2023-04-18 16:41:43
four years later 1958through which he paid homage to Ruben Um Nyobè, hero of the struggle for Cameroon’s independence, the singer, composer and guitarist Blick Bassy is preparing to publish his fifth album in May, madibá. He will present it in preview at the Centquatre-Paris, on April 20 (full concert), before playing it on the stages of several festivals.
Delicate braiding of Afro-soul, folk, brass (Fidel Fourneyron, trombone, Arno de Casanove, trumpet, Vianney Desplantes, euphonium, flugelhorn), and synths (Romain Jovion, producer with Blick Bassy of the album and arranger with Malik Djoudi), above which floats the clear voice of the singer, sometimes multiplied in an aerial chorus. the uplifting madibá celebrates and sings about water in bassa, the native language of the forty-year-old, born in Cameroon in 1974, settled in France from where he has been pursuing his career since 2005. Over the songs, a bird emerges desperately looking for a water point to its survival; an old man busy telling his grandchildren about the disappearance of the rain; a cat begging the elephant to help it block the way for humans about to pollute the last source…
Consciousness awakener
Reached by telephone on the eve of the final rehearsals, Blick Bassy explains that he wrote the lyrics like fables to be able to warn about the importance of reconnecting with what he calls the “all alive”. Beyond being a plea for the preservation of waterMadibá resounds for him like a call, a primordial necessity: “I try to recall the urgency of reconnecting with the beauty that nature has made available to us. To speak of water is to speak of this living whole. » In the continuation of Madibá, Blick Bassy has decided to support the NGO Water.org to help raise public awareness of the global water crisis.
Blick Bassy is also invested in a project to develop drinking water access points in Cameroon. Childhood memories guide his reflection on the subject. “When our father sent us to fetch water from the river or the well, we went back and forth from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. to fill the barrels. We could then assess what we had consumed over the days and what remained according to the level in these barrels. By connecting houses to running water, you have to think of a system that allows you to visualize your consumption and thus better manage it. »
Musician, singer, artistic adviser, writer (after The Moabi Cinema – Gallimard, 2016, he is currently finalizing a second novel), producer of shows, exhibitions (a project at the Geneva Museum of Ethnography in 2024), interested in cinema and… awakener of consciences, Blick Bassy claims an insatiable appetite for multidisciplinarity. Way to leave no room for boredom in his life.
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