Sally Nyolo - Studio Cameroon

Studio Cameroon marks the return of internationally renowned artist Sally Nyolo to her homeland and tells the story of her quest to explore and develop the local music scene. While searching for fresh talent, she set up a studio in a modest tin-roofed building: somewhere she could meet with other musicians in a relaxed environment. The resulting carefree atmosphere is evident throughout these raw and magical recordings. This is music made purely for the joy of it.

In 1998, Sally Nyolo finally returned to her native Cameroon, having spent most of her life in Paris. She left at the age of 13 with the stories, colours and sounds of Cameroon permanently ingrained in her memory. As the years passed, she longed to return and share her music; to give something back to her homeland and pay tribute to the artists who have preserved traditional Cameroonian music. The Studio Cameroon project - spanning a period of eight years - was born out of this dream of bringing together fellow countrymen who wanted to participate and join her in making and developing local music.

Studio Cameroon marks this return and tells the story of Sally's quest to explore and develop the local music scene. While searching for fresh talent, she set up a studio in a modest tin-roofed building: somewhere she could meet with other musicians in a relaxed environment. For Sally, it was very important to record here as she wanted to cumulate some of the sounds that had stayed with her since childhood: traditional expressions and instruments, songs from the church, market and around the town. She describes it as ‘magical music from small villages like the one where I was born'.

As most of the artists from the area are specialized in the bikoutsi rhythm, the album's colour is therefore predominantly based on this legendary rhythm from central and and south Cameroon. The zest of the guitars, the particular colour of the balafons, the frenetic rhythm of the nkule (wooden tambour ) and the sound of the bewitching loops of the mvet, combine perfectly and reinterpret the bikoutsi music played by the elders, and which is now played by the young and the less than young.

For Sally, the attraction of taking on this kind of project was to provide a real representation of Cameroonian music. The idea was to capture a sense of fun and share it with an audience. She hopes it will bring traditional sounds to the stage and, furthermore, to the outside world. According to Sally, ‘these artists came with a lot of magic and I wanted to inject this into the recording. It was more down to them than me. I just heard the beautiful things they brought me.'

The resulting carefree atmosphere is evident throughout these raw and magical recordings. This is music made purely for the joy of it.

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