My name is Joseph Bangura. I was born and brought up in a village in a northern province of Sierra Leone called Madina.

My whole family is musical, and as a boy I heard the songs my mother used to sing, as a traditional gospel singer. I took up singing those songs, beating cups and African drums. As a boy my love for music grew very strong, and at a certain point I wanted something more than what I heard from my mother. At age 14 I begged my parents to allow me to visit a man whom I heard had a guitar (in my village no one had a guitar) in another village 18 miles away from mine, who could play very well. My parents gave me permission, so I started going there every weekend, walking bare foot for almost half a day. When I got tired I sat on a stone or claimed a tree to rest for some time. I said to myself with tears in my eyes: "Someday I will sing for thousands and write great songs". Even when I was working with my father on the farm I would not work hard, all I did was think about music how I could get myself away from the farm and be in a music school somewhere in the world.

Zie ook:

www.jbangura.com
www.myspace.com/jbangura  
www.jbangura.hyves.nl  
www.youtube.com/jab2cute  
www.sundayfoundation.org/www/scripts/actueel.php?id=1214396985
www.sundayfoundation.org/www/filelib/file/Joseph_Bangura_-_Sweet_Alone.mp3