Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Benjamin Caleb CGP. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Hi Benjamin , thanks for joining us today. Earning a full time living from one’s creative career can be incredibly difficult. Have you been able to do so and if so, can you share some of the key parts of your journey and any important advice or lessons that might help creatives who haven’t been able to yet?
Making a living playing music, has probably been the greatest challenge of my life, but also my biggest dream.
When I make money outside of music, i feel good, but when I earn it through music it’s special, I experience a unique and immense sense of joy.
That’s how I knew that I wanted music to become my one and only profession, because years ago, I had refused a $100 job outside of music to take a $10 job playing guitar on a full album, because what you feel when you make music is priceless.
And it took a lot of years of hard work, tears and loneliness to get here.
The very first thing I did was trying to become the best guitar player I could possibly be, so that the lack of skill or talent would never be the reason for my failure. Deep down inside me, I knew things could end very badly for me. I knew I could end up alone and homeless, and that’s what happened.
I’ve always told myself that, even if choosing music as my only profession led me to poverty or homelessness,
I would still be a homeless person with a very high level of musicianship, and I was right because I’ve already been a homeless, few years ago.
I knew what I was getting into and It was a risk I was happy to take.
Today, I’m happy to earn a living from my creative work, but that was certainly not the case from day one,
or even from the first decade.
After 10 years of training day and night I realised that talent alone was not enough, unfortunately.
In Africa, Fingerstyle music remains an unknown art form, and there was no clear path to follow. I had to create my own opportunities while continuously developing my skills.
Over time, I expanded my work beyond performing, becoming a music producer, songwriter and collaborator for other artists. Each of these experiences contributed to building both my professional and financial stability. I spent years refining my guitar playing and deepening my knowledge of music production.
So i started to learn from renowned producers such as Frank Rogers,
Jean Jacques Goldman, Keith Stegall, Shaun Shankel, Buddy Miller or T Bone Burnett, Gregg Field, Quincy Jones…
I further deepened my knowledge by studying the work of Frank Sinatra,
Nat King Cole, Nina Simone
Louis Armstrong, Oscar Peterson,
Ella Fitzgerald and Billie Holiday,
Art Tatum and Django Reinhardt…
Beyond music, I learned from books, films, life experiences, and by studying successful people in many different fields. This discipline helped me develop a unique musical identity, a strong mindset and access to new opportunities.
One of the major steps of my career start when I began working with a team, with JERRY THUMBA RISASI as my Manager.
Jerry Thumba plays a central role in my career. He oversees the organisation of my international tours, manages my daily schedule, including interviews, radio and television appearances, masterclasses, or music conferences…
He also manages my social media presence and negotiates my contracts with event organisers, sponsors, and funding partners.
Thanks to Jerry Thumba’s management, I can focus myself at 100% on music, and it has significantly increased my income.
Another major step of my career is when i started to work with a special and talented guy named BINK JOE.
Bink is my producer and my sound engineer. His expertise has helped me develop a more professional and commercially viable sound.
Thanks to his work, my songs sound more polished, professional, and ready for a wider audience.
Benjamin , before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
BENJAMIN CALEB CGP, is a solo live guitar player, songwriter and music Producer from the D.R.CONGO.
He’s recognised as the important ambassador of Fingerstyle guitar in Africa, considered one of the best guitarists in Africa and the greatest African acoustic guitarist.
Benjamin Caleb cgp was not born into a world of opportunities.
He was born in Goma, in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, a region that has suffered from war, violence, volcanic eruption and poverty, uncertainty for many years.
While others musicians grow up surrounded by music schools, mentors, and opportunities, Benjamin grew up in a place where simply finding peace and stability could be a challenge.
From a young age, life taught him difficult lessons. He experienced hardship, insecurity, and moments when the future seemed unclear. Many people around him were focused on survival, not on building artistic careers. Becoming an internationally recognized musician seemed almost impossible.
MUSIC BECAME HIS ESCAPE.
When he discovered the guitar, he found something that gave him another way of looking at life. It was more than an instrument. It was a way to forget the pain around him and imagine a different future, guitar was his therapy.
While others saw obstacles, he saw possibilities hidden inside six strings.
THEN TRAGEDY STRUCK AGAIN.
