Henri Dikongué was born in Douala, Cameroon, on 6 December 1967. Born into a family of musicians, he learned the rudiments of the music from his family. With his grandmother, he sang in a Protestant choir in the "Briqueterie" neighbourhood. And, with his uncle, he trained on the guitar, his favourite instrument. However, although music was essential in his education, his parents did not envisage their son making a career out of it.
When he was 23, his parents sent him to study law in France, at the University of Besançon. However, music soon took precedence over his studies. He enrolled at the Ecole Normale de Musique in Paris. At that time, he tried to release a record, but without success. On the other hand, he created a theatrical troupe, Masques et Tam-Tam, mixing music and theatre. For the occasion, he met and worked with the actor Martin Yog and the musicians Alfred M'Bongo from ex-Zaire and the French-Cameroonian Manuel Wandji.
Henri Dikongué finally chose to settle permanently in Paris in 1989, where he perfected his classical guitar skills. In the heart of the capital, he is now in the front row to take full advantage of the intense African and world music activity that developed there in the 1980s. He worked alongside big names such as his compatriot Manu Dibango and the former Zairean Papa Wemba. In addition to the many experiences he accumulated during his years in Paris, Henri Dikongué continues to write with a view to finally releasing his album. He admits to being rather slow and meticulous, which is why it took him many years to release his own work.
The wait was long, but the result was conclusive. In April 1995, when the Cameroonian singer had just become the father of a baby boy, "Wa" was released, conceived with the help of his friend Manuel Wandji. As soon as it was released, the album was praised by the press, which discovered in Dikongué a poet with a clear voice, in the tradition of Lokua Kanza, Ismaël Lô, or Pierre Akendengué. His very melodic music subtly mixes makossa, bikutsi but also a little reggae or rumba. As for the carefully crafted lyrics, they are entirely sung in Douala. However, Dikongué admits that he has too little knowledge of his parents' language to write it himself. Everything was therefore written in French and then translated.
The same month that the album was released, Henri Dikongué opened for the Cape Verdean singer Césaria Evora for four nights at the Bataclan in Paris. His performance was applauded by all, and thereafter, the concerts did not cease to follow one another. In May, he was at the Satellite Café, an operation that was repeated in June. During the summer, he performed at numerous festivals, including the Musiques noires pour nuits blanches festival at the Divan du Monde in Paris in September. Finally, in October, he sold out the Hot Brass, an excellent venue that disappeared in 1997.
His second album, "C'est la vie", was a pleasant surprise, as Henri Dikongué confirmed his talent and his particular style. Recorded in Besançon, his first place of residence in France, this album multiplies the musical directions. While he reunited with his partner, Manuel Wandji, on co-production, he surrounded himself with a team of talented friends: backing singers Cathy Renoir and Valérie Lobe, West Indian pianist Alain Jean-Marie, bassist Armand Sabbal-Lecco and violinist Nasser Beghdad. Only one song is in French ("La vie est belle"); for the others Henri remains faithful to the Douala language. At the end of 1997, Henri Dikongué was one of the many guests at the Parisian festival Africolor. Then on December 26, he played for the first time in Germany, in Cologne. Henri Dikongué crossed the Atlantic in March 98 for a successful American tour. Under license from the American label Tinder Records, he was lucky enough to have his album successfully distributed throughout the western United States. Nearly 10,000 copies were sold in three months, a very remarkable result for a French speaker.
In May 1998, Henri Dikongué returned to his country for the first Rencontres Musicales de Yaoundé. Although he has been based in France since the beginning, Dikongué is a huge star in Cameroon. It was in an electric atmosphere that the singer gave a highly anticipated concert in Yaoundé. But a few days later in Douala, the atmosphere was warmer for a concert with a largely female audience...
In September 2000, Dikongué released his third album, "N'oublie jamais", in which he tackled styles as diverse as rumba, flamenco, reggae and classical music. Produced by the Cameroonian Etienne Mbappé for the Buda Musique label, Dikongué called on his "great old friend" Manu Dibango and the West Indian pianist Mario Canonge. Unfortunately, this album was not as successful as the previous ones, but Henri Dikongué continued to travel the world offering his elegant ballads tinged with nostalgia.
At the beginning of 2005, Dikongué returned to the forefront of the music scene with a new album, "Biso Nawa", fresh and intimate, for which he surrounded himself with his usual accomplices, the singer Cathy Renoir, Etienne Mbappé on bass and the guitarist Jean Paul Flores. The album, which deals with universal themes such as love, family and nostalgia, was a limited success.
He presented it on stage at the Festival du bout du monde, in the west of France, but also in Bolivia and Cameroon. This international dimension was confirmed during the following years, punctuated by concerts that regularly took Henri out of France to perform throughout Europe (Germany, Switzerland, Czech Republic, Italy, Great Britain). His reputation in Africa also led him to return to perform in his native country and others such as Benin, Burkina Faso, Senegal and Ethiopia. His songs are part of the musical heritage of French-speaking Africa and inspire the younger generation, such as Honoré Adabadji, a Togolese candidate in an Ivorian TV talent show who caused a sensation in 2012 with his cover of "C'est la vie".
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| Honoré Adabadji |
At the same time, Henri Dikongué has been asked to work on other artistic projects. His young compatriot Dan Kamit called on his services for the song "Mon Afrique" in 2007, released on the album "Les mots et les Couleurs". The same year, he participated in the music of the film "Paris à tout prix" by Joséphine Ndagnou in 2007, then in 2010 in the album "Chroniques du bordel" by Germinal, a rapper from Besançon, the town where he still lives. In 2012, it was on the album of another local talent, Boris Mégot, that he distinguished himself. And two years later, he worked for the Cameroonian Micheline Ewang on her album "Dissongo".
The artist resumed the course of his own discography in May 2016, with his fifth album entitled "Diaspora", which he produced himself and with which he returned to the path of song, in a framework that he defines as "a little bit New Orleans, mixed with Africa and a little bit of classical".
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| Le Duo: Henri Dikongue & Etienne M’Bappé |
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