1958

Tracks Credits Bio Links Tour

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Ngwaaaa 

Wè nou bi péméss

Lon yes mapubi

Ngwa yem nou hé

Ngwaaaa

We nou bi ledés

Mi mbou nwess ngui sira 

Ngwa yèm nou hé

Oooh oooh ooh oh

Ngwaaaaa 

We nou bi wél béss 

I ba bé Ngui kiba

Ngwa yèm nou hé

Mbaï yess Yosso yon 

I lama yi ni lèn

Lè wèn ou bi béï ni ndjèl

Mpodol  nou heee 

Oooh ooooh 

Beng-nana, bess ki di yom ni lèn

Beng-nana, mi an nwéss di nyi ni bé to mô 

Beng-nana, béss ki di kina ni lèn mou tan hé 

Yi na lè , ma pirè ma mpodol ma nin  matchél méss

Ngwa, toi qui t’es battu pour la libération, toi qui a contribué à forger notre spiritualité , toi qui a donné ta vie pour nos libertés, toi qui a tout sacrifié pour notre souveraineté, tu es notre Ngwa.

Ngwa, you who fought for liberation, you helped to forge our spirituality, you who gave your life for our freedoms, you who sacrificed everything for our sovereignty, you are our Ngwa.

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Bassogol ba bi woo

I nyui lipém, li lon yéss

Ba bi wél béss

bon béss, balal béss

Mpodol a bi wel 

I nyui i nsan , i lok yéss 

i nyui i nsan 

Ndi baa ni nok djoo 

Mbock yéss basso i nyi bé la

Bon béss ndi ngo ba yi bé iñan nwap oooo

Ngi yi ni 

Ngi yi nou 

Bassogol ba bi wel 

inyui mi nkañ mi loñ yess 

Inyu mi nkañ 

Mi bon béss ni Balal Bess 

Oum a bi wo 

Moumie a bi wo 

Ba bi wel ni

Inyui Liten djess 

NDI Bikaï bini bi yoñ mounou ma ndap map

Yak Mbambat ini bi nyaï lè di todè iloo oooh 

Ngi yi ni 

Ngi yi nou 

Pont

Bon Bess ba Yom di kweless bo

MBaï yess I nok Ndjal di nguéna tjess 

Bon Bess ba yin di tohol bo 

Di tèlèp nyui tila , di nguena tchess 

La guerre battait son plein , la lune éborgnée éclairait tant bien que mal les ombres combatives dans la forêt. Mais que savons nous réellement de cette histoire ?  nous, descendants de combattants de la liberté, qu’avons nous fait de cette héritage ? Que savons nous de l’histoire du Mpodol? De notre histoire?

The war was at its height, a purblind moon lit up the belligerent shadows of the forest as best it could. But what do we really know about this story? We, the descendants of those who fought for freedom, what have we done with this heritage? What do we know of the history of Mpodol? Of our own history?

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Sogol à bi kédél 

Ikeré matam 

Ba Sogol sogol

Bi kéï mounou i ñèm loñ 

Inyui lipubus 

Li matén, més 

Mbombo nyèck a bi wo

Kundè i moo 

Yi na lè 

Mbombo yèm a Bi wo 

Lè di la yoñ

I ndjèl bassogol ba bi bor 

Sogol a bi solbè

I pola ba sangho ni ba nyango ooh 

Sogol a Bi hémlè

I kèl ma tén méss ma korba 

Aaahn

Kumba ya  kann Loñ 

Nop a  no 

Yi na lè 

mbok yés ya korba 

son i nwemla

inem liten djéss i ga hoi 

pont 

ndi bé, ba ni hoya 

san yés 

ndi baa , ni nok bé 

i nsébla

ndi bé ba ni bénguè 

bé lon yéss 

yina lè litén djéss djon ni nol

Dans la peau de Um Nyobè. «  Je me suis sacrifié pour notre pays,

et vous ai laissé l’alphabet qui vous permettra de réécrire notre histoire. J’ai également laissé des semences, des appâts afin que puissiez à votre tour, bâtir un avenir meilleur. »  

In the skin of Um Nyobè. “I sacrificed myself for my country, and I left you the alphabet that allows you to rewrite our history. I also left you seeds and bait so that you may, in turn, build a better future.

