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Bomani
Biography -
Soca Monarch and Road March King SVG 2004
Oronde 'Bomani' Charles, a
September child hailing from the capital's suburbs, emerged from the dark
and added his flair to the Soca Arena. He had been writing and recording his
songs as normal, not expecting to do much but contribute to the carnival
events. Then his two 2004 tunes got airtime on the local radio and the rest,
as they say, is history.
Though Bomani likes soccer, cricket, music and hanging out with his friends,
his other main contribution to carnival festivities is building beautiful
costumes from scratch as part of the mas band, Nelson Bloc. He started to
write poetry at the tender age of twelve, and at fifteen realised that the
poetry could become song. His first performance was at high school in SVG
during assembly: Bomani and five classmates were shocked by the response
from their audience. When I asked him to describe the feeling he said
simply, "Wicked!" But boys being boys, they didn't take their debut
seriously.
By 1998 Bomani had finally caught stage fever. He entered talent shows,
school performances, and was in quite a few local bands. At that point
Robert 'Patches' Knights, a local soul veteran, took him under his wing, and
with the help of Patches' son Bomani became lead vocalist in a band called
Prerogative. Playing the circuit with them from 1999-2001, put Bomani on
track to tour North America, after carnival 2001, with the band now known as
HottSand.
Yes; this is the same band as includes maestro Adrian Bailey and the
hard-hitting MaddZart, and the very same which also helped to produce Kevin
Lyttle. A trend, you may think: but Bomani is still unique in his own way.
Crediting all that he is to his mother, Diana Charles of Campden Park, St
Vincent, he says she gave him freedom to explore, whilst teaching him what
was right from what was wrong, by giving him choices, and by showing him the
results of wrongdoing. He also saw her life, strength and all in between,
and garnered his knowledge from that.
With his musical heroes ranging from Stevie Wonder, to Whitney Houston, to
Winston Soso, Bomani wants to write and perform songs that are so
exceptional you hear something different each time you listen to them; he
writes everything he sings. When I asked him what his mood was like going
into Soca Monarch, he looked at me with the usual, laid-back vibe he always
carries and told me, laughingly, that he hadn't been going to perform. But
every time the band played and he sang, the crowds would not let them go,
and demanded encores of the encores. So it was like, "OK, another show, just
give it your best as usual," and the last thing on his mind was competing:
he was just doing what he loves.
When asked how he wants to be remembered, he laughed and said, "They have to
know I really tried, and everything they hear is 100% ME." He also wanted me
to stress his love for all his family, blood relatives and others, and to
express his love and gratitude to Campden Park, the village that nurtured
him. I leave you with these words from Bomani: "On the cultural arena in St.
Vincent and the Grenadines, I want my village to be recognized as my
birthplace. You have no idea how big it is for them. It may even be worth
more to my community than to me, and for their passion, I want them
recognised."
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