Flashmag September 2020 www.flashmag.net
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Hello Manuel, we are happy to have you as our featured guest today.
So, the music, it sounds like you were born with it. However, I would like, and the audience no doubt, what really brought you on the scene. Younger, did you dream of becoming a musician?
I have a bit of an atypical background due to my crossbreeding to start with. Born in France, it was at the age of 8 that my father decided to return to Cameroon. My father was a university professor of mineral chemistry. You can understand that it is very far from music ... But, in Cameroon I discovered Africa, and a country rich in colors and sounds. The country vibrated to music all the time, and it seemed that when I was young I was very attracted to that. On the filiation side, I think it comes more from my French mother, whose father was drummer in a music group. It’s a family of musicians… they used to throw balls in eastern France. I think my mother always listened to music a lot more than my father, who was a scientist. Although I started playing music a bit late, around 15.
Born in France of a Cameroonian father and a French mother, you return to Africa in the 70s, and come back to France in the 80s. how this decade and more spent in Africa influenced the artist that you have become?
I think it was fundamental. I thank my father for not having left us in France. Because I was not a very happy child in France. I remember it was quite a cold country, while I’m a jovial person. And when I arrived in Cameroon I said to myself, well there you go! that's life !
Why were you keeping this from me ?!
I felt like I had gone from a black and white screen to a color screen. With the sounds, the colors, the screams, the laughters, the rains… when you are a child it hits you. For me it was truly a blessing to discover Africa. This is the most important period of my life ... my teens years at Lycée Leclerc in Yaoundé, discovering music…
The Parisian underground of the 80 is a scene teeming with talent how do you integrate this environment? And years later, if you had to take a look at the scene of those years what would you say?
It was a great time; you know Mitterrand had just come to power. They put a lot of money into culture. And that opened France to other cultures… I saw for example the emergence of Yossou Ndour, Salif Keita… I was very young… but it was the first time that we saw great African musicians, collaborate with great western musicians and merge their rhythms with pop and others. There is someone who attracted me a lot, Ray Lema. I think he had an unusual background. Also coming from Central Africa, I think he appealed to me more. He was a modern guy from Central Africa. A Congolese I really invite people to discover his work, because it is very original. So, he was one of the first people I went to see to work with.
You should know that Paris was the music capital of the world. It was also in those years that the term world music began to circulate. I think it was Peter Gabriel who first started using this word. There was an abundance of world music in Paris and it was an incredible opportunity to be there at that time. I have toured with Peter Gabriel, Geoffrey Oryema, Papa Wemba, and many others ... that's why when I decided to devote myself to my own production I was so rich in all these encounters.
When in 1992 you finally opened your recording studio what do you say to yourself. This is it, I’ve made it, or is it the start of sleepless nights with the responsibilities that it entails ?
Exactly [laughs]… Thanks for reminding it. People always see the CD and the Music Videos, but they don't always know the work behind it. Many responsibilities thank you for pointing it out. It's like having children, it brings joy, but it also comes with a lot of responsibility. You have to manage stress and sometimes you invest both humanly and materially, with no guaranteed profit. It was a period that made me realize that I was much more of a composer and producer than an accompanist. I think I have a lot to say
Percussionist and music producer, it seems like you've always been able to put others first. Where does your altruism come from, in an environment where individualism is often the norm?
Ah, I'm not sure… it's true I never really thought about it. You know I come from a generation of musicians from a time when there weren't too many machines, where you had to enjoy working with others, and appreciate the talents of others. Today you don't work too much like that anymore. It's true that technology has also made people very individualistic. Well after all, I still like other people's talent. The other voices ... because I think his talent plus mine can give something interesting.