In 2021, the eruption of Mount Nyiragongo forced Benjamin Caleb and countless others to flee their homes. During the chaos, he lost two of his three guitars. For most people, they were just instruments, for him they were years of sacrifice, practice, dreams and memories.
That same year, his 9 years old little sister SHEKINAH and his 11 years old little brother SHALOOM, died at the same time after being poisoned by a member of their own family. The loss shattered everything. In a single moment, two young lives were gone.
While his family was in mourning, Benjamin was left facing unimaginable grief while struggling to survive himself somewhere in the hospital.
With a single phrase repeating over and over in his mind: “Rage, rage against the dying of the light.”
That tragedy forever changed his way of believing in God.
In the years that followed, every note he played carried a part of that story. Behind the performances, the recordings, and the growing recognition was a young man who had endured things that few could truly understand.
Music became more than a passion—it became a way to keep moving forward when life had given him every reason to stop.
For Benjamin Caleb, the guitar was no longer just an instrument. It became a lifeline, a refuge, and a testimony that even after darkest moments, the human spirit can still find a reason to move on.
He wrote a song called MAMA I KNOW, tribute to everything his family gone through.
He continued practicing for 17 hours every day, often with limited resources and little support. He chased a dream that seemed far beyond reach: becoming one of the world’s leading fingerstyle guitarists and bringing African fingerstyle music to an international audience.
What makes his story powerful is not only the hardships he faced. It’s the fact that he refused to let those things define him. Every challenge could have ended his journey. Instead, each one became another reason to keep moving forward.
Today, when people see Benjamin Caleb performing on stage, they see a musician. What they don’t always see is THE LONG AND WINDING ROAD behind him—the losses, the tears, the sacrifices, and the determination that carried him through some of the darkest moments of his life.
His story is proof that even in the most difficult circumstances, a dream can survive, as he use to say “follow your dreams you can’t go wrong”
What makes Benjamin’s work distinctive, is his ability to create the sound of an entire band with a single guitar. Through fingerstyle guitar, he combines melody, rhythm, bass lines, and percussion simultaneously, offering audiences a complete musical experience performed by one artist, one guitar, on one stage.
In addition to instrumental performances, he writes original songs in English, French, Swahili, and Lingala, allowing him to connect with diverse audiences across cultures.
Beyond live performances, he provides music production and studio session services. His goal is not only to entertain on stage, but also to contribute to the creation of songs.
One of the things that sets him apart is his commitment to authenticity, rather than following trends, he focuses on creating soulful music that reflects his life experiences.
He’s also passionate about expanding the visibility of Fingerstyle guitar in Africa and encouraging young musicians to pursue excellence in their craft.
Benjamin is most proud of the journey he has built independently, from his beginnings in GOMA to performing across multiple countries and gaining recognition from some of the world’s most respected guitar players.
He continues to grow his career internationally while remaining connected to his roots and his mission of using music as a bridge between cultures.
His recent pride is a song he produced called, “GUÉRIS MON COEUR BRISÉ” by Divine Mosaka T. A cinematic piece, blending Spanish guitar, classical music and modern music, a kind of orchestral pop.
Above all, he wants people to know that his brand is built on deep feelings. Every musical production and performance is driven by the desire to create something deep and meaningful.
In 2020, he founded the Tommy Emmanuel Music Academy, a platform dedicated to training and
the transmission of musical values: excellence, discipline, creativity, and authenticity. The Academy aims to offer young African musicians the resources he himself didn’t have when he started: masterclasses, mentoring, and international exposure.
Benjamin’s trajectory is marked by a rare determination, after discovering a video of Tommy Emmanuel, he decided to dedicate his life to the guitar, abandoning his studies and jobs
to pursue this calling, a bold choice in an environment where music wasn’t
perceived as a “real job.”
Faced with the lack of a market for fingerstyle guitar in Africa, Benjamin Caleb forged his own path, sometimes working more than 17 hours a day to perfect his technique.
This dedication has allowed him
to achieve exceptional instrumental mastery and establish fingerstyle as a
respected art form on the continent.
Since his first performances in GOMA, Benjamin has played in numerous festivals, concerts, and masterclasses across Africa, tours in different countries such as Namibie, Ghana, Senegal, South Africa, Ivory Coast, Central African Republic, Togo, Ouganda, Kenya, Botswana, Rwanda, Nigeria…
And soon this year in
JAPAN: Tokyo, Nagoya, Osaka, Kobe.
