Frank Bessem's Musiques d'Afrique: Coco Mbassi

Frank Bessem's
Musiques d'Afrique:

Coco Mbassi
(Cameroon)

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Although the debut album of Coco Mbassi came out only in 2001, African music fans may know her name since years as she was a much sollicited backing singer in Paris. She featured on numerous Paris recorded albums of, for instance, Salif Keita, Touré Kunda, Anne-Marie Nzié, and Manu Dibango.

Already at the age of seven, Coco won a singing contest for kids in Yaoundé and she knew then that one day, she would become a singer. In 1983, she moved to Paris to live with her elder sister. She went to school and university and got acquainted to European culture and music. Years later, she then wanted to rediscover her African roots again and took African dance classes. In the early 1990s she started working as a backing vocal singer. An award of the RFI "Prix découverte" for her song « Muengue mwa Ndolo » in 1996 helped her to start a solo career, which took a couple of years because she gave birth to two sons in the meantime...

After two albums that were well-received by critics, she participated in the Live 8 Africa Calling festival and in December 2005, a first DVD, « Tour » features the artist’s full band in concert, as well as acoustic performances of some songs. It also includes interviews and ‘behind the scenes’ and previously unseen footage of fun moments, rehearsals and even a trip to Cameroon.

Born: as Constance Mbassi Manga
Style: vocal music with jazzy and blues influences

Discography:

Title	Year	Label	Remarks
Tour	2005	Conserprod CSPD01	Live DVD
Sisea	2003	Tropical Music 68830
Sepia	2001	Tropical Music 68819