Etienne Mbappé is another one in the row of
outstanding bass players from Cameroon, who has struck the world with amazement.
Richard Bona and Armand Sabal-Lecco are two other examples. Etienne has an
impressive technique, but even more important is that this is only being used
as a tool for his own music, rooted in African rhythms and harmonization.
The 42-year-old Mbappé has lived in France for almost
30 years. But the music he carries with him from his native country is strongly
influencing his own music.
– I have deep roots in Africa, I have grown up with
African music, which was always present at home, especially at various family
ceremonies such as christenings, weddings, funerals etc. It is with the music
like my cooking: even if I cook French food, I add African spices.
– When I came to France as a 14-year-old, I had no
idea about European and African music. I had never heard of the Beatles,
Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, Frank Zappa. John Coltrane… All I knew of was
African music.
After having been active on the French fusion- and
jazz scene, and also touring with African stars such as Manu Dibango and Salif
Keita, playing for three years with Josef Zawinul and also on Ray Charles’ last
record, Mbappé now has his own band. It is four very talented French musicians:
sax player Hervé Gourdikian, vocalist Cate Petit and the extremely gifted young
Grandcamp brothers, Jim, 22 and John, 24, on guitar and drums. This band is
also playing on his coming CD, due in the beginning of 2007. And this one is
quite different from his solo debut Misiya.
– It will have more of a live-feeling. No keyboards,
no drum machines, but more like we sound on stage. A band is like a laboratory,
where you experiment to get results. The ego doesn’t matter, it is the music in
itself which brings the results. Having young musicians like Jim and John also
gives a youthful influence to the group, as the same time as they hopefully
also learn from me.
Voices – both his own and Cate Petits – are important elements in Mbappé’s
music, and they are often used as instruments, besides of course to express the
texts, often in the African language douala, and often about African
conditions.
That his band does not include keyboards is also a
deliberate choice:
– No keyboards are needed in my music. I want it
spacey, clean, so that you sometimes almost can’t hear the harmonics round the
melody. Keyboard players like to play a lot and fill up all the spaces. With
only guitar as chord instrument in the band, it sounds more African, and not so
much like fusion.
An important part of Etienne Mbappé’s musical work is
to teach regularly at a music univerity in Burkina Faso.
– It might be the most important thing I’m doing. Africa has given me so much
that I feel that I must give something back to its youth. There are so many
talents who need and deserve that guidance. I don’t do it for the money, it’s
enough if I get food and accommodation while I’m teaching. Even when I go home
on vacation, I try to take a couple of days to give seminars.
– Carrying knowledge further is probably the most
important thing in life, and I try not only to teach music, but to also teach
them about life, to give them more self-confidence. Africa’s problems must be
solved by Africans, and if I can contribute to making just one of them
successful with his ambitions, I’m satisfied.
Etienne Mbappé’s basses are five-stringed instruments,
especially built for him by the French instrument maker Christian Noguera. He
uses D’Addario strings from 0.45 until 1.30. His rig is the EBS TD-650 amp, or
a Fafner top, with EBS Evolution 4x10 boxes plus a pedal board with all EBS
Black Label pedals.
– I’m not much into vintage things, old Jazz basses
and such things. I want a modern sound!
And then of course the necessary question: why does
Etienne Mbappé always play the bass wearing thin, black silk gloves?
– I was waiting for that question, ha ha! The gloves
are soon better known than me… It’s not because of allergy or any such
problems. I tried it once because I wanted a sound that was softer, bigger,
smoother. It wasn’t easy to start playing with gloves, but now I’m used to it,
and I like the sound.