Francois Misse Ngoh

Short biography
Francois Misse Ngoh was born on the 17th july 1949 at Bonjo, Moungo division in the Littoral Province. His father dies when he is only nine months old. His mother has to struggle hard to bring up the little man and his other brothers and sisters. After primary school he continues his education in Yaounde where he is enroled in accounting and shorthand typing. During these years he taught himself the basics of guitar palying. In 1967 the young Francois Misse Ngoh graduated his degree as a stenographist. He left school and started to work because his mother was not able to pay his school fee any longer.

From that moment Francois spent every free minute to improve his guitar playing. In 1970 he joins Los Calvinos, the band founded by Nelle Eyoum and some former members of the disbanded Uvocot Jazz. In 1972, he released his first 45 rpm under the leadership of Jico, a Nigerian producer based in Douala. The title was so successful that in a period of time Misse Ngoh became the informal leader of the group though the others were much older. It was just a matter of the before the group was renamed in Francois Misse Ngoh and  Los Calvinos.

The successful band was asked to become the house band of the Mount Cameroon Bar and surrounded by Manfred Nyamsi (Bass Guitar), Esso Job (Solo Guitar), Edward Ebongué (Drums), Freddy Komé Ngosso (Vocals) and Gustave Ebelle (Rhythm Guitar), Misse Ngoh entertained the customers till dawn with his spicy Makossa rhythms.



Los Calvinos with standing left Misse Ngoh

But, entertaining the visiters of the Mount Cameroon Bar and other venues is not enough for the ambitious Misse Ngoh. It was in 1975 that the young artist decides to contact the Sonodisc record company in France to record his first album. The answer was immediate and two months later he was invited to come to Paris . He just got himself pay for his plane ticket. To solve this problem Misse Ngoh convinced producer Mathias Njocka him to give him the money in exchange for the production of the album. The risk is not in vain, since this debut album released on the Sonafric label and entitled Ngon'a Suza, becomes a true success.

Sonodisc was very content about the cooperation with the promising young artist and until 1982 they released six more LP's of Misse Ngoh on their Disques Esperance label . Together more than 100.000 copies were sold. His biggest hit was the LP with the Ivorian band Bozambo of Jimmy Hyacinthe, of which 35.000 copies were sold. In 1978 he disbanded Los Calvinos and continued his career as a solo artist. He becomes one of the most gifted guitarists of his generation and one of the most influential innovaters of Makossa. 

♫ Audio 1976    Cameroun'am

♫ Audio 1980    Njonjo Mukambe

♫ Audio 1982    Son Langwea Mba

In the liner notes of 'Fleurs Musicales du Cameroun' (The outstanding compilation on 3 LP's of Cameroonian music on the Afro-Vison label) the following is written about Misse Ngoh's contribution to the development of Makossa:

Misse Ngoh was one of the first musicians who adopted the Makossa rhythm and worked hard to escape from the three classic chords system which made Makossa monotonous in the long term. He introduced other modulations. Misse Ngoh is a perfectionist with the words he sings as with his music. He is a singer/songwriter of great sensitivity ans has managed to make Makossa a complete musical genre.

Today Misse Ngoh's career spans over more than forty years,  with more than twenty albums to his name.  His most recent CD Opération Epervier dates from 2009.

Clip Youtube:     Misse Ngoh live at the Dreams Club in Limbe 2006

Clip Youtube:     1988   Ole ole

Clip Youtube:     1989   La vie c'est terrible

Discography (Incomplete)

Kotto Bass 1963 - 1996

On the 6th of February 1963,  Kotto Bass was only 33 years old when he died unexpectedly on the 20th of November 1996. Kotto Bass or Nyamsi Theodore Auger for marital status, remains one of  the most brilliant and beloved Cameroon  artists of his generation, even though his star was just beginning to shine. Even today, songs like Edith ndola'a ngo, Nouvelle génération mixte and Concours de patience,  will fill every dance floor in Cameroon.

Full-fledged artist, despite his disability Nyamsi Kotto was only two years old when diagnosed with polio. This will paralyze him the foot, but not curb the enthusiasm of the boy who already at the Camp Berteau primary school, shows his predisposition for music. But in this circumstance, nobody could have imagined he would become an artist of high rank, who later accompanied the great names of the Cameroonian music scene.

In the late 80's he started working in the Makassi Studio from Sam Fan Thomas and soon after he became the conductor of the MBC (the Makassi Band Corporation).

The MBC in Nairobi (Kotto Bass second from right)

Beside a talented bass player, Kotto Bass was also gifted with a formidable, angelic voice. In 1993 he contributed a track on 'L'age d'or: Hommage a Nelle Eyoum, a co-production by Aladji Toure and Kouogueng Moise. It was this track, a brilliant cover of Rochereau's  Ponce Pilate that brought him fame in Cameroon.

