For years Coco Mbassi sang as a background singer with stars such as Salif Keita, Manu Dibango, Dee Dee Bridgewater and others. The Cameroonian singer, who lives in Paris, also sang from 1990 to 1996 in the famous French-African gospel choir The Cherubs. A solo career was in the offing when she won the Radio France International Découverte prize in 1996. Due to the combination of singing at festivals
… and raising two sons, it took a while for her debut album Sepia to be released. Text and music are entirely Mbassi's hand. Subjects are love, friendship, family and Christian religiosity. Mbassi's beautiful voice is soft, refined and soulful. The acoustic pop, wrapped in ballads and vocal harmonies, sounds nostalgic and noble. In addition to fragments of jazz and blues, the influence of classical music is also noticeable. The instrumentation is therefore versatile: strings, piano, saxophone, (electric) guitars and percussion (drums and African percussion). Atmospheric, introverted music. Cross-border due to the fluid synthesis between African and Western music. (SvdP)more
