Topic: BONAMASSA means something
Amazingly, or not, I'm an old time blues fan since I was a kid listening to WXRA in Indianapolis ~ before BB King ~ who I did meet a few years back ~ finally ~ at indiana University on one of his last tours.
So, I'm a fan of Quiqui Bonal ~ and his dad ~ and even my grandfather played a mean blues guitar back before blues was invented, or radio was around.
We've been into deep genealogical study on our own name for most of a century since somebody forgot to keep track of where they came from or what language these names are in.
That "n" in the middle ~ can be an "x" or an "h" or two "nn"s ~ or even an ', or just flat out missing as in BOA ~
It's clearly constructed in Medieval Cornish/Breton/Galician ~ and means whatever BO'AL means, but MAS means BIG and SA means FLAG ~ so it's BOHAL's BIG FLAG, which is a noble title from way back when ~ and is about the man on the left or the right of a line of knights who keeps them in line as they and their horses advance against a line of opponents ~ usually Saracens in Spain during the Reconquista.
BOHAL is just the name of the commander of that troop of knights, or a castle somewhere (there are many), or a valley in Galicia or Portugal (several), or a town in Spain ~ see BOAL in the old kingdom of CARVAJAL (pronounced Ker Bohal ~ meaning Bohal Kingdom or Bohal point)
The town of Bohal in Brittany is where the Bohall came from who created the town of Bohall in France ~ he was some sort of high muckety muck in the French government. His cousin, Henri de Bohal was the Chief body guard for Anne of Brittany ~ she married two French kings) Earlier his grandfather or great grandfather had fought in the Combat of the 30 and became a renowned topic of troubadors throughout Europe ~ lots of songs about him.
But the Bona group also includes the Bona-parte family, and that includes Napoleon III and he signed his name on French legislation as BOHALL
His grandmother was Josephine Beauharnois (Pronounced Bohal'noi) ~ and her's was a shortened form of Carbonnaris who ran a monestary in Italy and also accompanied a guy named Cabot on his voyage to America in 1498. If you have the "three brothers came here" story, that's his trip ~ three brothers ~ all Bohal family ~ in the same monestary. Obviously they passed on their genes somehow. No idea ..... two saints later on ~ Father Brebeuf's family say his real name was Bohall
The guy you want to look up is August Bonal ~ he ran an automobile factory in France. The Germans conquered France and put them to work making parts for tanks. He organized his supervisors to make BAD PARTS for tanks ~ and eventually he was caught and executed by the Germans in front of his factory. His Bonal cousins also rescued Jewish musicians and took them to Spain over the mountains during the war and safety.
Been writing this to an album.... which is near done so let me add one thing. The BO is gaelic, and is another minor honorific like Mc, Mac, O', and even BR ~ and when used in a noble name it's very important, and permanent! The HAL, or A, or OA, is roughly identical to WAL (in Wallace), GAL (in a gazillion Franco/Spanish names), or GAUL ~ name the Gaelic speaking people gave to Celtic territory. And it might be important, or not, but it's really old ~ first ones I could find arrived in Spain about 1000 BC, and in Cornwall about 700 BC.
We all definitely have the first Blues Riffs out there somewhere.