Could It Be by Mbandi

Mbandi is a 21st century composer who has been able to tap into a seemingly endless source of inspiration. Song after song, album after album, Mbandi continues to mesmerize fans all over the world. His music transcends borders, cultures and language and has found a place in the hearts of fans from all walks of life, ages, religions and cultures.

Mbandi was born on May 11th 1979 in Limbe (formally Victoria), a small Cameroonian seaside town on the Atlantic coast of West Africa. Limbe which is home to one the few black sand beaches in the world, gained it’s independence along with the rest of Cameroon from British rule in the early 60s.

In 1994, In search of a better life for their son, Mbandi’s parents made the difficult decision to send him to America and the young age of 15. “Coming to America was very exciting but at the same time, challenging” It is during this period that Mbandi tapped into his feelings of Nostalgia, excitement and hope to create some of his most compelling composition to date. Songs like “A New Beginning and Missing home – just to name a few - give the listener some insight to the mind of a great composer.

Mbandi was first introduced to the piano at the age of 14 when his father purchased a keyboard for his older brothers. “Growing up in Cameroon, at least in the town I grew up in, I saw pianos only in pictures and on TV. Its not like here in America where you walk into a hotel, restaurant etc and there is a $50,000 piano just sitting there. People here take it for granted but I still get a glow in my eyes when I see a piano in public.

A year after Mbandi’s introduction to the piano, he moved to America and enrolled in college at the age of 15. “The greatest thing about college in America was that there were pianos every where, from the music department to the student union building. I was like a kid in a candy store. I spent every minute that I wasn’t in class or doing home work playing the piano”

Music in Mbandi’s culture is not encouraged as anything beyond a fun pass-time, not a career. Mbandi’s parents wont let him major in music so he majored in Pre-Med and Psychology. “I had no intentions of going to medical school, I was just to young and scared to stand up to my parents at the time.

After graduating from college in 1998 at the age of 19, Mbandi worked in corporate America 3 years. After which he decided to give up a lucrative corporate career for his first love, music.

“I believe everyone has a calling in life, a purpose, a reason for being born. This is what I was born do so doing anything other than this defies the essence of my existence” - Mbandi

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