Patience Marie Josephine Kama Dabany (born 22 January 1941; member of the

Order of Gabriela Silang The Order of Gabriela Silang ( fil, Orden ni Gabriela Silang) is an all-female order of the Philippines founded on September 19, 2003.First Lady of Gabon from 1967 to 1987. For nearly 30 years she was married to

Omar Bongo Ondimba El Hadj Omar Bongo Ondimba (born Albert-Bernard Bongo; 30 December 1935 – 8 June 2009) was a Gabonese politician who was the second President of Gabon for 42 years, from 1967 until his death in 2009. Omar Bongo was promoted to key positions as ...

, who was

President of Gabon The president of Gabon is the head of state of Gabon. A total of three people have served as president (not counting two acting presidents) since the post was formed in 1960. Description of the office Election The president of the republic ...

from 1967 to 2009. After their divorce, she successfully pursued a career in music. She is the mother of the current President of Gabon,

Ali Bongo Ondimba Ali Bongo Ondimba (born Alain Bernard Bongo; 9 February 1959),"Bongo Ali", ''Gabon: Les hommes de pouvoir'', number 4Africa Intelligence 5 March 2002 . sometimes known as Ali Bongo, is a Gabonese politician who has been the third president of ...

Early life

Born as Marie Joséphine Kama in

Brazzaville Brazzaville (, kg, Kintamo, Nkuna, Kintambo, Ntamo, Mavula, Tandala, Mfwa, Mfua; Teke: ''M'fa'', ''Mfaa'', ''Mfa'', ''Mfoa''Roman Adrian Cybriwsky, ''Capital Cities around the World: An Encyclopedia of Geography, History, and Culture'', ABC-CL ...

, Congo, Dabany's parents originated from the

Bateke The Teke people or Bateke, also known as the Tyo or Tio, are a Bantu Central African ethnic group that speak the Teke languages and that mainly inhabit the south, north, and center of the Republic of the Congo, the west of the Democratic Republi ...

people in Haut-Ogooué region in what is now southeastern

Gabon Gabon (; ; snq, Ngabu), officially the Gabonese Republic (french: République gabonaise), is a country on the west coast of Central Africa. Located on the equator, it is bordered by Equatorial Guinea to the northwest, Cameroon to the nort ...

. Dabany grew up in a musical family and began to sing at an early age to her father's

accordion Accordions (from 19th-century German ''Akkordeon'', from ''Akkord''—"musical chord, concord of sounds") are a family of box-shaped musical instruments of the bellows-driven free-reed aerophone type (producing sound as air flows past a ree ...

accompaniment, while her brother played guitar. From there her path led to the church choir in Brazzaville and on to traditional song performances. Her mother was a traditional singer.

As First Lady

In 1958, she met Albert-Bernard Bongo, a young Gabonese student. At just 15 years of age, she married Albert on 31 October 1959. They had two children: a son Alain Bernard Bongo (9 February 1959) and a daughter, the late Albertine Amissa Bongo (1964–1993). Marie Josephine Kama, later known as Josephine Bongo, was the First Lady of Gabon. She and her then-husband founded the

Gabonese Democratic Party The Gabonese Democratic Party (french: Parti Démocratique Gabonais, abbreviated PDG), is the ruling and dominant political party of Gabon. Between 1968 and 1990 it was the sole legal party. History The party was established as the Gabonese Dem ...

. She became involved in many social projects, including the promotion of women's rights, charities for children, etc. Working with culture she created the musical group dedicated to the Gabonese Democratic Party, Kounabeli (Superstars), where she performed as lead singer.

Musical career

In 1986 Joséphine and Albert Bongo divorced. Marie embarked on a career as a professional artist, under her new name, Patience Dabany. Her first album was ''Levekisha''. Other albums followed such as ''Cheri Ton Disque Est Rayé'' and ''Associé''. Her acclaimed self titled album,''Patience Dabany'', in 1994 was produced and mixed by Grammy winning engineer Reggie Dozier and background vocals were sung by Los Angeles based vocal trio, HARMONY, consisting of Cydney Davis, Wendy Smith and Theresa Walker who also toured with Patience during her concerts in Gabon and in California. In 1997, she released the album ''Nouvelle Attitude''. The same year Dabany returned to her motherland and reestablished herself in

Libreville Libreville is the capital and largest city of Gabon. Occupying in the northwestern province of Estuaire, Libreville is a port on the Komo River, near the Gulf of Guinea. As of the 2013 census, its population was 703,904. The area has been in ...

. In 2001 she released ''Article 106''. Her 2004 world music album ''Obomiyia'' allowed her to tour with

James Brown James Joseph Brown (May 3, 1933 – December 25, 2006) was an American singer, dancer, musician, record producer and bandleader. The central progenitor of funk music and a major figure of 20th century music, he is often referred to by the hono ...

in Europe. She recorded an album with Kounabeli in 2005; the song ''La Connaissance'' from this album was one of the anthems of her former husband (now using the name Omar Bongo Ondimba) used during the presidential campaign of 2005. Patience Dabany collaborated with many artists such as

El DeBarge Eldra Patrick "El" DeBarge (born June 4, 1961) is an American singer, songwriter and musician. He was the focal point and primary lead singer of the family group DeBarge. Popular songs led by El DeBarge include " Time Will Reveal", " Who's Hold ...

Tabu Ley Rochereau Pascal-Emmanuel Sinamoyi Tabu (13 November 1940 – 30 November 2013), better known as Tabu Ley Rochereau, was a leading African rumba singer-songwriter from the Democratic Republic of the Congo. He was the leader of ''Orchestre Afrisa Internatio ...

, and Tshala Muana. She is also the president of the ''Association of Gabonese Merchants'' and works in the field of charity. Having performed at

Paris Olympia The Olympia (; commonly known as L'Olympia or in the English-speaking world as Olympia Hall) is a concert venue in the 9th arrondissement of Paris, France, located at 28 Boulevard des Capucines, equally distancing Madeleine church and Opéra ...

in 2001. In June 2011, she participated in the "Great African Night" at the Stade de France, alongside many stars of the continent. She also sang at the final of the 2012 African Nations Cup in Libreville (Gabon). On 2 November 2012, she is in Paris again for a concert at the Zenith. Martin Safou
Patience Dabany en concert en France en juin prochain
, ''Gabon Actu'', 10 March 2012 Patience Dabany is one of the most prolific musical ambassadors of Africa.

Honours

*: **

Member of the

Order of Gabriela Silang The Order of Gabriela Silang ( fil, Orden ni Gabriela Silang) is an all-female order of the Philippines founded on September 19, 2003.The Leopard Man's African Music Guide - Patience Dabany
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An interview with Patience Dabany
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External links

* * Patience Dabany a
museke african artistes
* Images of Patience Dabany can be found o

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dabany, Patience 1941 births First Ladies and Gentlemen of Gabon Gabonese singers Living people People from Brazzaville 21st-century Gabonese people