Kristo Numpuby is a guitarist, bassist and singer born in Paris but raised in Eséka, South Cameroon.
[1] Author and composer, Kristo sings mainly in Bassa and French on Assiko music the traditional rhythm of the southern Cameroon forests, using a guitar, knives, forks and spoons, and empty bottles for the percussion.
This musician, born in Paris and raised in a tropical forest, personifies the Africa of yesterday, today and tomorrow.
"We listened to lots of different music ail day long... classical, jazz, rhythm and blues, James Brown, Afro-Cuban, rumba from Zaire, highlife, makossa and biguine.
Kristo says, "my buddies didn't understand how a guy like me who spent his vacations in Paris was still interested in village music.
But I found real pleasure in playing Jean Bikoko, Médjo Me Nsom and Dikoumé Bernard, and to finger the guitar strings like them in an unusual way.
There were such beautiful posters in the metro and TV ads that left you breathless "Generation Mitterrand, Citroen cars, Dim stockings...
Kristo also recorded with drummer Denis Tchangou (Mory Kanté, Papa Wemba ...) an album entirely devoted to the chanson legend Georges Brassens.
The result is "Brassens in Africa" (Lon Yes/Mosaic Music), an album that illustrates the beauty of cultural crossovers but also a warm tribute to the French poet on African rhythms.