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Richard Bona

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Born in 1967 in the village of Minta in East Cameroon, Bona grew up in a home filled with music. He began to perform in public at the age of five, singing in the village church with his mother and four sisters. His earliest instruments were wooden flutes and hand percussion. Eventually he constructed his own 12-string acoustic guitar. After moving to the bigger city of Douala, Richard began playing gigs at the age of 11 on a rented electric guitar. A major turning point in his life happened in 1980 when a Frenchman came to his town and established a jazz club in a local hotel. The club owner heard about the young local prodigy and hired him to assemble a band. “I didn’t know anything about jazz,” Richard says, “but the gig paid really well, so I took it.” The hotel provided the instruments, so Richard would spend his entire day there, learning to play all of the instruments and teaching himself to read and write music.

In 1989, at age 22, Bona moved to Paris and soon began working with such leading French musicians as violinist Didier Lockwood and bassist Marc Ducret as well as such African stars as Manu Dibango and Salif Keita. During his seven years in Paris, Richard refined his writing skills while further immersing himself in the music of jazz greats like Miles Davis, Chet Baker and Ben Webster.

Since arriving in New York in 1995, bassist-vocalist-composer Richard Bona has been one of the most sought-after talents on the scene.

Tagged as:

jazz, african, bass, world, fusion
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The Ten Shades Of Blues
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Scenes From My Life
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Tiki
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Reverence
Richard Bona
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Top Tracks

1	Te Dikalo full track	115
2	Eyala full track	90
3	New Bell full track	82
4	O Sen Sen Sen full track	80
5	Dipama full track	77
6	Tiki full track	74
7	Souwedi Na Wengue full track	66
7	Dipita full track	66
9	Eyando full track	61
10	Sona Mama full track	58
11	O Beta O Siba full track	56
11	Kalabancoro full track	56
13	Samaouma full track	55
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MissClarck wrote:
24 days ago

Hi, I just want to present you this afrogroove band from Paris, Bantunani, they have such groove style and strong lyrics. They need to be supported in their 'cause. http://www.lastfm.fr/music/Bantunani

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LolaTravelli wrote:
October 2009

His very recent album, The Ten Shades Of Blues, is just beautiful.

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RedAnarchy wrote:
October 2009

süperdinnnnnnn

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GHELIX wrote:
October 2009

amazing, yes

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mexicoman wrote:
October 2009

amazing

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randomhero0007 wrote:
September 2009

i really like his reverence album

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LolaTravelli wrote:
September 2009

Richard Bona is a great artist. If you ever have the opportunity, you should go see and hear him live!

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atarijenkins wrote:
May 2009

Best bassist alive today. Hands down.

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barko1989 wrote:
January 2009

Dina Lam is beautiful as well as varied and charmingly sung - extremely pleasant music to listen to, I expected it to be on the 1st place

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tchepi wrote:
January 2009

Saw him performing in Yaounde a few weeks ago. A M A Z I N G!! I was fortunate to meet and greet him the day after during breakfast at the hotel. He's pretty cool, funny and relax.

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Honskij wrote:
December 2008

his shows give you a lot of energy :)

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Theographix wrote:
November 2008

very good music

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thesavman wrote:
November 2008

Saw his gig last night. Awesome.

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bettygroove wrote:
November 2008

:)

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MorBlau wrote:
October 2008

The man is amazing in his concerts!!!

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wonderland64 wrote:
August 2008

wunderschön - spitzensound !!!

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polveradelsur wrote:
July 2008

Tremendo artista!. A ver si aprende a tocar bises cuando el público se entrega y emociona. Para mi uno de los mejores músicos que hay, pero es más estirao...

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mauriciocaton wrote:
July 2008

I buy today the new album and sounds very good I saw this men a few years ago in live in vitoria jazz festival and it was amazing

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lord_ahriman wrote:
April 2008

Which album is his best? I'd like to buy one to experience his music to the fullest.

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wmigda wrote:
April 2008

playing in Cracow on April 20th

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Videos

Events

Mar 14 Richard Bona na Ethno Jazz Festival Wytwórnia Filmów Fabularnych, Wrocław, Poland
1 shout | 18 attendees
Mar 21 Richard Bona Boerderij, Zoetermeer, Netherlands
Add shout | 7 attendees
May 11 Mike Stern Boerderij, Zoetermeer, Netherlands
Add shout | 3 attendees

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Recent Activity

politehnik tagged Richard Bona with ‘cameroon’. yesterday evening
goturtlego, rue999, sunshade21 and 9 other people added Richard Bona to their libraries. yesterday afternoon
timeimmemorial tagged Richard Bona with africa and cameroon. Thursday morning
solamore50 tagged Richard Bona with ‘richard bona bellissimo’. Thursday morning
Herr_Gubrich, Steveydster, Lammard and 3 other people added Richard Bona to their libraries. Thursday morning
Berthuyus tagged Richard Bona with bass and african. Tuesday evening
Berthuyus added Richard Bona to Berthuyus’s library. Tuesday evening
enzinho tagged Richard Bona with world and africa. Tuesday afternoon
tricolorsofrido, ishmael2010, someshmoon and 15 other people added Richard Bona to their libraries. Monday afternoon
fsleeking added Richard Bona to the lineup of Mike Stern at Boerderij. 11 days ago