Bona Biography

Richard Bona Richard Bona is a hereditary musician, bass virtuoso, master-multuricanist and messenger of West African music in modern jazz. The eastern Cameroon and the chant of the old Griot Richard Bon, from the birth of Bona Pinder Yayumayalolo, was born on October 28 in the province of Cameroon, in the family of a hereditary narrator of the folk parable and musician, his grandfather was a griot of those places.

And Griots are a special caste of people in West Africa, which have long been carriers of the song culture of local tribes. According to the memoirs of our hero, he grew up in a deaf and very poor village, where almost no one saw the modern benefits of civilization. Nobody suspected the existence of music, different from the one who performed his grandfather and other Griots, because they did not have a radio, and they did not read newspapers.

When Richard Bona in childhood was sick with cholera, his grandfather’s songs and music performed on a balaphone helped him to endure suffering. Since then, music has forever settled in his soul, and it was then that he received the first and, probably, the most important musical lesson from his grandfather - that music and the song are primarily a narrative! From the age of 4, the young Richard himself began to play on the balaphone, a year later he began to sing in the church choir, and later began to master the organ at the arrival.

For his childhood in the village of Richard Bon, he personally made a lot of homemade tools - flute, a motorcycle gas tank with laces and brake belts instead of strings. We recommend: the famous musical instruments growing up and choosing a musical path after moving in the city, Richard joins the composition of two local groups, where he plays on a rented electric guitar.

At the beginning of X at the local hotel, a bar opens, in the framework of which a jazz club is formed, the owner of which, having noticed a young musical talent, invited Richard to work with him. This event has become another iconic in the life of the young Richard Bon. Not only because the work in the club was much more profitable than its former, but in many ways, because the jazz club contained a magnificent collection of jazz records.

For days, Richard studied and listened to the world heritage of jazz, and in the evenings he showed the audience everything that he had studied. It was there, in the hotel club, that he first heard the music that again sent him in the right direction, and this music became “Portrait of Tracy” from the album of the year Jaco Pastorius. This acquaintance was so much surprised by Richard that he directed all his zeal to improve his game and study the technique of Jaco.

The flight to the glory of “Paris-New York” by the year Richard Bon moves to live and work in Paris, where he immediately establishes productive creative contacts with European pop stars, as well as well-known representatives and popularizers of African trends in music: Saliphs Kate and Manu Dibango. The French jazz industry at that time was experiencing a new dawn, and the appearance of the future jazz star stirred this direction.

Soon, in the year, Richard Bona decides that he is ready to conquer the World Jazz capital and goes to New York. Having finally moved to the “City of Dreams”, Richard has been working with the Joe team for two years “Zawinul Syndicate” and records two joint albums. In M, he receives a proposal to become the music director of the Harry Belafonte orchestra, who at that time again rapidly gaining popularity, and with him the spoiled North American public conquers the Cameronic jazzman.

Then Richard forms his own team with an author's repertoire. His first independent and successful project was completely dedicated to the genius of Jaco Pastorius.

In the year, Richard releases an autobiographical musical project called “Scenes from my life” “Scenes from My Life”, in which he reveals himself not only as an excellent musician - virtuoso, but also a good vocalist. In this conceptual album, the author, adhering to the principle of his grandfather, all the songs were performed by him in two native languages ​​- Dual Douala and Banwele Banwele - and filled with life history.

If, before that album, Richard Bon was compared with Jaco Pastorius, then after him they began to call the “African sting” for a high sparkling voice and artistry. Life in New York discovered the talent of Camerun for the whole world and, first of all, for connoisseurs of technically complex, but harmonious music. Since that time, Richard has become an extremely demanded and recognized master of his craft.

He was repeatedly nominated for many awards. So, in the year, his 4th solo album Tiki was awarded the first Grammy award in the nomination “Best Modern Album”. Soon Richard Bona receives the position of professor jazz music at New York University. Actively tour, several times visited Russia with concerts. Twice together he performed with Igor Butman: in his project “Triumph Jazz”, and they also played together at the Olympic Games in Sochi.

According to Richard Bon, one of the brightest impressions of travel was the Krasnoyarsk -Irkutsk railway trip and visiting Lake Baikal.The discography of Richard Bon currently consists of 12 albums of them 2 solo albums. He was also recorded as a session musician on 16 albums of different groups. The author of the text is Nikolai Zhuykov.