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Lok yèm bi néñél ikeré woñi

Bot bèm ba lélél mounou woni 

Sogol Wem à neñel i keré woñi

Lok yèm bi néñel ikere woñi

Nguén yéss di yi bé yooo

Basso di nigil ni bé yo oo

Lok yess bi wél ni ikere woñi

Bonguè ba bi wel ni mounou woñi

Lok yes I nhooo 

I nyoo nyoo ni nyooo

 Lok yess I Nhoo 

I nhoo ni mahok

Loñ yess bi nénél ikéré woñi

Ma pirè di tcho mo kiki biton bi moo

Ñèm we wok I bi pernè ni mounou i woñi

NYOBE a bi wel/ ni bess ngui woñi

À ta ngo èmblè Loñ

Benguè ni yo kiki I woo 

Moumié à bi wèl ni Bess ngui woni

Ndi Béss bana di kirnè ni ikédé woni 

Lok yes I nhooo 

I nyoo nyoo ni nyooo

Lok yess I Nhoo 

I nhoo ni mahok

Lok yes in wooo

I nho ni woni

Lon yess I nwoo 

i nyock ndik mahog 

Ma famille a grandi dans la peur, hommes, femmes et enfants vivent dans la peur, et pour exister, cette belle communauté boit et se saoule, déracinée, sous le regard abasourdie des traditions.

My family grew up in fear; men, women and children live in fear, and to exist, this fine community gets drunk, rootless, under the dumbfounded eye of its traditions.

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Wom ba bi kolol

Ba bi Koss, ba bi poubouss i  wo

Ba bi tém ba bi bèl mabél

Wom ba bi holoss

Ba bi ban, ba bi kénéss( agrandir)ni wo

Ba bi tat, ba bi tém linguèn

Nyuiki ni nTché loñ I mpodol

Nyuiki  ni tchol ni yo mataï

Nyuiki ni nsoross loñ i mpodol laaaa

Mbaï di bi sodos 

Di Bi loo,di bi lém ni yo

Di Bi yoñ di bi sèm ni yo

Mbaï di bi pogos

Di Bi yoñ di bi kwéss ni yo 

Di bi loo di bi soross ni yo

Nyuiki ni nTché loñ I mpodol

Nyuiki  ni tchol ni yo mataï

Nyuiki ni nsoross loñ i mpodol laaaa

Bassogol/ ba Bi/ sélel/ nui yoñ 

Nano/ wen ou / Hoya/ ni la 

Benguè/ mbok yoñ/ kiki/ I yom 

Ikeré/ Django / I sé Bi/ tondi

Mahang/ ma bé/ youmouss/ mout Django 

Sogol / abi / wélniu / linguèn

Ils (Mpodol et ses compères)  avaient labouré le champs avec passion et intelligence, y avaient même planté la cola.  Ils avaient pris la peine de l’agrandir afin que chacun puisse cultiver.

Ignorants, nous avons saboté et détruit notre propre espace de vie.

They (Mpodol and his companions) worked their fields with passion and intelligence; they even planted cola nuts. They ensured that those fields grew in size, so that every person might cultivate their own crops. Ignorant as we are, we have sabotaged and destroyed our own living space.

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Wom ba bi kolol

Ba bi Koss, ba bi poubouss i  wo

Ba bi tém ba bi bèl mabél

Wom ba bi holoss

Ba bi ban, ba bi kénéss( agrandir)ni wo

Ba bi tat, ba bi tém linguèn

Nyuiki ni nTché loñ I mpodol

Nyuiki  ni tchol ni yo mataï

Nyuiki ni nsoross loñ i mpodol laaaa

Mbaï di bi sodos 

Di Bi loo,di bi lém ni yo

Di Bi yoñ di bi sèm ni yo

Mbaï di bi pogos

Di Bi yoñ di bi kwéss ni yo 

Di bi loo di bi soross ni yo

Nyuiki ni nTché loñ I mpodol

Nyuiki  ni tchol ni yo mataï

Nyuiki ni nsoross loñ i mpodol laaaa

Bassogol/ ba Bi/ sélel/ nui yoñ 

Nano/ wen ou / Hoya/ ni la 

Benguè/ mbok yoñ/ kiki/ I yom 

Ikeré/ Django / I sé Bi/ tondi

Mahang/ ma bé/ youmouss/ mout Django 

Sogol / abi / wélniu / linguèn

Ignorants, nous avons saboté et détruit notre propre espace de vie.

