Vicky Blain

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Vicky Blain ( Victoria Blain , born in Bathurst in 1943 , now Banjul ) is a Gambian singer.

Life

Vicky Blain was born in 1943 to a Catholic family. She attended St. Joseph's High School in Bathurst until 1956 . During her school days she sang in a Catholic choir and performed in the Roman Catholic Cathedral of Bathurst . After school she went to boarding school at Kylemore Abbey in Ireland. Then she went to France to learn French.

Around December 1967, during her time in Paris , she recorded her first record.

The record River Gambia me no sabi swam , published in 1968, sold 2000 copies in Paris alone. In the same year she toured West Africa. Senegalese President Léopold Sédar Senghor also took part in a sold out concert at the Stade Demba Diop in Dakar . Other stops on the tour were Abidjan (Ivory Coast). Even Omar Bongo , President of Gabon and Ahmadou Ahidjo , Cameroonian President, attended the concerts. François Tombalbaye , President of Chad, invited her to the capital N'Djamena , where she gave a concert.

She worked with the Cameroonian musicians Manu Dibango and Francis Bebey .

Further appearances in Europe and the USA followed. In November 1971 she appeared on Johnny Carson's Tonight Show .

In 1979 she traveled through Europe as a UNICEF ambassador and collected donations. In the same year she caused a stir because she had been invited by the Sudanese President Jafar an-Numairi , but an Arabic translation of the text by Juba interpreted support for South Sudanese separatist efforts.

For health reasons, she stopped performing live in the early 1980s.

Vicky Blain lived on Dobson Street in Banjul, near Paps Touray , with whom she performed frequently.

Musical style

Blain also attracted attention by singing in not only French and English, but Wolof and Krio as well .

In her musical style, influences from Soca , Highlife and Soul are seen and parallels to Miriam Makeba are drawn. She incorporated elements of traditional Gambian music.

Discography

  • 1967 Noels d'Afrique. Nowal Sunui Musalkat / Tya Bethlehem . Philips. B370951F.
  • 1968 or 1970 Chante l'Afrique. RCA. 740.098.
  • 1968 Gambia / Nebon-nar / Petit fleur. RCA. 49.033.
  • 1968 Toi, tu m'as menti / Jolie Fatou. RCA. 49,045.
  • 1968 or 1970 Black as night / Mandali Senegal. RCA. 49.056.
  • 1969 Dolilbeignets / Mi maman norder / Ndarkander / Yawo mamie. RCA. 87,078.

literature

  • Hassoum Ceesay : Gambian women: an introductory history . 1st edition. Fulladu Publishers, Gambia 2007, p. 114-116 .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c allAfrica.com: Gambia: The Music of Vicky Blain the Country's First Recording Superstar. February 3, 2012, accessed January 30, 2019 .
  2. ^ David Perfect: Historical Dictionary of The Gambia . Rowman & Littlefield, 2016, ISBN 978-1-4422-6526-4 ( google.de [accessed January 30, 2019]).
  3. ↑ Gambia: The Legacy of Paps Touray. Accessed January 30, 2019 .
  4. ^ Radio Africa - Gambian vinyl discography. Accessed January 30, 2019 .
  5. ↑ Vicky Blain. Accessed January 30, 2019 .
  6. ^ Encyclopédisque - Discography: Vicky BLAIN. Accessed January 30, 2019 .
personal data
SURNAME Blain, Vicky
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Blain, Victoria
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Gambian singer
DATE OF BIRTH 1943
PLACE OF BIRTH Bathurst, now Banjul