Star jazz bassist Richard Bona of Cameroon, has performed in SA before– but his trip to the Standard Bank Joy of Jazz in September will be different.
He will be helping younger musicians by conducting a music workshop, a job that gives him tremendous satisfaction.
“When I visit a country I request that I do workshops with younger musicians,” he told me from Paris. “I insisted on doing it in India recently, too. It’s important for me to help young musicians evolve and become better at their craft.”
He considered himself lucky as a youngster because he was taught by some of music’s great exponents, including Harry Belafonte, when he was appointed musical director on the icon’s European tour in 1998.
“I got guidance from them and today I owe it to young people to give back. They key words are to know your instrument and practice and practice. You must realise that all great musicians play all the time. Excellence comes from repetition.”
He laughs: “I am a bad-ass teacher.”
The musician said he knew many talented musicians who never made it because they were lazy, while less talented musicians worked hard and became famous.”
Bona teaches music in New York and one of his prize students, guitarist Adam Stoler, will be coming to Johannesburg as part of his band. “He spent two years in my class and he is very gifted. You’ll see what he can do.”
Bona, whose African name is Bona Pinder Yayumayalolo, was born into a family of musicians, which enabled him to start learning music from a young age.
His grandfather was a griot – a West African praise singer and storyteller – and percussionist, and his mother was a singer. At four, Bona started to play the balafon.
At the age of five, he began performing at his village church. Not being wealthy, Bona made many of his own instruments: including flutes and guitars (with cords strung over an old motorcycle tank).
His talent was quickly noticed, and he was often invited to perform at festivals and ceremonies. Bona began learning to play the guitar at 11, and in 1980 at the age of 13, he assembled his first ensemble for a French jazz club in Douala.
The owner befriended him and helped him discover jazz music, in particular that of Jaco Pastorius, which inspired Bona to switch his focus to the electric bass.
He was 22 when he emigrated to Germany to study music in Düsseldorf and then later relocated to France, where he furthered his musical studies.
He established himself in New York in 1995 and it was a busy period for him, playing bass guitar with a host of luminaries that included Larry Coryell, Michael and Randy Brecker, George Benson, Branford Marsalis, Chaka Khan, Bobby McFerrin and recently Stevie Wonder.
Today he often visits the village and performs with his mother in church. It’s a high point of his visit and the people love it. They remember him as a child.
When growing up Bona had no formal schooling and could not read nor write, but this did not deter him from telling an aunt that he would one day be “the greatest musician in the world.”
“I had great confidence as a child. I did not see my career coming, of course. I was eight at the time. I had a plan in my head and a voice inside told me to follow my dream.”
On music he said: “I come from a different place, a place where music has to be describing a story,” he said. “When I was a kid, music was not music to us unless there was a beautiful story behind it. That’s my background.
That’s still where I live. Even when people don’t understand the language, they can feel what’s happening. The sounds of the words and the music tell the story. And the stories of people’s lives are the same, work and love and struggle and happiness, all over the world.”
Since his debut CD, “Scenes from My Life,” in 1999, Bona has released a number of significant albums. His latest offering, “Bonafied,” which showcases some of his most inspiring compositions, will certainly feature on his programme this time around.
* Richard Bona performs on the Conga Stage on Friday, September 26. He goes on stage at 00h30 on the Saturday morning. He also performs on the Conga Stage on Saturday, September 27, at 22h15.
Peter Feldman has been a journalist and arts critic for almost 50 years and served on The Star in various capacities for 35 years, ending up as a specialist writer on films, music and theatre.
During that time he travelled extensively on assignments and interviewed many international film and pop stars, both in South Africa and overseas. He also covered some of South Africa’s biggest film and musical events.
He is active in the freelance field and his work has appeared in a variety of South African newspapers and magazines. He writes regularly for Artslink.co.za, The Citizen, Saturday Star and The Sunday Independent. He has also worked on TV in his specialist capacity.
Over the years Feldman has been the recipient of several awards for his contribution to music journalism and the SA record industry. He wrote lyrics for some top artists, including Sipho Mabuse, and had a hit disco single, “Video Games,” which was released in 1988.
