Nkodo Sitony, the singer of Bikutsi bowed out on Tuesday following illness in a hospital in Yaoundé.
A monument of Cameroonian music has gone. At 62 years old, Nkodo Sitony bowed out on December 21, 2021 at the Emergency and Resuscitation Center of Yaoundé (Cury) following a long illness. A few days ago, this singer underwent surgery on his stomach.
The author of the cult titles “Métil wa”, “Mba Mvoe” or “Ngoan Ezoum” marked the Bikutsi with his fingering on the guitar and his grain of voice.
A bit roque, a deep grain, melancholic, his voice plunges into the emotion. If his range seems unique to you, how about his stage performance, his mimicry and his dance steps… so are they. Nkodo If Tony… How to forget his title “Ngoan Ezoum“, whose guitar notes and vocal timbre of the singer, envelop hearts with warmth. There was also “Mba Mvoe” which confirms that the talent of this artist cannot be disavowed. Yes, Nkodo Si Tony is one of those geniuses of Bikutsi melodies.
Where his successes come from
Percussionist at the base, guitarist of the famous Mongo Faya, his fingering on the rhythm guitar is magical. This success that we recognize him through the decibels, according to him, comes straight from his spiritual father Albert Broeuck. “He was the one who made me Si Tony. I will never forget it. It is therefore thanks to the genius arranger of late memory that Nkodo Si Tobi François, his real name, holds 25 albums. Among them, the famous “90° of Bikutsi in the shade” (released in 1986), earned him in 1988 the distinctions of Song and artist of the year.
In 2019, he told Cameroon-Tribune that “I am preparing a new album that will be released this year.”
Yet he would have dropped everything. A fracture of the right foot, while he was going to the studio (in England), will have kept him away from the stage for 03 years. He will have escaped amputation, he did not walk. His wife Jacqueline was fortunately there.
Recovered, since November 2018, Nkodo Sitony returned to the country after 15 years in Paris. He came back where it all began.
With 25 albums spread over 40 years of musical career, the singer has continued to carry high the Bikutsi in Cameroon and abroad. To this day death has got the better of him, but his works remain forever. He is survived by his two children and fifteen grandchildren.
