MBASSI Coco (Cameroon)

Coco MBASSI (Cameroon)

Coco started singing as a child, even before she could speak; in her family, back home in Cameroon, which was very open to music from all over the world, she used to wake up to the Handel€™s Messiah on Sunday mornings, or dance to the Jackson Five€™s hits, and on holidays, go to her father€™s village and sing and dance the traditional Ambass Bey rhythms and songs.
She participated very young in singing contests and won them, and was sent to further her studies in Paris at the age of 14.

Once in Paris, after high school and a couple of university years - where she finally achieved a postgraduate degree in translation - she started singing as a backing vocalist live and in studios for numerous artists such as Manu Dibango, Salif Keita, Toure Kunda, Demis Roussos, Nino Ferrer, Jocelyne Beroard (of the band Kassav), Ray Lema, Ismael Lo, Sixun, Richard Bona and many more.
She also collaborated in various contemporary classical projects and sang lead and backing vocals with the well-known Franco-African choir « Les Cherubins ».
She then gradually moved on to a solo career, and recorded her two albums, SEPIA (2001) and SISEA (2003).

Winner of the Radio France International Decouvertes Contest in 1996, winner of the German World Music CD Critics Award in 2001 and nominated for the BBC World Music Awards 2002 for her first album « SEPIA », the singer has toured worldwide with her band, in the most prestigious venues and festivals some of the highlights of which was the Eden Project Live 8 Concert 2005, organised by Peter Gabriel, and
many more : Louisiana International Festival, Jazz Sous Les Pommiers, Normandy, France, Festival d€™Eté in Montréal and Nuits d€™Afrique in Québec, Haus der Kulturen der Welt in Berlin, Afroprojekt in Würzburg€¦), Pollen radio show with Jean-Louis Foulquier, Festival des REMY in Yaoundé (Cameroon), Womad festivals in Reading, UK; Caceres, Spain; Las Palmas, Canary Islands, Singapore, and Womadelaide€¦, adding this experience as a lead singer to her previous backing vocalist career.
She has also been involved in leading singing and African dance workshops for cultural centres, schools (Black history month programs) and festivals such as the Womad.

Her last release is a Live DVD, Coco Mbassi Tour and she is now working on her new songs for the next album.

Her more recent performances and appearances include: the €˜Lion of Africa€™ performance, invited by Manu Dibango at the renowned Barbican in London, UK in October 2010 (live album and DVD released); a concert and documentary in Bilbao, Spain in 2010 (http://bbkwebtv.es/salabbk/coco-mbassi/); the Cirque du Soleil show Totem -in which she sang the lead female part for 3 months from February to April
2011-, and the Decibel Music Showcase in Manchester in September 2011.
Coco has been composing and recording the songs of her next album as well.

She describes her music as a « tree with deep African roots and branches that extend some towards classical music, some towards soul, gospel and jazz, and others towards Latin music and even pop music.