabo, one of Luanda's poorer districts. Initially, he played the "dikanza", a percussion instrument made of grooved bamboo and struck with a wooden stick, seen as the symbol of a return to basics. Popular fervour and action in support of strong political demands related to the Portuguese colonial occupation were mainly based on traditional music and stories told by elders. This cultural reawakening played an important role, unifying the people and rehabilitating their collective memory.
"All Angolan culture (history, language and music) was under Portuguese domination. Traditional languages were banned and African music too. Since we had no weapons to fight with, we resisted on a cultural level, especially by forming folk music groups and performing songs that readopted ancestral African forms although their lyrics clearly referred to the unrest at the time, the poverty, the colonial violence and the latent revolt."
Inspired by "semba", (the Luandan popular genre that is a local expression of the "modern" musical quality forming the basis of samba in Brazil), Bonga formed a group called Kissueia, a Kimbudu word that refers to the destitution in poor areas.
Finding recognition as an athlete, Bonga left Angola for Lisbon at the start of the sixties. Under the name Barcelo de Carvalho, he became Portugal's 400-metre record holder (a title he kept for a decade). At the same time, under the name of Bonga, he became an active member of the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola. When the Portuguese political police (the fearsome PIDE) realised that Barcelo de Carvalho and Bonga were one and the same, he barely had time to escape to Rotterdam where he began life as an exile. Alone and out of touch in the great Dutch port, he got together with musicians from the Cape Verdean community. Encouraged by the solidarity of his "brothers", he began to write again and released the legendary "Angola 72" album. Fuelled with an agonising melancholy, its 10 songs relate and summarise his experiences in Luanda. Soon the record was smuggled into Angola where it was distributed illicitly and became something of an independence manifesto among the population.
"On this record," Bonga says, "you can feel all the emotions that filled my heart at the time and echoes of the experiences that were to prove crucial in my later life." In particular, the album introduced Bonga's most famous song, « Mona Ki Ngi Xica », a track that would later feature on the soundtrack of the Cédric Klapisch film "Chacun cherche son chat" (When the cat's away).
Après Rotterdam, il s’installe à Paris. Bonga s’initie aux claviers, se familiarise avec les sonorités immigrées avec les musiciens de la diaspora africaine. les douces mélodies de la morna capverdienne, la texture rythmique du soukouss congolais font désormais parti de son univers. Mis à part ces emprunts, Bonga reste attaché aux sources, se refuse avec énergie à occidentaliser son style. « Angola 74 » est le résultat de tout ce mélange qui élargit l’espace sonore du Semba sans en altérer le contenu. Il est l’un des premiers à chanter « Sodade », 18 ans avant que Cesaria Evora ne lui donne ses lettres de noblesse. Bonga enrichit un répertoire qui demeure enraciné dans l’histoire sociale et culturelle d’une terre ravagée par une guerre interminable, mais enfin proche de la paix.
After Rotterdam, Bonga moved to Paris where he learnt to play keyboards and became familiar with the sounds brought by musicians from the African diaspora. The gentle melodies of Cape Verdean morna and the rhythmic texture of Congolese soukouss were now part of his world. Apart from these influences, Bonga remained true to his roots, firmly refusing to westernise his style. "Angola 74" was the result of this cultural cross-fertilisation that widened the sound base of semba without changing its content. He was one of the first people to sing "Sodade", 18 years before Cesaria Evora made it famous. Bonga extended his repertoire, but it remained rooted in the social and cultural history of a land devastated by an endless war, now close to peace.
After spending a few years in France, he returned to Portugal where he met with success, despite a number of conflicts with producers who wanted to turn him into Africa's Julio Iglésias. In 2000, Bonga recorded a new album for Paris label Lusafrica. A sequel to "Angola 72-74", "Mulemba Xangola" was a landmark record and won unanimously acclaim in the press. Interwoven with its nostalgic melodies are insistent appeals, great emotion and all the preoccupations of a singer demanding freedom and democracy for his country.
The following year, Lusafrica releases "O Melhor de Bonga", a compilation of his greatest tracks (including 3 unreleased songs) paying tribute to a rich and varied career. 2003 marks the return of Bonga, with the highly acclaimed by the press “Kaxexe”. Bonga's voice is still one of the finest in Africa: it is a magical voice that symbolises the self-expression of an exile and speaks directly to our hearts with extraordinary power.
Read in the press :
"An inimitable, essential voice in contemporary African music, recognisable among a thousand in its tender huskiness, which sounds as if it has been filtered through a light screen of nostalgia." (Les Inrockuptibles)
"Bonga, a voice of Angola, a unique touch, a sobbing prayer and a sway of the hips that incites the listener to delicious abandon." (Libération)
"Bonga has a husky voice and incomparable feeling - guaranteed melancholy." (Le Monde)
"Beauty, harmony and a slightly cracked voice are, as always, the main qualities of his music, a music we decidedly never tire of." (Vibrations)
Discography on Lusafrica:
“Bonga 72” (first release in 1972 / CD re-released in 1997 by Lusafrica)
“Bonga 74” (first release in 1974 / CD re-released in 1997 by Lusafrica)
“Mulemba Xangola” (CD Lusafrica – 2000)
“O’ Melhor de Bonga” (compilation CD Lusafrica / BMG – 2001)
“Kaxexe” (CD Lusafrica – 2003)
“LIVE BONGA” - CD Lusafrica 56725 462242 (dist. BMG)
“Maiorais” (CD Lusafrica – 2005)
