Although the bass has found an important place throughout Africa, there is no country as bass-crazy as Cameroon. In Cameroonian music, the bass is practically the soloist, playing blazing-fast counterpoint to the guitars and vocals. Thanks to a longstanding tradition of bass playing in the country, there is a seemingly endless number of virtuosic young bass talents today working out of Paris, especially in the realm of jazz-fusion.
Along with Vicky Edimo and Jean Dikoto-Mandengue, Aladji Toure was one of the founders of this tradition. In the 1980s, he established himself in Paris as one of the top makossa producer/arrangers, directing projects of stars Dina Bell, Guy Lobé, Ben Decca, Moni Bile – the stars of the genre. Behind every one of them was the indomitable Toure bass. Aladji remains active in the Cameroonian music scene, and released the solo album New Face in 2009. The album will be released in Europe in November 2010.
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