Similar Artists:
- Active: '50s, '60s, '70s
- Genres: World
- Instrument: Guitar
Biography
Adapting the sound of the balafon to his electric guitar and the rhythms traditionally produced by handclaps and stamping feet to drums and synthesizer, Messi Me Nkonda Martin. Affectionately known as "the father of modern bikut-si music," Martin transformed the rootsy music of Cameroon into a very exciting contemporary sound.Martin's initial inspiration was furnished by the Spanish-language radio station that he picked up on a short wave radio as a youngster. This sparked a life-long love of the guitar. Martin was also influenced by the Cuban-inspired rumba music of Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo) and the traditional bikutsi played by Richard Band de Zoetele's Balafon Orchestra.
Inspired to recreate the sounds of the balafon on his guitar, Martin experimented until he found the right tone. As he later explained, he found the solution by "linking together the guitar strings with lengths of (paper) to give it a damper tone with a slight bass."
Accompanied by his band Los Cameroes, named after giant shrimp described by the Portuguese colonizers of Cameroon, Martin was heard regularly on the radio stations of his homeland throughout the 1960s and early '70s. His hits included "Bekonko Nga N'Konda" and "Mengella Maurice." ~ Craig Harris, All Music Guide
