Coco Mbassi

Cameroonian singer Coco Mbassi has been a long time developing her sound. She won the Radio France Discovery Award in 1996, but it's only in 2003 that her debut, Sepia, has been released. But the time in between has been well spent, taking care of motherhood, and writing some superior songs with interesting, sparse settings that reflect both her roots and wide-ranging musical interests. And, like an American soul singer, it all began with gospel.

"The gospel choir in which I was singing had many professional musicians," Mbassi recalled. "We were singing gospel in church on Saturday, but we used to do backing vocals together on French musicians' album and things like that. The gospel was the spiritual part of it, but we had opportunities to work in the professional part of the business, too. Before the gospel choir I'd done a few recording sessions."

"Usually I say my music is like a tree, with roots that go deeply in the African soil, and branches that grow toward jazz, classical music, pop, and so on."

The Radio France prize changed everything for her, but it came by accident. As she explained, "I didn't even know there was a prize! But the guy in charge of it thought I sang very well and said, 'Can you just give me three of your songs on a tape?' So I sent it to him, and he proposed it to the board that decides who's going to get the prize. I went on holiday, I was pregnant, and I went to Cameroon. They called me to say there were only 10 people left. I said, 'Okay, call me when you know.' And they called later to say I'd won. I wasn't aware of what it was until I got it and went on tour, and did big festivals in Louisiana, Quebec, France, Germany - that's when I realized it was important."

Still, life intruded on her career, and in retrospect Mbassi is grateful.

"My older child was born in '95, and my other one in '96. I had trouble in my voice, I was very tired. But the time was good. I'd written some of the songs on the album by then, but they've matured since then and we've changed the instrumentation. Those five or six years were very useful. My husband and I produced it ourselves. When we had some money we'd go in the studio."

Sepia is a thoughtful, often beautiful work that showcases her voice is very spare settings, framing but never overwhelming it. That idea came from her husband, who "plays double bass and bass, chose everything, and did the arrangements. Gradually we realized my voice had something fragile in it. If you put too much rock'n'roll around it, it just drowns the voice." But he didn't influence Mbassi's writing style, she insisted. "He likes jazz a lot, especially be bop. I was raised with old style jazz, like Duke Ellington. I used to sing a lot of Sarah Vaughan. I had classical and jazz instruments when I was young. And I think the fact that I compose the songs really gives them their color. Of course, he adds his influence to mine."

As far as her sound can wander, however, the heart of it all is firmly in Cameroon.

"Usually I say my music is like a tree, with roots that go deeply in the African soil, and branches that grow toward jazz, classical music, pop, and so on. As I was raised in Cameron from nine months to when I was 13, it's really deep in me, the foundation of my personality and things like that. You can't just take it out. I'm really open to whatever else happens in the world. But I'm strongly influenced by Cameroon."

Now she's ready to tour behind Sepia, and is especially eager to play in the U.S., because "it's important for me to see that an American can be moved by what I sing, even though it's in a foreign language." She's also begun work on her follow-up record, having "bought a Macintosh, and we're working on a new album on it. I think it'll be close to the first one, but less melancholy. Sepia has a lot of emotions in it. The second one will be emotional, too, but not in the same way; there's more laughter in it. And it'll be less dramatic."

Coco Mbassi

"Usually I say my music is like a tree, with roots that go deeply in the African soil, and branches that grow toward jazz, classical music, pop, and so on."

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