Francis Bebey - Concert pour un Vieux Masque (1980)

(Philips 70.468)

This is a guitar recital, composed and played by Cameroon's multi-artist Francis Bebey. As always with Bebey, it's poetic, sharp and meaningful... (have a look at the enlightening liner notes in french/english).

Face A:
Face B:


Following a representation of this guitar piece in Martinique, he exchanged with young black man about meaning and conclusions of Bebey's message, which led to a book/poem inspired from the music and this discussion. It tells the story of a personified old mask brought from Africa/Angola to Brazil/Bahia, who finally suicided due to this disrooting. In an allegorical way, Bebey's writings question the identity of african diaspora.