Artist of the Month
Odwa Bongo (Singer, Songwriter, composer and performer) is a solo artist inspired by African music and
Jazz. He was classically trained at the Drakensberg Boys’ Choir School under the guidance of Doctor Johann Van Der Sandt who was the main conductor of the choir at the time. Odwa Bongo also received training from Rykie Boeke who was the second conductor of the choir.
In 2010 he was awarded “The Best Tenor Soloist” Award in the choir. He was also chosen to represent South Africa in South Korea with 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 and in 2014 he attended The Rainbow Academy. Odwa was awarded the “Best Student of the Year” Award in music. Currently, Odwa is a student at UCT studying African Music, his first love. He is also a member of 2 bands; the UCT-Ibuyambo (Pan African music ensemble), 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 performs around Cape Town and occasionally leaves the country, representing Cape Town talent, to collaborate with other artists of Framewalk (a German youth programme focussed on creating music, dance and theatre).
