Prince Ndedi Eyango

♫ Clip: 2017 Prince Ndedi Eyango – Thank you mama (clip officiel) King Mouan Nkum

Ndedi Eyango (aka Prince Eyango) emerged from the Cameroon music scene in the late '80s to become one of the country’s most popular singers and guitar players. Born in Nkongsamba, Eyango's talents were recognized at the age of seven when he began singing in the church where his father was a pastor. In addition to singing he learned to play  guitar and by 1982 Prince Eyango and his group, Les Montagnards d'Afrique (the Mountain Dwellers of Africa), were performing nationwide.

A move to Paris netted him a recording contract and access to state-of-the-art studios, which led to the creation of his biggest hit, You must calculate in 1987, when Prince Eyango was named Best Artist of the Year, Cameroon's highest musical honor, awarded by the Minister of Culture. By 1991 he had achieved a Number One music rating on the powerful, transcontinental Africa No. 1 Radio.

♫ 1987 You must calculer

In 1993 Eyango moved to United States where he started his own music company, Preya Music. During the 90’s he became the promotor and producer of several new, upcoming artists such as Longue longue,Jacky Kingue,Tanus Foe,Marcel Bwanga,Ndema System and Papa Zoe. Eyango has toured in Africa, Europe and North America.

He was nominated in 2000 for the Los Angeles Weekly Music Award in the World Music category, and was also called upon by respected pop music producer Don Was to record a track for Bette Midler’s album, Bette, where his impeccable guitar lines add a distinctive flavor to the song Moses. In addition to performing extensively in Africa, Europe, the United States and Canada, in 2005 Eyango increased his geographic scope to Asia where he was invited to perform as the headline artist at New Delhi, India’s Samath Festival and in China, for the Shanghai May festival.

♫ 2005 Prince Eyango in China

In 2009,Prince Eyango returned to Cameroon  to expand his career as a musician and producer, and to promote the vibrant culture and musical talent in his country of birth. Since his return his involvement in social issues is also reflected in several productions in which he draws attention for problems such as maternal mortality, the living conditions of war refugees and child labor. His 2012 album Apelle Moi  brought him a nominated for best male artist of the year; this nomination came to fruition on the Cameroon's Music Award night when Cameroon's Minister of culture announced the 2013 winner: Prince Ndedi Eyango.

♫ 2012 Appelle moi

♫ 2015 Les heros

DISCOGRAPHY

Guy Lobe 1965 - 2015

Personal favorite

Each person has his favorites, so have I. When it comes to Makossa, mine is already since 1987 the one and only Guy Lobe. Now I have just started this blog, I have to ask your attention for the fact that Guy's first record "Nko wanga" was released 25 years ago. For me a good occasion to tell you how I became hooked up by his music.

It was on a saterday afternoon in 1987 that I went to Brussels to visit the record shop Musica Nova. In those days this shop, owned by the Italian "Pierro" was the best place to buy the latest African records.

The shop was overcrowded as usual on saterdays, with customers from various African and European countries. One of the special things in Musica Nova was that you could not listen to the music of your choice with headphones. No, you had to ask Pierro to play the record for you over the speakers in the shop. Because there were so many customers waiting, Pierro was constantly busy with playing small parts of various records, to give his customers an impression of the music they were interested in. So after a minute of Pepe Kalle, he switched to Kassav and from there to Moni Bile, Franco, Nyboma, Bembeya Jazz and so on. Then suddenly it happened, my head was blown off by a loud uptempo beat and a the very powerfull voice of Guy Lobe. I turned my back and looked in the face of Pierro, who was smiling from ear to ear while shaking his head. "what is this?" I asked him in my broken French en he showed me the sleeve of "Solitude", the new record from Guy Lobe. I new Guy's music already from poor (video) K7's but through these big speakers his music became something quite different for me and hooked me up completely. I bought the record immediately and didn't rest until I found his two earlier records, the already mentioned "Nko wanga" from 1985 and "Mon amie a moi" from 1986.

           
1991 African Music Festival
Four years later in 1991 was my first time to see Guy Lobe perform live during the "African Music Festival" in Delft. He teamed up as member of the "Cameroon All Stars" together with Aladji Toure, Gilly Doumbe, Epee & Koum and Ndedi Eyango. They were the last act of the festival and gave a good show, only due to delay in the programm their performance was a bit short.

1993 Live in Rotterdam

In 1993 I got a new chance to see him live on stage when my former wife decided to organise a concert with musicians from Cameroon to celebrate her graduation as a social worker. Of course I convinced her that she should arrange Guy Lobe for this concert and so it happened. We went together to Paris to arrange the deal with Aladji Toure and finally on the second of October 1993 "The Makossa All Stars" played a fantastic live-show for about 400 people in a small venue in my hometown Rotterdam. The band was leaded by Aladji Toure on bass, Guy Bilong drums, Bobby Nguime guitar, Fred Savio keyboards and Guy Lobe, Dora Decca and Epee & Koum as singers.

from left to right: Epee Mbengue, Koum Mbengue, Dora Decca (behind) Guy Lobe and Aladji Toure

A prolific artist 
Born January 27, 1959 in the Akwa district in Douala, Guy Lobè is the eldest of a family of seven children. Little Guy grew up in Rue Kotto in Deīdo and passes his secondary school at the Integ College and got away with a Bachelor’s degree. He started to work in an insurance company but was capticated by making music and left the world of business after a few years. He had already taken his first musical steps at school concerts before he started to perform in cabarets, notably the Aris Bar, one of the famous cabarets of the 80’s, located in the Akwa district in Douala.

