Ekambi Brillant Biography

Son of Ekambi Brilliant, he is originally from Dibombari, a village close to Douala. When young, he spent his ch0ildhood with his maternal grandparents in Djébalè (suburb of Douala); this is when and where his passion for music first sparked,listening to the fishermen singing on the way back home from the sea. In 1962 he was admitted to the 6th grade in General-Leclerc High School 2 of Yaounde. This is where, under the careful attention of Mr. Daniel Zane 3 - French-born music teacher, he learns to play music and specially the guuitar. In 1971, at age 23, he stopped his studies and moved to Douala, where he joined the band The crack's as a guitarist. These occur in the nightclub Le Domino. He applied and won the music contest launched by the Office of French Broadcasting Television (ORTF) to which participated also other importatnt musical personalities such as Manu Dibango, Francis Bebey. It is thanks to this prize that he releases his first 45 rpm record calledJonguèlè the Ndolo that sold 20,000 copies. Arrived in France in January 1972 with the support of Jean Dikoto Mandengue (Cameroonian bassist), he produces and relases his second 45 rpm record on Phonogram, also this album becomes a big success which sold 25,000 copies. In 1975, he ends his deal with Phonogram and begins to collaborate with Slim Pezin with who he released the album Africa Oumba, included in the abum trakclist there's the song "Elongui", a big hit, that will become an incredible source of inspiration for several other artists both African and European. This album recorded a record of about 4 million sales (diamond disk). Follow collaborations with Slim Pezin as a producer for securities Soul Castel, Musunguédi. Stopping in Cameroon for a little while in 1976, Ekambi Brilliant gets together the members of what will become his band, The Ebis (Ekambi Brilliant Show), which he soon he brought to France. Ekambi Brillant has to his credit nearly 20 albums. He represented a proper motivator and inspiration for many artists both Cameroonian like Marthe Zambo, Valery Lobe, Alhaji Toure as African like Cella Stella, Angélique Kidjo 6.