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Wom ba bi kolol

Ba bi Koss, ba bi poubouss i  wo

Ba bi tém ba bi bèl mabél

Wom ba bi holoss

Ba bi ban, ba bi kénéss( agrandir)ni wo

Ba bi tat, ba bi tém linguèn

Nyuiki ni nTché loñ I mpodol

Nyuiki  ni tchol ni yo mataï

Nyuiki ni nsoross loñ i mpodol laaaa

Mbaï di bi sodos 

Di Bi loo,di bi lém ni yo

Di Bi yoñ di bi sèm ni yo

Mbaï di bi pogos

Di Bi yoñ di bi kwéss ni yo 

Di bi loo di bi soross ni yo

Nyuiki ni nTché loñ I mpodol

Nyuiki  ni tchol ni yo mataï

Nyuiki ni nsoross loñ i mpodol laaaa

Bassogol/ ba Bi/ sélel/ nui yoñ 

Nano/ wen ou / Hoya/ ni la 

Benguè/ mbok yoñ/ kiki/ I yom 

Ikeré/ Django / I sé Bi/ tondi

Mahang/ ma bé/ youmouss/ mout Django 

Sogol / abi / wélniu / linguèn

Ils (Mpodol et ses compères)  avaient labouré le champs avec passion et intelligence, y avaient même planté la cola. 

Ils avaient pris la peine de l’agrandir afin que chacun puisse cultiver.

Ignorants, nous avons saboté et détruit notre propre espace de vie.

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Wom ba bi kolol

Ba bi Koss, ba bi poubouss i  wo

Ba bi tém ba bi bèl mabél

Wom ba bi holoss

Ba bi ban, ba bi kénéss( agrandir)ni wo

Ba bi tat, ba bi tém linguèn

Nyuiki ni nTché loñ I mpodol

Nyuiki  ni tchol ni yo mataï

Nyuiki ni nsoross loñ i mpodol laaaa

Mbaï di bi sodos 

Di Bi loo,di bi lém ni yo

Di Bi yoñ di bi sèm ni yo

Mbaï di bi pogos

Di Bi yoñ di bi kwéss ni yo 

Di bi loo di bi soross ni yo

Nyuiki ni nTché loñ I mpodol

Nyuiki  ni tchol ni yo mataï

Nyuiki ni nsoross loñ i mpodol laaaa

Bassogol/ ba Bi/ sélel/ nui yoñ 

Nano/ wen ou / Hoya/ ni la 

Benguè/ mbok yoñ/ kiki/ I yom 

Ikeré/ Django / I sé Bi/ tondi

Mahang/ ma bé/ youmouss/ mout Django 

Sogol / abi / wélniu / linguèn

Ils (Mpodol et ses compères)  avaient labouré le champs avec passion et intelligence, y avaient même planté la cola. 

Ils avaient pris la peine de l’agrandir afin que chacun puisse cultiver.

Ignorants, nous avons saboté et détruit notre propre espace de vie.