Beside training his vocal skills, Guy also learned to play different instruments and handles the guitar, bass and piano among others. In 1984 Aladji Touré produced his first album Dégager. The album was well received and was followed in 1986 by Mon amie à moi. The title track of this LP became a massive hit in Cameroon as well as the subsequent albums Solitude (1987), Union libre (1988) and Coucou (1989). At the end of the 80’s Guy Lobe, had become on of the most popular Makossa singers and among the African diaspora in Paris his songs were as popular as those of Kassav.

♫ 1989 Video CRTV - Coucou

“He put on the record market at least one record a year, was at the top of the Hit parades and has won awards in Côte d’Ivoire, Benin, Canada and the Caribbean among others,” recalls fellow singer Sam Mbendè. For his colleague artists, Guy Lobè was a lyricist. He made songs for texts and developed many themes related to love, determination. It contributed to the rhythm Makossa, it’s letters of nobility. Guy has also supported the career development of several other artists. He wrote compositions for Charlotte Mbango (Konkai Makossa), the twins Epée & Koum (Soukoumakossa), Betuel Enola (Proprièté privée) and Jo Doumbé (Attention a la vie). He also wrote the song Chercher la vie for Alain Gérard. “The musical seed, I picked it up watching Guy Lobè sing, “said the latter. Guy made also several musical collaborations, notably with Joëlle Esso, Sergeo Polo, Aladji Touré and the Congolese guitarist Géo Bilongo.

In 2010, Guy Lobè suffered a stroke but recovered and in the summer of 2012 he married his love Patience Ondoa at Mairie de Colombe in Paris. Step by step, he picked up his musical career again and started working on a new album, together with his friend and bassist Fréderic Doumbè. “Guy Lobè recently composed world music titles. He said he would change the register. He had no longer the strength to do makossa and was going to launch into World Music”, confides collegue fellow singer Jacky Kinguè. The death of Guy Lobè has buried all his plans and means a great loss. Not only for his loved ones, but also for the lovers of pure Makossa.
 

♫ 1987 Mourir d’aimer

♫ 1999 O ya yo

♫ 1990 Moto e bobe

♫ Video 2003 Africaines (+ Sergeo Polo)

♫ Video 2007 Dieudonne

DISCOGRAPHY

Salle John

In 1989 I bought a CD with the title 'The Best Of African Music Volume I  Le Cameroun',  released by ACDC/Kanibal Records . Through this CD I became interested  in Sallé John, who was represented with the song "Bon'essoky from his album "Special JohnCo".  Later I found the original record  and learned that  Sallé John was the main force behind the revival of the breathtaking “Ambass-bey music and dance”. As a result he has always been rightfully referred to as the “king of Ambas-bey”.

♫ Audio 1986 : Salle John – Bon’ Essoky 6:58

Ambass-bey originated among the Yabassi ethnic group and grew popular in Douala after World War II. It is a style of folk music and dance based on guitar with percussion provided by sticks and bottles.

Eboa Lotin performed in the 1960's a style of Ambass-bey on harmonica and guitar that is often regarded as one of the earliest forms of Makossa, a style that quickly came to overshadow it's predecessor and became Cameroon's most popular form of indigenous music. The way Sallé John got involved into music was pretty unusual. In an interview from 2002 he said the following about the start of his musical career:

(…)Already early in life I faced a lot of difficulties. These difficulties and the injustice I encountered led me straight to the life of an artist. The trigger was made the day I lost everything during a fire in Bonaelèkè (Douala) where I lived. Feeling alone in the world, totally lost, there was more than heaven the earth, the lord. I asked him to protect me, to keep me. This is how the Lord began to send me messages that I turned into a song. At first I gave my compositions to some artists. These compositions have made extraordinary successes, until one day a relative came to tell me that I had a formidable voice, and that I could sing myself. Thank God I became an artist, the embryo that makes me live until today when I am 53 years old (…).

♫ Clip 1982 : Salle John – Pai O Yabassi 2:33

Supported by some members of the famous Black Styles he released his first LP around 1979. Shortly after he formed his own band Les Johnco, with the young Manulo Nguime on guitar. His breakthrough came in 1982 with the album Dansons L'Ambass Bey avec Sallé John. The song Pai o Yabassi in which he sings about the area where he was born became a massive hit in Cameroon. It was not only the lyrics and the music, but also the exciting dance moves by Sallé John and his dancers during live performances, that made the Cameroonians enthusiastic.

Today, no one can talk about Cameroon music without mentioning the name Sallé John. Papa Sallé, as fans call him is one of Cameroon’s most dynamic, most passionate, most exciting and interesting artists. He released several more albums during the 80's, but in the 90' the output of new records stopped. After more than a decade, he surprised his fans in 2001 with the well received CD Le soleil rayonne  followed in 2013 by the very tasteful album  Confessions intimes.

Unfortunately, Salle John has not released a new album in recent years. However, he did release - in 2018 and most recently in 2021 - three new songs that are not only musically very worthwhile, but are each accompanied by a very colourful and catchy video clip. 

♫ Clip 2013: Wa Domse   5:20

♫ Clip 2018: Longuè La Nku Kuma   5:33

♫ Live 2018: Sallé John et Charlotte Dipanda à Paris   9:16

♫ Clip 2021: Sallé John – Yawé   4:56

DISCOGRAPHY