José Adelino Barceló de Carvalho (born 5 September 1942 in Kipiri, Angola), better known as Bonga, is a

folk Folk or Folks may refer to: Sociology *Nation *People * Folklore ** Folk art ** Folk dance ** Folk hero ** Folk music *** Folk metal *** Folk punk *** Folk rock ** Folk religion * Folk taxonomy Arts, entertainment, and media * Folk Plus or Fol ...

and

semba Semba is a traditional type of music and dance from Angola. Semba comes from the singular Massemba, meaning "a touch of the bellies" - one of the most recognizable and entertaining movements in semba.History of Semba , Kizombalove Academy Chara ...

singer and songwriter from

Angola , national_anthem = " Angola Avante"() , image_map = , map_caption = , capital = Luanda , religion = , religion_year = 2020 , religion_ref = , coordina ...

.Davis, Clive (2009)
Bonga ''Bairro''
, ''

The Sunday Times ''The Sunday Times'' is a British newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of News UK, whi ...

'', 18 January 2009

Biography

Youth and athletic career

José Adelino Barceló de Carvalho was born in the province of Bengo, and left Angola when he was 23 years old to become a

track and field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping events ...

athlete, becoming the Portuguese record holder for the

400 metres The 400 metres, or 400-meter dash, is a sprint event in track and field competitions. It has been featured in the athletics (sport), athletics programme at the Summer Olympics since 1896 for men and since 1964 for women. On a standard outdoor runn ...

(Angola was at the time one of Portugal's five African colonies). He had already begun his singing career at the age of 15.

Musical career

Colonial period

Carvalho abandoned athletics in 1972, concentrating solely on his music, and immediately became famous in his native Angola, as well as in

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

. After the

Carnation Revolution The Carnation Revolution ( pt, Revolução dos Cravos), also known as the 25 April ( pt, 25 de Abril, links=no), was a military coup by left-leaning military officers that overthrew the authoritarian Estado Novo regime on 25 April 1974 in Lisbo ...

in April 1974, he would become a hit both with immigrants from the ex-Portuguese colonies, and Portuguese of both African and European descent. He has released over 30 albums, singing in

Portuguese Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Portu ...

and traditional Angolan languages. His tracks are a mixture of Portuguese folk sounds,

kizomba Kizomba is a dance and musical genre that originated in Angola in 1984. Kizomba means "party" in Kimbundu, a Bantu language spoken by the Ambundu in Angola. Origin and evolution Music genre The origins of kizomba can be traced to late-1970 ...

and

latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

elements. While Angola was still a Portuguese colony, Bonga was an outspoken supporter of independence. This led him to be exiled from Angola in the early 1970s. At this time, Portugal was ruled by the authoritarian and conservative Estado Novo regime government, founded by Salazar. Barceló de Carvalho's status as a Portuguese star athlete allowed him the rare freedom of movement, which he used – under the name of Bonga Kuenda – to carry messages between exiled pro-independence African fighters and compatriots still in Angola. When the Portuguese government and its political police (P.I.D.E.) realised Bonga Kuenda and Barceló de Carvalho were the same man, Bonga was forced into exile in

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Rotte'') is the second largest city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is in the province of South Holland, part of the North Sea mouth of the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta, via the ''"N ...

, where, in 1972, he definitively adopted the name Bonga and recorded his first record, ''

Angola 72 , national_anthem = " Angola Avante"() , image_map = , map_caption = , capital = Luanda , religion = , religion_year = 2020 , religion_ref = , coordina ...

''. His iconic track "Mona Ki Ngi Xica", which would feature on the soundtrack of

Cédric Klapisch Cédric Klapisch ( ; born 4 September 1961) is a French film director, screenwriter and producer. Life and career Klapisch was born in Neuilly-sur-Seine, Hauts-de-Seine. He is from a Jewish family; his maternal grandparents were deported to ...

's 1996 film '' When the Cat's Away'' (''Chacun cherche son chat''), was introduced on this album. A warrant for his arrest was issued in Angola for the seditious lyrics of the album, forcing him to move nomadically between Germany,

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

and France until Angola's independence from Portugal in 1975, brought about by the events of the Carnation Revolution. While in Europe, Bonga met other Portuguese-speaking musicians and adapted the sounds of semba to his already diverse music style.

Independent Angola

After independence, the new Angolan government took Angola's best solo acts and founded and supported an orchestra called "Semba Tropical". The purpose was to revive the lost music industry, as described by a

People's Republic of Angola The People's Republic of Angola () was the self-declared socialist state which governed Angola from its independence in 1975 until 25 August 1992, during the Angolan Civil War. History The regime was established in 1975, after Portuguese An ...

ministry spokesman during the band's tour in Europe in the mid-1980s: "We had great problems because of the war for independence. When the Portuguese left they dismantled some of the basic structure by smashing and sabotaging equipment and we had to start from scratch. After independence there were no bands at all. Those which were formed were not active because they had no instruments." As it was the case under Portugal's colonial rule, only a tiny minority of Angolans (1%) were allowed to get an education. Thus, the newly independent country, with relatively good infrastructure, and blessed with rich natural resources, was in fact badly mismanaged and plagued by corruption and failed central planning for several decades after independence from Portugal. After Angola's independence Bonga lived for some time in Paris and Angola, before establishing his main residence in

Lisbon Lisbon (; pt, Lisboa ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 544,851 within its administrative limits in an area of 100.05 km2. Grande Lisboa, Lisbon's urban area extends beyond the city's administr ...

