Odwa Bongo

ABOUT

Admired for his extensive vocal range and cultural interest, Odwa Bongo is a contemporary uHadi instrumentalist and vocalist. He graduated at the South African College of Music at UCT and was awarded the Dean's Merit List Award in recognition of his consistent academic excellence in Music Performance. The Wire, powered by Celebrity Services Africa acknowledges Bongo as one of SA’s Top LGBTIQ+ creatives alongside Rich Mnisi, Thebe Magugu, Muneyi & Desire Marea. He won the Best Tenor Soloist Award and travelled the world with the Drakensberg Boys Choir. In 2012 he was the vocalist for the Standard Bank Schools Big Band at the Standard Bank National Arts Festival. His love for his culture scored him a national TV feature on SABC 1's Youth Culture documentary series. He also featured in a cultural documentary powered by The University of Cape Town, where he was researching an important thanks giving ceremony of the Xhosa tribe. The star is also working closely with the Cape Cultural Collective to promote inclusivity, diversity and social cohesion through Arts and Culture. Bongo´s talent has afforded him to collaborate with the likes of Dr Madosini, Camagwini, Zolani Mahola and Morena Liraba. The singer was featured on Kechou & Dumama’s buffering juju album. The album is making more waves in Europe. Recently, Bongo’s uHadi Experience (which aims to restore dignity and respect to South African Bow Music) was featured at WOMAD South Africa. uHadi Experience has also successfully graced reputable theatres in South Africa, The Artscape & The Baxter Theatre. For the first time in his career, Bongo has released his long awaited single Nomathemba which is available on all major music platforms.

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