Franck Biyong

BIO

FRANCK BIYONG

The creator of the hybrid Afrolectric sound in pan-global pop.
(Artist Biography by Thom Jurek)

Franck Biyong grew up in Gabon, Nigeria and Ivory Coast. Franck and his siblings attended the National Institute of Arts in Abidjan, Ivory Coast. He originally studied piano but dropped it in favour of drums, percussion and eventually, guitar. Franck credits African-American Jazz guitarist, Wes Montgomery’s “Canadian Sunset” as the song that piqued his interest in electric guitar.
At age 14, Franck moved to the United Kingdom where he started recording demos influenced by his musical heroes William Onyeabor, King Crimson, Sun Ra, Francis Bebey and Frank Zappa.

By 1996, the Lumen label had picked him up and Franck began working as a session man and back up guitarist in Brighton. However, Fela’s death in 1997 spurred Franck’s return to France. He formed a twelve-piece band called Massak —a Basaa (Cameroonian tongue and tribe) word that means music, trance and enjoyment through rhythms and sounds—to pay homage to the legendary musician and his Africa 70 and Egypt 80 ensembles.

This would mark the beginning of Franck’s career and musical experimentation. With his 4-piece horn section, drummer, percussionist, bass player, keyboardist, rhythm guitarist and female backing vocalists, Franck began to tour several clubs and
festivals including SOB’s in New York, Jazz Café in London, Montréal Jazz Festival, Hothouse in Chicago and Floydfest in Virginia.

Franck Biyong & Massak were then considered one of the best-kept secrets within the international Afrobeat Diaspora. Franck’s first official single, B.L.A (which stands for Brain Liberation Army) was released as a 7’inch vinyl on Lenar/Soul Fire Records. The two-part jam greatly appealed to gritty funk and Afrobeat lovers across the globe.

B.L.A’s success hailed Franck Biyong as frontrunner in the Afrobeat revival scene. This led to new partnerships with independent labels and the release of a string of singles: Live! (2003), We Shall Overcome (2004), Power of Brain (2005), E.P (2006) and Afrofunkydance (2007). With German label Melting Pot Music, Franck released T&C / Junglectric, a medley of two popular songs that were an integral part of Massak's show. This special rendition was recorded in October 2002 in Dijon where Massak opened for Tony Allen (Franck dedicated this song to the legendary Afrobeat drummer).

Ranging from Egypt 80-inspired Afro sound to new-age music pastoral pieces, REALMS OF ATLANTIS would become Franck’s first full-length album. Released on September 2006, it was a collection of moods and atmospheres exploring a more relaxed and spiritual dimension of Massak’s music. Franck Biyong & Massak expanded their repertoire with the November 2007 sophomore release, HAITI MARKET. The album was an Afro pop trip to the underground world with generous doses of funk, jazz, folk, soul and lyrics sung in English, French, Pidgin English and Portuguese.

In 2007, Franck wrote an Afro-Opera called KNOWLEDGE IDENTITY RECONSTRUCTION in honor of the great late West Indian poet Aimé Césaire. It was based on the history of African Diasporas living in France. It’s Paris premiere created a great deal of controversy, while addressing the issues of French colonial history and the shapes of African Art forms to come. From that point on, Franck was releasing a new album every year. 2008 brought SPIRITS INTO SOUNDS, an exploration of futuristic sounds in a unique blend leaning towards jazz-fusion grooves. Franck’s 2009 album, RHYTHMS OF OUR MEMORY was based on the first official celebration of the abolition of slavery in France. It featured fine orchestrations combined with the spirit of black jazz, and outer space improvised music.

Franck Biyong his band Massak travelled to Cameroon in 2010 to record fifth album, VISIONS OF KAMERUN that told the history and linkages of the African nation with France. It was an interrogative and perplexed glance over the present state of things. Franck’s sixth album, VOODOOLECTRIC GROUND whose grooves spanned from the polyrhythm of Central Africa to the swinging beats of Congo Square, was shrouded in mystery and released in November.Massak disbanded soon after the album’s release with Franck going on
to form new band comprising of young Cameroonian musicians living in Paris. The next album wove together Biyong's deep love of Jimi Hendrix, Davis, and modal jazz. The score JAZZ & AFRICA was issued in 2011 and came out an album filled with highly original renditions of songs by James Brown, Sun Ra, Manu Dibango, Ornette Coleman, among others.

Later in the same year, Franck released MEETING THE BASIC NEEDS OF THE PEOPLE, an album that kept to his trademark sound with
a soft touch of progressive jazz arrangements, both backward and forward into electronic music, hardwiring it to modern Afro Jazz
and raw urban funk. The eighth album KI i YE YI was a combined tribute to the great Manu Dibango and Cameroonian singer and trombonist Francis Ndom, with a variety of music styles and moods similar to the 1982 “Fleurs Musicales du Cameroon”
compilation. KI i YE YI was billed to Biyong and the Diamane Bantu Messengers, issued with many long time collaborators
in a wide variety of personnel settings with assistance from Paris Djs, who co-produced the album with Afrolectric Music.

Franck’s final dalliance into Afrolectric was released in 2013: the 21.12.2012 (Truth or Lies?) album, a pinball between classy Afro jams, psychedelic ambient sounds, avant-jazz, prowling beats and blissfully weeping guitar solos. Biyong then issued a 12" single cover of Fela Anikulapo Kuti’s classic I.T.T. (International Thief Thief) and made it available on his website as a free download.

Franck Biyong believes that music is spiritual food for the soul. In 2015, he served a new offering with the release of single LIYOMBA CHURCH. The song heralds Franck’s Crossover Music with Swahili lyrics over a rock and electro beats. Franck’s 10th studio release, MOONWATCHING was an experiment in Electronic Music, Rock, Trap, Afro-House and Psychedelics. More releases followed ever since: the dreamlike soundscape traditional fusion of IBOLO INI plus the raw live Afro beat of AFRO BIKUTSI LIVE! in 2017 and the cosmic 70's jazz of EVENING PRAYER in 2018. In 2019, Franck released a surprise tribute EP to Carlos Santana THE LAMP, LIGHT AND EYE OF GOD recorded live in Nairobi as well as the highly acclaimed AFRO GALACTIC SPACEWAY playlisted on Gilles Peterson's BBC6 Radio Show as well as on Worldwide FM in London.

The highly energized troubadour launched two bands between 2015 and 2018. The duo is borne out of Franck’s sincere commitment to the original African sound and aesthetic. Conceived as a Congolese rumba revival, the ORCHESTRE LIPOMBE JAZZ will hearken back to the great African orchestras of the late 60's and 70's in fashion and musicality. This band shall fuse Franck’s electric guitar genius with horns, dynamic rhythm sections as well as drums and percussion. It’ll also expand into the territory of Afro-Caribbean grooves and Spiritual Jazz. The second band, AFROBRAINZ, will explore Central African, Bantu and Basaa music with a focus on collaborations with progressive electronic African music. The goal is to simultaneously modernize and preserve these authentic sounds.

Franck is currently signed to the Paris based music distribution company, BELIEVE DIGITAL. As Music Director for the first two
seasons of the Pan-African Music TV show COKE STUDIO AFRICA, Franck worked with Wyclef Jean, as well as Salif Keita, King Sunny Ade, Burna Boy, Yemi Alade, Olamide, Waje, Phyno, Omawumi, Diamond Platnumz, Flavour N'abania and Seyi Shay.