Willy Nfor: Bass Guitarist As If To The Manner Born
By Canute Tangwa
When he died on February 11, 1998, the gurgling rivulets cascading and tumbling down the undulated hills of Ndu in Donga Mantung did not stand still nor did the incessant drumming of the Mentchum Falls!
Neither did the timeless tidal hush of the Atlantic breeze on the simmering palms of Victoria were he was born in 1956! Yet, when a count down is made of bass guitar greats in Cameroon, Willy Nfor, stands head and shoulders above a good many who have a very good press stringing on the bass guitar.
Neither did the timeless tidal hush of the Atlantic breeze on the simmering palms of Victoria were he was born in 1956! Yet, when a count down is made of bass guitar greats in Cameroon, Willy Nfor, stands head and shoulders above a good many who have a very good press stringing on the bass guitar.
It could not have been otherwise because almost all distinguished Cameroonian bass guitarists such as Jean Dikoto Mandengue, Roger Sabal Lecco, Vicky Edimo, Long Manfred, Alhadji Toure, Armand Sabal Lecco, Felix Sabal Lecco, Raymond Doumbe, Guy Nsangue, Etienne Mbappe, Francis Mbappe, Richard Nguini, Jay Lou Ava, and Richard Bona were or are either Douala or Yaounde lads.
Can anything musically good that is at par with tradition (ambass baie, moudende, assicko, makossa and bikutsi) come out of the other side of the Mungo, seemed to be the question. But Willy Nfor shattered this myth. He came in like a hacker whose prowess was passport for accommodation and adulation.
Willy Nfor experimented with Zairian rumba, highlife, pop-rock, soul, funk, reggae, and Nigerian music with the famous Lapiro de Mbanga and others before bolting to Nigeria in 1975. By then another guitar wonder cum virtuoso, Jacob Nguni of Rocafill Jazz band was already electrifying crowds in Nigeria. After meeting and playing with the great Sonny Okosuns, he left for France where he recorded with Mory Kante three albums which included the irrepressible track Yéké Yéké that topped musical charts in Europe. They undertook a word tour.
He established a reputation as a formidable songwriter, singer and bass guitarist. Thus, he was much solicited as a bass guitarist by music giants like Tulio de Piscopo, David Sancious, Charlelie Couture, Mbilia Bel (with whom he toured Southern Africa), Kante Manfila, Manu Dibango, Aicha Kone and a host of others. He recorded his first solo album, Maisha, in 1984 and left an opus of 14 titles that exemplifies his matchless mastery of the bass guitar.
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