It's only 15 seconds of music, featuring a delicate jingle of banjo and guitar topped with a honeyed song in the dialect of Bassa. Yet it's 15 seconds that changed everything for Blick Bassy, the Cameroonian musician whose song "Kiki" was chosen for Apple's iPhone 6advertising campaign, airing globally in June.
Bassy has been making music for 20 years, but the hit -- from his third album, "Ako," released earlier this year -- has propelled him onto the international music scene -- he's in concert in London this weekend, a U.S. tour is in the pipeline, while the album has been lapped up by French radio.
"I was happy (about the Apple deal) of course, but it's not really about the money," says Bassy. "A friend of mine living in the U.S. called me and said, 'I was watching NBA and during the adverts I heard your song in Bassa! I told my wife, you won't believe it, I'm hearing Bassa on TV in the U.S!'"
Chance discovery
Quite a surprise for a record that was never intended for release. In March 2014, Bassy was in a studio recording tracks in homage to the American blues legend Skip James, when the owner of French label No Format heard his band's rare blend of cello, trombone and soft falsetto and signed him straight away. He sent the album to an advertising agency that supplies brands with music, and the rest as they say, is history.
"I think with Ako, I'm going to be more famous in France than with the two other albums," says Bassy, referring to 2009's "Leman" and 2011's "Hongo Calling" records. "It's good for Apple too," he continues, "because these brands need music to sell their products!"
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