Bonga (musician)

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Bonga Kwenda, better known as Bonga, is a pop singer and songwriter from Angola. Bonga was born José Adelino Barceló de Carvalho in 1943 in the province of Bengo, and left Angola at age 23 to become an athlete, becoming the Angolan record holder for the 400 metre dash. He had already begun his singing career at age 15.

Bonga abandoned athletics in 1972, concentrating solely on his music, and immediately became famous in his native country, as well as in Portugal, where he became a hit both with immigrants from the ex-colonies, and Portuguese of both African and European descent. He has released over 30 albums, singing in Portuguese and traditional Angolan languages. His tracks are a mixture of Portuguese folk sounds, semba, kizomba and latin elements.

While Angola was still a Portuguese colony, Bonga was an outspoken supporter of independence. This lead him to be exiled from Angola in the early 1970s. It was during this time that he launched his first album, Angola 72.