Odwa Bongo recently went through a rough time in his life where he suffered from anxiety which almost led him towards depression. He spent two weeks in his room, feeling miserable and helpless. Luckily for him, music spoke to him. He started writing and listening to music that encouraged him. After he was feeling better he began to familiarise himself with people again. It was at this point that Odwa realised that he was not alone and that other people in his circle were also going through difficult situations. He then decided that in his final recital, for his African Music Diploma in Performance, he wants to heal himself and those around him.

"Having gone through this traumatic stage of my life as a young man, I realised that there are many people that need healing and because I am more heard and taken seriously when I sing, thus there was a need for me to help others find themselves again and gain encouragement."

After a successful recital, he decided to continue with this project and as he says it is his purpose to heal people around him and encourage them. He feels that he is the people's stepping stone towards a second chance in life.

Odwa Bongo (Singer, Song writer, composer and performer) is a solo artist inspired by Classical music, African music and Jazz. His music is very experimental with a dominating African rooted sound. Every time he is asked what kind of music he does, he fails to answer that question because he feels his music cannot be boxed into one , two or three genres. It is an experiment of soul feeding sounds, best described as avant-garde.

He was classically trained at the Drakensberg Boys’ Choir School under the guidance of Doctor Johann Van Der Sandt who is a phenomenal and globally well-known choir master. Odwa Bongo also received training from Rykie Boeke who was the second conductor of the Drakensberg Boys’ Choir.

In 2010 he was awarded “The Best Tenor Soloist” Award and was chosen to represent South Africa in South Korea as a member of the Drakensberg Boys’ Choir.

After his best years at the Drakensberg Boys’ Choir School, Odwa was introduced to Jazz in 2012 and in the same year he was chosen to be the vocalist for the Standard Bank School’s Big Band at the Grahamstown Jazz Festival.

He then completed his matric at the prestigious Bridge House School, in 2013. In 2014 he attended The Rainbow Academy where he flourished in his music. Odwa was awarded the “Best Student of the Year” Award in music and was the top student in his class.

Odwa Bongo achieved his Performance Diploma in African Music at the University of Cape Town, in 2017. The singer is a member of 2 bands; the UCT-Ibuyambo (Pan African music ensamble), under the guidance of Dizu Plaatjies and Azanian Aesthetics, a newly formed African music-focused group of 4 young individual artists from the UCT’s African Music department.

In between his studies Odwa performed around Cape Town’s finest clubs and festivals and occasionally went out of the country, representing Cape Town talent, to collaborate with other artists of Framewalk (a German youth programme focussed on creating music, dance and theatre productions).

Currently Odwa has released one single, Confused, and it was chosen as the BEST SUBMISION in 2017 amongst other great independent artists. Odwa Bongo has also had the opportunity to work with the praised Xhopera queen, Mthwakazi. Recently Odwa has been asked to perform at the Cape Town memorial service for Winnie Madikizela Mandela and this has been one of his best experiences in his career.

Audience Responses

Brilliant

The show was amazing! Heard a lot of positive comments.

Brilliant