In 1996 he came with his first solo cd, Edith ndol'a ngo.The album, with it's fusion of Makossa and Congolese music, combined with his silky voice, becomes a tremendous hit in Cameroon and the neighbouring countries.

Also his second album, C'est comme ca hits the charts with songs like Concours de patience, Yes Bamenda  and a cover of Franco classics Oke mado. Then at once the rising star Kotto Bass dies unexpectedly on November 20, 1996. His sudden death causes a shock in Cameroon. Because the circumstances of his death remain unclarified, many of his fans believe that he is poisened.

Clip: Yes Bamenda

Clip: Ponce Pilate

Clip: Edith ndol'ango

Clip: Nouvelle generation

Clip: OK Mado

DISCOGRAPHY

AfricOriginal

Super Mama Djombo

Mayaula Mayoni

Dear Makossa friends,
I want  to ask your attention for my new blog AfricOriginal.

blog AfricOriginal

Beside MakossaOriginal this blog gives me the opportunity to pay attention to my other favorite music styles from the African continent. The first two posts on AfricOriginal are about the great Congolese guitarist/composer Freddy Mayaula Mayoni and the legendary band  from Guinee-Bissau, Super Mama Djombo.

Dolf Motz

Jean Paul Mondo - Ca chauffe !!

  

His musical career started with two 45 rpm singles, recorded with the famous 'Black Styl' at the end of the 1970's. The following years JPM (Rhythm Guitar & Vocals) formed the band Les Jokers, together with Jacques Ebey (Solo guitar & Vocals), Raphael Biana (Vocals) and Samuel Tchomagni a.k.a. Sam Batcho (Drums & Vocals).  With Les Jokers he recorded at least one 45 rpm single Eleke / Muma mbamba and one LP.

In the 1980's he made his nam as a solo artist with half a dozen records, including Sona Papa, Sengwesse and Dieudonne a tout donne. Jean Paul Mondo's Makossa is distinguished by a very rhythmic sound and (his) excellent (rhythm) guitar playing.

After a decade in the limelight, Jean Paul Mondo disappeared from the main stage. Acoording to his former producer Isodore Tamwo, it was because of piracy that JPM's record output stopped after the 1980's. But he remained active as musician. The last years of his life he played with his Sengwesse Band in local bars. At the time of his death he worked virtually incognito in a tavern in 'the village' on the outskirts of Douala. Jean Paul Mondo died at the age of 51 on the 29th of June 2004.

 ♫ 1985 Osikolo djomba 

 ♫ 1986 Sona Papa

 ♫ 1988 Dieudonne a tout donne

DISCOGRAPHY

1958 - 2022 Penda Dalle

Born in 1958, Tete Dalle Penda Jeannot served in the Cameroon Navy and the Republican Guard from 1976 until 1980. At that time, he was part of the band Les New-Star de Bonadibong. Around 1977, 1978 he and this group released a 45rpm single on the label Disques Cousin. On side A is the song Bonadibong and on the B-side the song Bekwedi Ndolam. Both are written by Penda Dalle, who also does the vocals. 

At the age of 22 Penda Dalle left the army and became guitarist in La Musette, the band that Emile Kangue formed after he had quitted Les Black Styl. In  1980 he started his solo career with the release of the 45rpm single Se to mba / Ne nde muna musango on the Africa Oumba label.

During the 80's and 90's "Jeandall" released a string of records and became a popular Makossa star. In 2000 he recorded the very successful album L'espoir de ma vie, which was followed in 2011 by Best of nostalgie vol. 1.
Clip: 2001 Penda Dalle - Nostalgie 1

Penda Dalle also participated in Manu Dibango's Kamer All Stars project together with, Salle John, Henry Njoh, Guy Nsangue, Yves Ndjock and others. On this album he takes care of the rhythm guitar and contributes one of his personal favorites, the classic song Nyong'a mama.

Since then his fans had to wait ten years for a new album, but in 2011  he came back with Sona ndolo.

Today, he has his own YouTube channel La croisiere des artistes, through which he interviews other Cameroonian artists, making an important contribution to capturing the musical heritage of Cameroon.

Recently, he and his longtime musical pal Emile Kangue went back into the studio to record a four-song maxi-single, including the duet Dja o biala that was released in 2021. Penda Dallé died in Paris on 26 December 2022, at the age of 64.

♫    2021 Penda Dalle & Emile Kangue - Dja o biala

♫    2011  Penda Dalle – Sona ndolo

♫    2000  Penda Dalle - Osi lowa mba

♫    1984  Penda Dalle - Bonadibong

DISCOGRAPHY