Blick Bassy’s home country of Cameroon is an interesting place.
For starters, it has a couple interesting nicknames. It’s sometimes called “The Hinge of Africa,” because of its location at the point where the massive continent begins curving south, which also makes Cameroon the connection between central and western Africa.
Its other, and perhaps more apt, nickname is “Africa in Miniature.”
Despite being fairly small, Cameroon comprises just about every landscape that you might associate with Africa; dense rainforests, ocean coasts, savannah, desert, and yes, even exploding lakes.
Culturally, Cameroon is as diverse as its landscape. Depending on how you count, there are at least 25 different languages spoken here, and as many as 250 if distinct dialects are taken into account. And while many countries in Africa still have linguistic and cultural leftovers from either British or French colonialism, Cameroon has relics of both, and still uses English and French as official languages. Catholicism, Protestantism, and Islam each account for about a third of the inhabitants’ declared religions.
All this is to say that Blick Bassy has a wealth of cultural material and inspiring environments from which to draw when making music.
What makes this a beautiful song:
1. The softly plucked guitar at the beginning sounds like just one instrument, but it’s actually two. Or maybe three. They layer upon each other in the opening minute with a seamless momentum.
2. The lyrics are primarily in the Cameroonian language of Bassa, but the title is in English, and I swear tiny bits of French pop up in there as well.
3. The humming that recurs throughout the song has a beautiful hush to it, and it manages to sound like many people but also just one person. Like a continental orchestra in miniature.
Recommended listening activity:
Tracing the shape of Africa on the back of your hand.