Blick Bassy
Saturday, March 7th at 9pm . Cargo de Nuit, Arles
Four years after a memorable Moment Précieux in the Cour de l'Archevêché, the Cameroonian folk-singer returns with new melodies with instant appeal. Exploring an unknown part of his country of origin through the story of Ruben Um Nyobe, forgotten father of Cameroon's independence, Blick Bassy questions the meaning yesterday and today struggles, with an asserted meaning poetry ... sublimated by a voice more moving than ever!
Accompanied by the cellist Clément Petit, the trombonist Johan Blanc and the trumpet player and keyboardist Alexis Anerilles, he presents the scenic version of the remarkable 1958 (Early or Late, 2019), a very personal last album in which the artist continues his intimate quest. Going past usual categories, he combines strings, brass and synths in a new nectar of his own vintage, both minimal and organic, a rare modernity.
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Blick Bassy was born and raised in the capital of Cameroon, Yaoundé. Son of a divisional commissioner with abundant offspring, he regularly stays in the village of Mintaba in Bassa country, where he gradually becomes familiar with traditional rhythms, but also with an age-old way of life in complete harmony with nature. . Learning to fish and hunt with an uncle, receiving the millenary wisdom of a grandfather, he draws from this experience a sensitivity that will become an integral part of his music, first within the Macase group (World Music Discovery Award RFI in 2001) and then as a solo artist with the Léman albums (recorded in Salif Keita's studio in Bamako in 2009), and Hongo Calling in 2011 where this traditional bassa rhythm serves as a common thread to trace the journey of slaves from this ethnic group to Brazil. In 2016, he signed with the Nø Førmat! label and released a third album Akö, unanimously praised, including a title, Kiki, is chosen by the Apple brand to accompany the campaign to launch a new iPhone. Quite a symbol for him who wants to be both the worthy heir of an ancestral culture and the ambassador of Africa of tomorrow.