Bonga (musician)

Bonga Kuenda, better known simply as Bonga ( born September 5, 1942 in Kipiri, Bengo Province) is an Angolan pop singer and songwriter.

Life

Bonga was born José Adelino Barceló de Carvalho, and left Angola at age 23 to become an athlete. He was Angolan record holder for the 400 - meter track. He had already begun his singing career with 15. He is of Portuguese and African descent.

Bonga was the Athletics in 1972 and focused solely on his music. He was in his native country immediately known, as in Portugal, where he became a star not only for the immigrants from the Exkolonien, but also for Portuguese European and African descent. He produced over 30 albums, singing in Portuguese as in traditional Angolan languages. His photographs are a mixture of Portuguese folk sounds, Semba, Kizomba and Latin American elements.

As Angola was still a Portuguese colony, Bonga was an outspoken supporter of independence. This meant that he had to go into exile in the early 1970s. At this time he released his first album, Angola 1972.

At that time there was the repressive right-wing Salazar regime in Portugal. Angolans have been discriminated against in every possible way, especially their freedom to travel was restricted. Generally them Portuguese citizenship was denied. Bongas status as athletics star gave him rare freedom of movement, which he used to deliver messages between exiled freedom fighters and compatriots still in Angola back and herzubefördern. When reinforced the independence struggles, Bonga was forced into exile in Rotterdam, where he in 1972 his first recording produced Angola 72 and adopted the name Bonga Kuenda. In Angola, a reward for his capture has been suspended because of the riotous rhymes of his album, so he had to lead a nomadic existence between Germany, Belgium and France to Angola's independence from Portugal in 1975. During his time in Europe met Bonga at other Portuguese- speaking musicians and integrated even the Samba in his already eclectic sound.

After independence, the Angolan government gathered the best soloists and an orchestra founded and supported by the name Semba Tropical. The intention was to revive the ruined music production, as it described a ministry spokesman during a European tour the band mid -80s:

"We had great difficulty because of our War of Independence. When the Portuguese withdrew, they destroyed basic structures by demolishing equipment and sabotaged, and we had to start at the zero point. After independence, there was no band. Those who had formed, could not play because they had no instruments. "

After Angola's independence declaration Bonga directed residences in Lisbon, Paris and Angola. As the post-colonial life in Angola in corruption, brutality, violence and an endless bloody civil war degenerated, Bonga was critical of political leaders of all sides. Bongas voice for justice and consciousness makes him in Angola continues to be a folk hero, regardless on which side. He feels strongly committed to the ideal of non-violence and is simply fixed. "We should live without hurting others "