Cameroonian bassist Etienne Mbappé leads music workshop in Accra

Mbappé sits among an esteemed roster of accomplished musicians originating from Cameroon, including fellow four-string masters Richard Bona, Armand Sabal-Lecco and Guy Nsangué.

Globally renowned and behind several critically acclaimed albums, Mbappé believes that his legacy is incomplete without passing down knowledge to new voices hoping to attain the heights he has achieved over the years. This vision of wanting to use his experience to help upcoming musicians partly informed his recent trip to Accra, Ghana.

Mbappé’s trip was courtesy of the Swiss Embassy, Swiss conservatory University of Music Lausanne and music professor Thomas Dobler. 

As part of the activities, the bassist facilitated a music seminar organised by famed Ghanaian drummer Ato Quamena. The seminar was sponsored by music venue +233 Jazz Bar and Grill. The meeting served as an interface for local musicians as Mbappé gave bass guitar demonstrations and offered advice on general bass playing, including precision and clarity, amp tweaking for tone and overall musicianship. Respected Ghanaian players like Victor Dey Jr, Carl Amoah and Philip Acquah were among the participants. 

Mbappé also accompanied Dobler to lead a group of students to tour Accra and interact with the Ayekoo Drummers, who have previously performed at the Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland.

Quamena told Music In Africa that every musician who interacted with Mbappé was immensely happy for the opportunity to exchange and share a space with the icon. He reiterated Mbappé’s belief that such seminars are valuable in enabling and building the confidence of younger musicians.

“The scene has been vibrant for the last 10 years and keeps developing, although the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic is still present,” Quamena said about Ghana’s music space, specifically its live music circuit. “Musicians have created projects to tour with and we equally welcome international musicians to the scene to exchange.”

He added: “It holds a lot of promise but we still to have more live venues, good equipment and ground-breaking band music projects. There is a lot of potential.”

Mbappé is currently on tour with his Hemu Orchestra (Switzerland) and NEC + projects.