A young man very much part of his era, with a sense of fun, Idy Oulo handles African pop with real skill, conveying in his music the entire history and cultural wealth of the savannah.
Idy Oulo was born around 1977 in northern Cameroon. His stage name comes from his real name, Idrissou, while. Oulo means arrow in Fufulde, one of Cameroon’s languages. Nothing in his background predestined him to become a musician. It was by listening to the traditional rhythms played by griots and shepherds in his village that Idy Oulo found his calling.
His father, an employee of the region’s cotton company, did not see things this way, But his mother gave him the opportunity to keep up his dreams, bringing him to weddings and baptisms. One day, at his grandmother’s house in a very remote village. He touched an instrument, the garaya (a sort of two-string ngoni). Back at his parents’ house, he made his first guitar with pieces of wood and recycled brake cable.
Enjoy this recording of Idy Oulo's outstanding performance from Nuits D'Afrique 2007. He will be performing at Nuits D'Afrique 2009 on July 23rd
Idy-Oulo takes his influences from Makossa, Bikutsi and the Rumba-Congolaise which is generally played by Cameroonian musicians, for example : Manu Dibango, Françis-Bébé, Anne-Marie-Nzie or Yanick-Noah. Idy makes a revelation of the Rate/rhythm, Ngoumba-Balewa that is to say a mixture between the Savannah and the Ngoumba-Balewa forest ("fantasm of the body").
