We continue the conversation Etienne Mbappe and learn why Cameroon is the bass capital of the world.
In part 1 we learned about his early years in Paris during the World Music boom, and how he learned to play as a boy in Cameroon.
Interview with Etienne Mbappe -- Part 2
Alan Bryson: Did you find yourself drawn to the bass even though you didn't have one, or did the interest in bass come later?
Etienne Mbappe: I think it came a little bit later, but you know now in Cameroon there are two things the younger generation are interested in – it's bass and soccer... (we both laugh) and of course having fun with your girlfriend, and what ever else you can do. But if you want to do something else besides going to school and learning your classes, you can go and see a movie, but at the time – you know, television came to Cameroon in 1982! So until 1982 we didn't know about TV. I left earlier, I left in 1978, and the first time I saw a TV was in France when I came here in 1978. So when you wanted to have fun with your girlfriend you would go to a movie, but otherwise you would play football or go to a football match, or if you had a guitar – that was it for the young, soccer and trying to play music.
So I knew there were some older guys who were great bass players, but most of them were living in France. We used to receive some recordings from them, even traditional African music recorded in France. We were amazed by the strength of their playing, it was like wow! Who is this bass player? How can he play like that? Then we would see, oh, he's a guy from Cameroon! They knew about what was happening in the United States, like the great Motown players like James Jamerson, and the Stax players. So that's how we learned from them.
James Jamerson's bass on Stevie Wonder's "I Was Made to Love Her"
So we couldn't read music, and there was no formal instruction, so we had to teach ourselves by listening to the LP or whatever it was. We tried to copy the sound with our own fingering and sound like our heroes. That's how we learned, and it gave us a lot of energy. Especially in Cameroon there are a lot of bass players, most are living in France, and now we are like heroes. Each of us has got a team of supporters in Cameroon, and they love us because we are from the same country. And they love us, they know every single note we are playing. As soon as a CD comes out, they've got it from the Internet and they are trying to do what we did. They copy us, and try to sound like us. That creates a lot of energy and excitement for bass playing in Cameroon.
They say, if you want to put together an orchestra, get a bass player from Cameroon, a drummer from West Senegal or Ivory Coast, get a guitar player from Congo or Zaire. So each part of Africa is renowned for its favorite instruments. (Laughing) And for the bass, it's Cameroon.
Alan Bryson: So Cameroon is the bass capital of the world.
Etienne Mbappe: Definitely, no doubt about it. Not because of us, but the kids coming up. Every time I go back, which is usually two or three times a year, I can see them growing and growing musically. And playing things that make you go wow! Where did you learn that here in Cameroon? “Oh you know, I took it from you, you know, Stanley Clarke, Victor Wooten.” Because now there is the Internet, so they are learning and practicing, and now with the Internet they can see what the bass players are doing. In my time, we couldn't see what they were doing. So anyway, bass playing is really a very big movement in Cameroon.
Etienne MBAPPE playing and singing his compostion "Miso ma Munami"
Alan Bryson: When you go to Cameroon, do you also tour, or do you just go to see family and friends?
Etienne Mbappe: I tour sometimes with my own band, and of course around Christmas time it is like summer there, so I love to go on vacation and take my family from France and visit the family there. I like to go into the forest and try and see the Pygmies and learn some new rhythms from them. There are still a lot of huge forests and a lot of things to learn in Central Africa, like the Pygmies playing these kinds of drums you've never seen. And I've got my son who is a bass player too, Swaeli Mbappe, and I've been taking him since he was 8 years old, to learn his Arfican roots, because his mother is French. So he's a bass player today, playing upright bass, and bass guitar, and it's great for him. He learned to play here in France with all the great music schools, classical and whatever, and then see the kids there and how they learned. So he got to see a bit of how his dad learned to play bass.
Etienne & Swaeli Mbappe playing together
So he loves going there, every Christmas he says, “Hey dad, we gotta go to Cameroon, I've gotta learn some more rhythm.” He's very excited to go there often, and of course the family is a very important part of it.
Alan Bryson: When he was growing up, did you speak Douala with him, or did he grow up only with French?
Etienne Mbappe: Actually French since he was born here, but he can speak some Douala, but he's not fluent. His mom speaks French to him and I'm on tour all the time, so since he was a baby he heard mostly French. But he can understand it, and he speaks some.
Alan Bryson: I've heard Cameroon is quite beautiful with the mountains and the coast line, you got it all.
Etienne Mbappe: They call it little Africa, – we have the savannah, the forest, the mountains, you know all the beautiful landscapes you can see around Africa, you can find them in Cameroon. Up North it isn't as densely populated, there's a lot of space, but it's pretty hot. So you've got that desert climate, the South is pretty humid with the deep forest. I'm from the South, Douala, in the summer months in Central Africa it is pouring rain, starting in September it is beautiful. In Cameroon you can swim, you can go biking in the mountains, there's so much to do.
Cameroon
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Link to Part 3
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