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Wom ba bi kolol

Ba bi Koss, ba bi poubouss i  wo

Ba bi tém ba bi bèl mabél

Wom ba bi holoss

Ba bi ban, ba bi kénéss( agrandir)ni wo

Ba bi tat, ba bi tém linguèn

Nyuiki ni nTché loñ I mpodol

Nyuiki  ni tchol ni yo mataï

Nyuiki ni nsoross loñ i mpodol laaaa

Mbaï di bi sodos 

Di Bi loo,di bi lém ni yo

Di Bi yoñ di bi sèm ni yo

Mbaï di bi pogos

Di Bi yoñ di bi kwéss ni yo 

Di bi loo di bi soross ni yo

Nyuiki ni nTché loñ I mpodol

Nyuiki  ni tchol ni yo mataï

Nyuiki ni nsoross loñ i mpodol laaaa

Bassogol/ ba Bi/ sélel/ nui yoñ 

Nano/ wen ou / Hoya/ ni la 

Benguè/ mbok yoñ/ kiki/ I yom 

Ikeré/ Django / I sé Bi/ tondi

Mahang/ ma bé/ youmouss/ mout Django 

Sogol / abi / wélniu / linguèn

Ils (Mpodol et ses compères)  avaient labouré le champs avec passion et intelligence, y avaient même planté la cola. 

Ils avaient pris la peine de l’agrandir afin que chacun puisse cultiver.

Ignorants, nous avons saboté et détruit notre propre espace de vie.

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Wom ba bi kolol

Ba bi Koss, ba bi poubouss i  wo

Ba bi tém ba bi bèl mabél

Wom ba bi holoss

Ba bi ban, ba bi kénéss( agrandir)ni wo

Ba bi tat, ba bi tém linguèn

Nyuiki ni nTché loñ I mpodol

Nyuiki  ni tchol ni yo mataï

Nyuiki ni nsoross loñ i mpodol laaaa

Mbaï di bi sodos 

Di Bi loo,di bi lém ni yo

Di Bi yoñ di bi sèm ni yo

Mbaï di bi pogos

Di Bi yoñ di bi kwéss ni yo 

Di bi loo di bi soross ni yo

Nyuiki ni nTché loñ I mpodol

Nyuiki  ni tchol ni yo mataï

Nyuiki ni nsoross loñ i mpodol laaaa

Bassogol/ ba Bi/ sélel/ nui yoñ 

Nano/ wen ou / Hoya/ ni la 

Benguè/ mbok yoñ/ kiki/ I yom 

Ikeré/ Django / I sé Bi/ tondi

Mahang/ ma bé/ youmouss/ mout Django 

Sogol / abi / wélniu / linguèn

Ils (Mpodol et ses compères)  avaient labouré le champs avec passion et intelligence, y avaient même planté la cola. 

Ils avaient pris la peine de l’agrandir afin que chacun puisse cultiver.

Ignorants, nous avons saboté et détruit notre propre espace de vie.

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Hoïga ban hè di lol

Honlañ ndiki higuikel 

Where we decide to go 

Hoiga ban he di nlol 

Honlak ndiki igui kèl

Ndjèl ba bi lok ba koss 

Ndjèl ba bi lock ba koss 

Where we decide to go

Oum NYOBE bona moumie 

Ba bi wel ni nyui lok yess 

Ndjèl ba bi yiga koss 

Wenou yi bé hè ou nlol

Hon lack ndigui higuèl

Ndjèl ba bi lok ba koss 

Where we decide to go 

How can we make it go 

Ndjèl ba bi lok ba koss 

Where we decide to go 

Bassogol ba bi wel nyui Lon 

Mi ñan Wes/ ndi ri yi Ni bé to Mo 

Ndi balè di ntorè ni bé lèn-à-loga 

Lè di bodol ni ti nyobè lipem 

Where we decide to go 

Ndjèl ba bi yiklès béss 

Where we decide to go 

How can we make it go 

N’oublie jamais d’où tu viens, pense toujours à ce chemin tracé et entretenu qui ne vivrait qu’au rythme de nos pas. Ils ont donné de leur vie, afin que jamais tu n’oublies l’histoire.

Never forget where you’ve come from; always remember this well-defined and well-maintained path, that could only live to the beat of our steps. They gave of their lives, so that you might never forget history.

Executive production and A&R - Laurent Bizot

Artwork - Fabien Merelle

Design - Element(s)

Blick Bassy: Guitars

Clément Petit: Cello, electronic effects

Johan Blanc: Trombone

Alexis Anerilles: Keyboards, trumpet

Recorded at Studio Ferber, Paris

on April 30, May 2, 3, 4, 29, 30, 31st and June 14, 15

by Renaud Letang assisted by Thomas Moulin

Mixed at Studio Ferber, Paris in August 2018 by Renaud Letang

Mastered at Black Saloon Studios, London by Mandy Parnell   

Produced by Blick Bassy and Renaud Letang

All songs written and composed by Blick Bassy

Arranged by Blick Bassy and Clément Petit

Published by Nø Førmat!

