Richard Bona is one of the most accomplished artists Cameroon has ever seen; comparable only to legends like Manu Dibango. Having lived a life very obscure from the general public and known only to a niche fanbase of sophisticated music listeners, he started to live a more public life since the start of the COVID pandemic. As an artist that could boast of more than a 100 tour dates annually, Richard Bona suddenly has a lot more time on his hands.
In another article written by my colleague W.W titled ‘RICHARD BONA: TROLL KING, CONTENT KING,’ we got to learn about how Richard Bona reintroduced himself to a generation of younger Cameroonians who now follow him less for his music and more for his activism and revelations. Every time I am opportune, I tune in to watch his LIVE sessions and read from his page. As time has progressed, his message has moved from condemning the Cameroonian government and Biya’s regime to outright declarations of his intentions to never want to be associated with Cameroon. He even talked about not singing is his native Douala language which he has used for most of his music.
Bona has told of how he had to make his first guitar by himself and how he and other musicians were harassed and extorted by the police for small change they made by playing in cabarets in Cameroon. He constantly advises his Cameroonian followers and cautions them against hoping that the government of Cameroon will ever do anything for them. He holds that the Cameroonian government deforms talents instead of forming them and every Cameroonian should carry the responsibility of honing their skills on their shoulders instead of waiting for some government program to create a supportive environment for them to hone those skills. His greatest message which is less in his words than in his life is that of hard work, courage, self confidence, and integrity.
Recently a photo of a Cameroonian born American nurse administering the COVID vaccine to U.S president elect Joe Biden surfaced online. Many media outlets were quick to spread the story in a bid to make Cameroonians proud that one of them was in such a position. Bona however came out to remind Cameroonians that the lady would never have amounted to nothing in Cameroon and is not a Cameroonian citizen and hence Cameroonians should not lay claim to her achievements. The stories of the likes of this lady who have had to get out of Cameroon to achieve anything great are many. Even the famous martial arts champion, Francis Nganou, who still holds Cameroon dear to his heart confessed that he had to leave the country to be successful and that his talent would have died in Cameroon because of the lack of opportunity and facilities to develop it.
Besides his activism, what I personally admire about Richard Bona more is his wisdom. Baltasar Gracian wrote that “If you enter the house of Fortune through the door of pleasure, you will leave through the door of sorrow, and vice versa. So be careful of the way you end things, and devote more attention to a successful exit than to a highly applauded entrance. Fortunate people often have very favorable beginnings and very tragic endings. What matters isn’t being applauded when you arrive—for that is common—but being missed when you leave. Rare are those who are still wanted. Fortune seldom accompanies someone to the door. She is as courteous to those who are coming as she is rude to those who are going.”
I remember Richard Bona telling a story of how he once refused a luxury apartment when he worked for Harry Belanfonte. An apartment that was paid for. He said if he was going to live in such an apartment, he would want to look for it himself and pay for it himself, instead of having it offered to him.
Richard Bona has definitely been making huge sums of money from his tours, music licensing, collaborations with equipment manufacturers, etc but his lifestyle has been very modest until recently -in what looks like some sort of semi retirement or last dance in the performing artist stage of his career. He just got himself a waterfront property in Miami which certainly doesn’t come cheap. A few days ago he docked a brand new boat by his crib and I am sure he can shell out a few million dollars on a jet if he wants to but why should he do that if he took the train to most of his shows at the prime of his career. I doubt he even owned a luxury car when he lived in New York at the prime of his career. Today we see many artists who have not, even a tenth of Richard’s catalogue or wealth doing everything to buy luxury cars while they still live in tiny studio apartments and have less than 10 paid shows a year.
When I speak of geniuses here, I mean people of great courage, talent, and integrity. When you hear Richard Bona talk about his experience with the Cameroonian government and how instead of treating him like a national treasure that he should have been, tried to use and compromise him and his career, it is a story that many of the greatest talents currently in Cameroon face on a daily basis in different degrees, nobody really cares about them and what their work can do for the greater good of the country. There is a story about Kyllian Mbappe outrightly rejecting his Cameroonian side because of how FECAFOOT tried to extort him rather than support him in the beginning of his career. I do not know how true that is as my research has not led me to a reliable source but it is obvious that the man wants nothing to do with Cameroon probably besides connecting with his close family members who he knew growing up.
You can tell Richard Bona somewhere still loves Cameroon but the inability for Cameroon to love you back has forced him to veil that love in some sort of ‘rubbing his success in our faces’ as a coping mechanism. I say this because even through the decades he was being somewhat persecuted by the government, he still sang in his native language. It took him almost getting arrested in another country for him to finally give up his Cameroonian nationality even though he had had numerous opportunities to do so. For him to write that his songs could still have done well if he sang them in another language, when told by one follower that he still owes a lot to Cameroon because his music is great because of a Cameroonian language, is testament to what I am suggesting.
What Richard Bona is doing, I fear, is going to soon become a norm for the greatest of Cameroonians especially those whose talent is mixed with wisdom and the kind of integrity that makes them incorruptible. Especially those who have a history of starting their craft in Cameroon. You know, imagine trying to help and your help being refused. You can’t help but laugh at the failure of the project later; even Jesus Christ would. Eto’o does not have the kind of courage and integrity that Bona holds. He proved it during the last presidential campaigns. We all know he didn’t want to have that outing but his hands were tied and he has a lot invested in Cameroon.
Richard Bona is setting a precedent that I think many will begin to follow. Those with the talent who lack the courage and integrity will try to mix for short term gains and lose the rewards of their talent but those who do not break, if the country does not change, will be come like Richard Bona - go and make it elsewhere and rub it in the faces of those who have not the courage to stand up for themselves. Richard Bona really does not have to have all the social media outings he has. Most of the people who listen to him and comment on his page daily do not make up even 5% of his income stream and I’m probably being generous here. He doesn’t need to reach out to them and tell them what he does. For a long time, he had a lot to show off and could afford a lot to show off but he didn’t. Why NOW?
- Norbert Foy
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