Richard Bona

Born in Minta, Cameroon, in 1967, Richard Bona grew up in a family of musicians and made his first musical steps in Douala, where he moved from the balafon to the bass and discovered jazz. After periods in Germany and then in Paris in the early 1990s, he played clubs and accompanied, among others, Jacques Higelin, Manu Dibango, Salif Keïta and Didier Lockwood, before settling in New York at the invitation of Harry Belafonte. His solo career began with Scenes from My Life in 1999, followed by Reverence in 2001 and Munia: The Tale in 2003. Richard Bona developed a music located between jazz, African musics, fusion, blues and acoustically coloured songs, characterized by a very melodic bass style and compositions that circulate rhythms between Cameroon, Europe, the Americas and Brazil. Over the years he has also collaborated with Joe Zawinul, Pat Metheny, Bobby McFerrin and Lionel Loueke, while leading personal projects such as The Ten Shades of Blues (2009), Bonafied (2013) and Heritage (2016). Between international jazz stages and cross‑border projects, Richard Bona occupies a singular place in the dialogue between contemporary jazz and African traditions.