. As post-colonial life in Angola disintegrated into corruption, squalor, brutality, and an interminable and bloody civil war, Bonga remained critical of the political leaders on all sides. Bonga's voice of peace and conscience continues to make him a hero to the people of Angola no matter where he resides. He remains fiercely dedicated to the ideal of nonviolence, he states simply: "We must live without harming others." Now aged 74, he publishes in 2016 his thirty-first album Recados de Fora (Messages from Elsewhere) which include 9 new songs including Tonokenu, plus the covers of Sodade Meu Bem Sodade, a composition of Zé do Norte already sung by Maria Bethânia or Nazaré Pereira, and Odji Maguado composed by the Capeverdean writer B. Leza and popularised by

Cesaria Evora Cesaria may refer to: * Cesaria River, an old name for the Cohansey River *Cesária ''Cesária'' is the fifth album by Cesária Évora. The album, consisting of Cape Verdean morna and coladeira songs, was released by Paris-based Lusafrica on 1 ...

in her 1990 album, ''

Distino di Belita ''Distino di Belita'' (also known as ''Nova Sintra'') is an album by Cesária Évora Cesária Évora GCIH (; 27 August 194117 December 2011), more commonly known as Cize, was a Cape Verdean singer-songwriter. She received a Grammy Award in ...

''.

Awards

Bonga received the distinction of "Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters" by the French government. The honorable mention was delivered by the Ministry of Culture of France in a ceremony on 10 December 2014 in Angola.Bonga vai ser Cavaleiro das Artes em França
Rede Angola, 27 October 2014

Albums

* ''Angola 72'' (1972) (includes ''Paxi Ni Ngongo'') * ''Angola 74'' (1974) (includes "

Sodade "''Sodade''" is a Cape Verdean song written in the 1950s by Armando Zeferino Soares, and best popularized by Cesária Évora on her 1992 album ''Miss Perfumado''. The name is the Cape Verdean Creole variant of the Portuguese term ''saudade''. The ...

", a song later made famous by

) * ''Raízes'' (1975) * ''Angola 76'' (1976) * ''Racines'' (1978) * ''Kandandu'' (1980) * ''Kualuka Kuetu'' (1983) * ''Marika'' (1984) * ''Sentimento'' (1985) * ''Massemba'' (1987) * ''Reflexão'' (1988) * ''Malembe Malembe'' (1989) * ''Diaka'' (1990) * ''Jingonça'' (1991) * ''Paz em Angola'' (1991) * ''Gerações'' (1992) * ''Mutamba'' (1993) * ''Tropicalíssimo'' (1993) * ''Traditional Angolan Music'' (1993) * ''Fogo na Kanjica'' (1994) * ''O Homem do Saco'' (1995) * ''Preto e Branco'' (1996) * ''Roça de Jindungo'' (1997) * ''Dendém de Açúcar'' (1998) * ''Falar de Assim'' (1999) * ''Mulemba Xangola'' (2001) * ''Kaxexe'' (2003) * ''Maiorais'' (2004) * ''Bairro'' (2008) * ''Hora Kota'' (2011) * ''Recados de Fora'' (2016) * ''Kintal da Banda'' (2022)

Compilations

* ''Angola'' (1988) * ''Paz em Angola'' (1991) * ''

Katendu José Adelino Barceló de Carvalho (born 5 September 1942 in Kipiri, Angola), better known as Bonga, is a folk music, folk and semba singer and songwriter from Angola (Portugal), Angola.Davis, Clive (2009)Bonga ''Bairro'', ''The Sunday Times'', ...

'' (1993) * ''20 Sucessos de Ouro'' (1995) * '' Onda Sonora: Red Hot + Lisbon'', AIDS-Benefit Album produced by the

Red Hot Organization Red Hot Organization (RHO) is a not-for-profit, 501(c) 3, international organization dedicated to fighting AIDS through pop culture. Since its inception in 1989, over 400 artists, producers and directors have contributed to over 15 compilati ...

, contributed the track "Mulemba Xangola" (1998) * ''Best Of Bonga (2009)''

Live

* ''

Swinga Swinga José Adelino Barceló de Carvalho (born 5 September 1942 in Kipiri, Angola), better known as Bonga, is a folk and semba singer and songwriter from Angola.Davis, Clive (2009)Bonga ''Bairro'', ''The Sunday Times'', 18 January 2009 Biography You ...

'' (1996) * '' Bonga Live'' (2005)

References

External links

*
More about Bonga Angola TopMusics

"Bonga 'I help to place Angola in the world'".
Buala, African Contemporary Culture. {{DEFAULTSORT:Bonga 1942 births Living people People from Bengo Province Angolan expatriates in Belgium Angolan expatriates in Germany Angolan expatriates in France Angolan expatriates in the Netherlands Angolan folk singers Angolan emigrants to Portugal Musicians from Rotterdam Angolan songwriters S.L. Benfica athletes 20th-century Angolan male singers 21st-century Angolan male singers