
Blick Bassy is a
Bassa singer-songwriter from
Cameroon
Cameroon, officially the Republic of Cameroon, is a country in Central Africa. It shares boundaries with Nigeria to the west and north, Chad to the northeast, the Central African Republic to the east, and Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, and the R ...
. Bassy writes his songs in his native language,
Bassa. His song "Kiki", from ''Akö'', featured as the theme song for the worldwide launch of the
iPhone 6
The iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus are smartphones that were developed and marketed by Apple Inc. They are the eighth generation of the iPhone, succeeding the iPhone 5, iPhone 5c and iPhone 5s, and were announced on September 9, 2014, and rel ...
in 2015.
Early life
Bassy was born in Mintaba,
Cameroon
Cameroon, officially the Republic of Cameroon, is a country in Central Africa. It shares boundaries with Nigeria to the west and north, Chad to the northeast, the Central African Republic to the east, and Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, and the R ...
, one of 21 offspring from his father, a police chief.
[ His mother was the youngest of his father's three wives.]
He began singing at the age of three, waking up at 5am every day to rehearse with the other children of the village.[
]
Musical career
Bassy's band Macase toured Cameroon for ten years until winning the Prix Elysse Musique du Monde in 2001, which convinced Bassy to immigrate to Paris
Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...
, France
France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...
. After performing in small venues, he secured a recording deal for his first two albums.[ The first, entitled ''Leman'', was released in 2009, and was followed two years later by ''Hongo Calling''.][ In February 2023, Blick Bassy was appointed co-director of the Memory Commission on Cameroon with Karine Ramondy, this commission is responsible for working on France's action in Cameroon during colonization and after Cameroon's independence. He performs singing and playing guitar with the French musician Clément Petit on the cello.
]
''Akö''
In 2015, he released the album ''Akö'', from which 15 seconds of "Kiki" were used in Apple's global advertising campaign for the iPhone 6
The iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus are smartphones that were developed and marketed by Apple Inc. They are the eighth generation of the iPhone, succeeding the iPhone 5, iPhone 5c and iPhone 5s, and were announced on September 9, 2014, and rel ...
. Bassy says that the album was influenced by Skip James
Nehemiah Curtis "Skip" James (June 9, 1902October 3, 1969) was an American Delta blues singer, guitarist, pianist and songwriter. AllMusic stated: "Coupling an oddball guitar tuning set against eerie, falsetto vocals, James' early recordings ...
, the American blues musician. Robin Denselow
Robin Denselow is an English writer, journalist, and broadcaster.
Education
Denselow was educated at Leighton Park School, a boys' Quaker boarding independent school (now co-educational) in Reading, Berkshire, followed by New College, Oxford, wh ...
, writing in ''The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...
'', says: "...his new album echoes the delicacy of bossa nova along with reminders of his other influences, from African styles to the Mississippi blues of his hero Skip James. This is an easy-going but experimental set in which he plays guitar and banjo, sings in the Cameroonian language of Bassa, and is backed by the unlikely combination of cello and trombone. He starts by showing off his distinctive voice on a cool, drifting late-night ballad, but then changes direction as he swings into a breezy song that sounds like an African answer to a country-blues hoe-down, before mixing Congolese influences with impressive, bluesy guitar work. A charming, intriguing set." David Honigmann in the ''Financial Times
The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and also published digitally that focuses on business and economic Current affairs (news format), current affairs. Based in London, the paper is owned by a Jap ...
'' describes the album's genre as manouche jazz, and describes "lubricious trombone slides" on "Kiki" and the "relentless Gypsy vamping" of "Wap Do Wap".
He has toured globally performing at the Royal Festival Hall
The Royal Festival Hall is a 2,700-seat concert, dance and talks venue within Southbank Centre in London, England. It is situated on the South Bank of the River Thames, not far from Hungerford Bridge, in the London Borough of Lambeth. It is a G ...
, London
London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
, in the Africa Utopia festival in 2015,[ and at ]WOMAD
WOMAD ( ; World of Music, Arts and Dance) is an international arts festival. The central aim of WOMAD is to celebrate the world's many forms of music, arts and dance.
History
WOMAD was founded in 1980 by English rock musician Peter Gabriel, w ...
in New Zealand
New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...
in 2018. He played the Vancouver Folk Music Festival
The Vancouver Folk Music Festival (VFMF), founded in 1978, is an outdoor multistage music festival, located at Jericho Beach, Jericho Beach Park on the west side of Vancouver, British Columbia. It takes place annually on the third weekend of Jul ...
in July 2018.
Bassy's lyrics are in Bassa, one of 260 Cameroonian languages.[
]
1958
Bassy dedicated this album to the memory of Ruben Um Nyobè, whom he considers one of his political heroes and was killed in 1958. The album presents as a comprehensive report of events during the 70 years since the death of Um Nyobè. The track "Mpodol" is Ruben's nickname and accuses modern Cameroonians of sabotaging their own homeland.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bassy, Blick
Year of birth missing (living people)
Living people
2001 in music
21st-century Cameroonian male singers
Bassa people (Cameroon)