Blick Bassy - Akö - 2015

The singer and songwriter Blick Bassy, ​​celebrated as "the new soul voice" of Cameroon, brings us his latest Akö production under the exquisite No Format! Label. An intimate and unique album that marks a new starting point in the career of this Cameroonian musician, based in France for a decade.

A work that talks about home and separation ... but the most important thing for him is the language in which he sings, mainly, on the album: Bassa. As he says "In Cameroon we have 260 different languages ​​and in a few years most of them will have disappeared. The language is still the link between us and our heritage ... if I do not speak Bassa, my grandfather cannot teach me what knows".

Blick Bassy grew up in a town called Mintaba in central Cameroon. His father built a church where his mother taught to play kora, while Bassy and his brothers sang. Bassy was nourished from childhood of the traditional culture of his country, transmitted mainly by his grandparents, while his parents connected him with the music of Brazil and the United States, through the work of Gilberto Gil or Nat "King" Cole, among others. This is the starting point of the miscegenation of his work.

Bassy began his career in Africa, drawing inspiration in parallel from the musical tradition of Cameroon, jazz and bossa nova. After winning several international awards, he settled in Paris, where he released his first individual album, Léman (2009). In 2011 he published Mushroom Calling, a history of the traditional mushroom rhythm and his trip to countries such as Senegal, Cape Verde or Brazil. Akö (2015) completes Bassy's discography and indicates new directions.

Akö is characterized by its tendency to introspection and a personal aesthetic, already present in Bassy's previous works, but led here to beautiful gestures in the form of tiny details. In his songs we find echoes of his cultural heritage and of the music he has been absorbing throughout his life. They are unclassifiable fragments, which defy any attempt at labeling.

The song of Bassy is developed with the evocations of the blues and a certain sound of New Orleans, with an African background. To this landscape are added forms such as the harmonica of Olivier Ker Ourio, the samples of Nicolas Repac, the cello of Clément Petit or the trombone of Fidel Fourneyron, textures that add to the intonations of Bassy in Bassa. Bassy not only uses the Bassa language as a differentiating element, connecting with its roots, but also as a way of assuming the song.

Blick Bassy has been consolidating a very personal musical proposal, which acquires strength and meaning from his experience in two continents, and that continues to expand, welcoming new aesthetics and new sound combinations. To not miss it.

Tracks list:

01. Aké

02. Kiki

03. Wap Do Wap

04. Lon

05. Tell Me

06. One Love

07. SJ

08. Mama

09. Ndjè Yèm

10. Moût

11. Ndjèl