The Griot

Hitting  the keys for legends like Salle John  Julio Abong is probably a new name to most makossa lovers but, he has been into music for over 20 years and has worked with great names in the music industry. He was mentored by Eko Roselvelt and the training he received permitted him to cross paths, at some points very briefly, with Salle John, Dipita Ebongue, late Same Batcho, and Alex Toto with whom he worked. At the moment, he is working with Ruben Binam of Kemit 7. His international exploits, which have been very productive as well, have mostly been with bands such as the African Development Bank music orchestra and Matango band. He has equally worked with the Kumbaya Gospel Choir in Germany as pianist.

Growing up in a semi-urban community comes with a blessing that permits you to experience rural life and urban life; at the end of the day, you have the best of both worlds. Some of the things I loved about the marriage of these two worlds are the stories we told and the games we played. With friends and peers, we told the famous “John and Mary” stories, tortoise stories, fox stories and those who had watched cartoons or read a few books came in with Cinderella and Snow White stories. The games we played ranged from dodging, stone, pitai, stinging, kaks, outh, one two, play-play, mbanga, hopscotch (tabala), scrabble, snakes and ladders,  monopoly, reresin (rope) and hide and seek. Story telling was my favourite activity.