INDIA: Mumbai, New Delhi, Bangalore, Kolkata.
CHINA: Hangzhou, Shenzhen, Shanghai, Beijing.
In 2023, AFRIGUIT TOUR came along, a tour that connected African artists to the global stage while celebrating the continent’s rich cultural heritage, that was the first tour that took Benjamin Caleb CGP to the international level.
In 2024, he won several awards, for the BEST ARTIST OF THE YEAR, BEST AFRO-POP PERFORMANCE OF THE YEAR, and the BEST ACOUSTIC GUITARIST OF THE YEAR.
These awards attest to his ability to fuse fingerstyle technique with popular African sounds.
This year Benjamin Caleb is currently on tour while preparing collaborations with Joe Robinson, Trey Hensley, Shane Hennessy and Tommy Emmanuel – a major figure in the world of acoustic guitar.
Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?
That’s a good question…
I think that, one of the reasons that’s destroying the world is because people have lost their emotional depth. Superficiality has become the norm, and it’s because people no longer have life goals.
AND HOW CAN YOU HAVE A GOAL?
By looking for something bigger than yourself, a feeling, an inner strength that overwhelms you and takes control of your soul. This feeling must be so big and strong that it fills every inch of your being. And that’s what gives meaning to this life full of meaninglessness.
And for that, you have to dig deep within yourself, don’t limit yourself to the surface, dig deep.
And in my case, I found that strength in music, and it gave me a goal, a mission, a way of life. And that’s what guides my creative journey. HOW?
Well, it’s like Ray Charles, blues and gospel music were his whole soul, you take that away from him, and he ceases to live. And when you listen to his songs, you feel it instantly, and fall under its charm, like a man in a trance.
And my ultimate goal is to give back what I’ve received and learned from the greats: this way of digging as deep as possible into my soul, taking that feeling, that magic, and passing it on to people.
And that’s why music is the only thing everyone loves and has in common, because it saves lives and speaks to your inner self; it deepens your existence.
Someone could listens to people like BILLY JOEL or SAM COOKE and their life changes completely, and they find meaning in their existence. HOW? It’s that feeling, that emotional depth, that king of feeling stronger than anything. Some people call it, “GIFT”.
And for artists like me, BB KING, DYLAN THOMAS, or VINCENT VAN GOGH, it’s a gift that you only obtain through suffering.
An artist, in my opinion, is someone who can pierce our souls to soften our wicked hearts, saves our lives, and give us hope for a better tomorrow.
And it’s a gift he obtains only through suffering.
And it’s that enchanting pain that gives him power in this world of lies.
This is the mission that guides my creative journey: to save people from suffering through suffering, to banish the superficial and restore that emotional depth in the hearts of people.
For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?
It’s a very complex question indeed…
I remember the first time I went on stage alone with my guitar. At first, I thought it would just be another gig, like when I play for singers, but it was incredibly magical. I’d never felt anything like it before, and for me, it was a feeling that nothing could ever equal: that connection with the audience is like a drug; you get hooked immediately.
But years later, when I started getting more interested in songwriting and music production, it was a whole other level of magic for me—this ability to transform an emotion into music, to take something I’ve experienced in my life and turn it into a melody, arrange it, structure it, explore ideas around the melody; or simply take a song by another artist and make it into a complete song—it’s amazing.
And right now, it’s the kind of magic that really gets me going; it’s more powerful than being on stage, for the moment.
And these days, I’m preparing to play my own songs on stage, and I hope I’ll feel something new, a different sensation like never before.
And to answer the question, it depends on what I’m doing, the time period in which I’m doing it.
Maybe after years it will be something else, but it will always be music.
Anyway, the most rewarding part of that, is the special feeling you get while doing it.
It’s divine and nothing compares to it.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bencalebcgp?igsh=MWlwc3RqNTQ0MTZqcw%3D%3D&utm_source=qr
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/share/1EXPKER6jn/?mibextid=wwXIfr
- Other: Email: bencalebsolo@gmail.com
Image Credits
AfriGuit Tour
Seven Empires
Tommy Emmanuel Music Academy