The heroes of African independence trip fairly easily off the tongue: Nkrumah, Lumumba, Sékou Touré, Ben Barka, Nyerere. But what about Um Nyobé? Anyone? No... thought not. Even though his movement, the UPC(Union of Cameroonians Peoples), suffered torture, summary execution, mass deportation and the use of napalm, even though it fought a war with one of the highest death tolls of all the many African wars of independence, there are no grand squares or avenues named after Ruben Um Nyobé, no imposing statues of him, no postage stamps bearing his face, nothing.

If you’ve never heard of him, you can forgive yourself. Ever since his death in a hail of French army bullets on September 13th, 1958, Um Nyobé’s memory has been subject to a campaign of subtle annihilation, piloted by France and supported by France’s political puppets in Cameroon. Until recently, anyone who even mentioned the name of Um Nyobé back in Cameroun, or of Felix Moumié or any of the other senior UPC activists, faced arrest and an indefinite jail sentence.

Blick Bassy thinks it’s time to break the silence once and for all. He wants the truth to breathe again so that it can help heal the wounds of today. That’s why he’s called his new album1958, and why it’s dedicated to the memory ofUm Nyobé, Moumié and the other heroes of Cameroonian independence.His zeal for remembrance was provoked by a growing dismay at the state of his homeland. “Last year I went back to the neighbourhood where I grew up [Nkol-Messeng in Yaoundé], and I thought ‘it’s just not possible!’ It used to be great there; it makes no sense that fifteen years after I left it, it’s in the shit. And I ask myself how did we get to this point?”

He knows the answer. Cameroonians have forgotten their past, their traditions, their inheritance, their real heroes. They’ve lost sight of the shared stories that make a nation proud, even possible. Uncovering these stories is the purpose of 1958.

The music in which Bassy envelopes these themes and memories works like a balm of seductive tenderness and sorrow, rather than a weapon of revenge.Imagine a West African artist with the tenderly subversive touch of Bon Iver, the haunting falsetto of Skip James, the razor-like mind of Akala, and the inventiveness of Moses Sumney, and you’ve just imagined Blick Bassy. Music always comes first for him, subject matter later. 1958 keeps faith with the style he’s been developing since he turned solo in 2009–a style unique in contemporary African music, fed by Bassy’s love for the aerial soul of singers like Skip James or Marvin Gaye, and by his deep reverence for the traditional music of Cameroon and other parts of Africa. The DNA of this style is hard decode: its structure seems both rooted in specifics, and yet gleefully universal, pan-African, global; its allure is both reverentially aged, gentle, and at the same time, iconoclastically new.

Incorporating older traditions that are steeped in the ancestral soil and beliefs of ‘village’ Africa, into a contemporary borderless sound, is both a declaration of independence and an act of defiance. People, especially Cameroonians, often ask Bassy why he insists on playing “white people’s music” rather than the pumping grooves of the West African hit machine. ‘Why are you insulting yourself?!’” is his answer. “I mean, if there are people today playing real Cameroonian music, it’s the people at [traditional] healing ceremonies, or people who play music for trance, for rituals, for mourning.We have 10,000 different types of music from one tribe to another inCameroon, where there are 260 different tribes. It’s so rich.”All that inherited wealth has been feeding Bassy’s imagination since he was sent away from the capital Yaoundé at the age of ten, to live with his grand parents in the womb of the great equatorial rainforest. The lessons he learned there about the primacy of nature, the importance of village society to African identity, the uniquely poetic qualities of Bassa, the ancestral language he uses in his songs, underpin his life and resound through his work. They first took shape in Macase, the highly successful, award winning group he founded in Cameroon. Their expression matured after Bassy moved to France in 2005, in a string of acclaimed albums that culminated in 2016with the release of Akö, which included the song ‘Kiki’ that was chosen byApple to serenade the worldwide release of the iPhone 6–the gentle murmur of the African forest tenderizing the irresistible gleam of our technological frontiers.

