Following the successes of Akö (2015) and 1958 (2019), singer and composer Blick Bassy’s fifth album, sung in the Baasa language of Cameroon, brings together twelve songs in the form of fables, dedicated to the theme of water. The opening track Bengue introduces listeners to a new artistic direction for Blick, born from a love of James Blake and Bon Iver, with his signature haunting vocals shining through. Bengue showcases Blick’s soulful, emotive lyrics gently sailing atop traditional folk guitar notes and a gently sparse electronic production. — 4th July 2023.

The music video for Bengue, directed by Émile Moutaud and starring contemporary dancer Stencia Yamabogaza, in theme with the album’s dedication to water fables, stages a fight against dehydration through a disjointed choreography. Wandering through an abandoned warehouse, Yamabogaza’s character becomes increasingly dehydrated, with her dance progressively becoming abstract and convulsive, desperate in search of water. Through the lens of Moutaud’s poetic direction, we witness her character transform into what she hopelessly searches for, as her skin transforms into iridescent blue liquid.

Stencia Yambogaza is a versatile French artist, originally from Lyon and living in Paris. She made her stage debut as a soloist in Baby Doll, a play staged by the Philharmonie de Paris, and in the hit musical Starmania. She has also worked with brands such as Dom Pérignon, Nike, Urban Outfitters, L’Oréal, Jordan. Apart from her career as a professional dancer, she is a model, an activist with a social media blog highlighting issues faced by marginalised artists (@beautifulpendere), as well as the co-founder of P3, an event-series exclusively reserved for women.

Emile Moutaud is a 24-year-old Parisian director and photographer. A graduate of the Louis Lumière school, Emile directed his first short film “Anna” in 2022 followed by his first music video for the English rapper Scribz Riley. His work was noticed by the international producer Martin Solveig, who he frequently collaborates with. Emile explores documentary photography, sometimes in colour or in black and white, his shots are regularly taken up by the newspaper Liberation.

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