Like Akö, 1958 strokes you into an embrace, rather than pulverising you with beats or bitter regret at the state of modern Cameroon. Its back-to-the-future blend of voices and assorted guitars (Bassy),cello (Clément Petit), trumpet and keyboards (Alexis Anerilles) and trombone (JohanBlanc), has been expertly coaxed out by producer Renaud Letang (Manu Chao, Feist, SaulWilliams, Lianne La Havas, Charlotte Gainsbourg). The gentle pulse of the forest lives on in traditional beats such as the assiko, bolobo or hondo, their Bassa mythologies repurposed for new ears, bearing songs of praise to unjustly forgotten heroes–songs like ‘Mpodol’, which means ‘He who carries the voice of his people’ in Bassa and was the nickname of Um Nyobé; ‘Maqui’ which speaks of the courage of the bush fighters in the face ofFrench terror; ‘Ngwa’ in which Bassy briefs the ghost of Um Nyobé on the state of the country for which he fought; ‘Ngui Yi’ that bemoans the blithe ignorance of modern Cameroon youth, hypnotised by the baubles and empty promises of the West; or ‘Pochë’ which reminds modernCameroonians of those who betrayed the country’s true interests.That rainforest was also the place that sheltered friends and supporters of Um Nyobé during the ‘Hidden War’ against the French, including Bassy’s mother and grandparents. His father-an employee of the French colonial government and later member of the police force-played an ambiguous role in the conflict. After independence, it was his job to hunt down UPC refuseniks, and he was friends with Mayi ma Matip, the man whom many suspect of betraying Um Nyobé to the French. Does Bassy regret never talking to his father about all this? “Yes, enormously. I became interested in all this after his death. It’s one of my greatest regrets.”

But 1958 is isn’t a call to regret, mourn or hate. It’s a call to act. Blick Bassy, believes that, like Europe, America, Russia and China, Africa must fight for its interests.

“The emancipation of Africa interests no one else. People fight for their own interests, and they’re right to do so. It’s up to us Africans to defend our interests from now own.” Bassy fights not only with the seductive touch of his music, but also with his books (he published an acclaimed novel called Moabi Cinema in 2016), his various labels and production companies, his YouTube music-business training video series, his global talent contest Show Me.The sheer breath of his activities is astonishing.

All this to try and help his fellow Africans, and the rest of us, understand the true nature of his homeland, what made it, and what it must do to prosper.“If you take China, or India, you see that they’ve manage to keep a real connection with their own history, their traditions. But for us, the problem is that we don’t have that foundation. And as long as we don’t make the immense effort needed to anchor ourselves to our traditions, our history, it’ll be very difficult to produce a generation able to achieve its own emancipation...For me, it was obvious that I had to delve back into our history, because when you’re lost you have to look at the string you’re attached to. What’s it tied to? Where does it come from? What’s its story?”The answer is 1958

NØF.28 — Akö — Blick Bassy

SEPTEMBRE 2021
25.09.2021 ANNECY (FR) Le Brise Glace

OCTOBRE 2021
02.10.2021 ONEX (CH) La Salle Communale
05.10.2021 THIONVILLE (FR) Adagio (report)
08.10.2021 SAUBRIGUES (FR) La Mamisele
29.10.2021 AIX (FR) Le 6Mic

NOVEMBRE 2021
06.11.2021 LANNION (FR) Théâtres de l'Arche
08.11.2021 ROUBAIX (FR) We Loft Music
10.11.2021 PERPIGNAN (FR) El Mediator
13.11.2021 SKOPJE (MK) OFFest
26.11.2021 MARSEILLE (FR) Le Silo

DECEMBRE 2021
04.12.2021 DOUAI (FR) Hippodrome - scène nationale d’Arras
17.12.2021 CHARTRES DE BRETAGNE (FR) Pole Sud

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1958

Blick Bassy

NØF.44 — 2019