There is something joyful about meeting Sandra Nkaké in the premises of Pias, her record company. Because Scars is a splendid and haunting record. But also because the singer with the bright smile is full of infectious energy.
Scars (“Cicatrices”) is an album, whose moving listening – 11 tracks, in French, English and Douala – does not leave you unscathed. “We have a fantastic body and mind to repair ourselves. I hope that the people who listen to it will have the strength to find in themselves the resources they have.. Scars tells of a life of struggle, but also of joy, union, mutual aid and sharing”, Sandra Nkaké explains to us in the preamble.
Thus, in the company of the talented flautist Jî Drû, with whom she has been collaborating for fifteen years, and who co-signs the songs, Sandra Nkaké has brought together what “constitutes”, to know energy, wounds, a prodigious sense of rhythm and an incomparable voice to which she pays homage (The hoarse voice) while leading him on new paths that succeed him.
“For a long time, I spoke with a very relaxed voice. It was a way of protecting a place of fragility, she tells us. After the long healing time, I accepted that I was made of flaws, tenderness and slowness. This made it possible to leave the voice alone. Here, she is not only serious, hoarse and powerful”.
Faults and wounds
Pour ScarsSandra Nkaké isolated herself for a week with Jî Drû, in Amiens, in the North of France. “I started to make a list of what constitutes me. First, there was that I defined myself as feminine, black with a hoarse voice who has experienced violence, but who wants to share joy”.
We imagine that his flaws and his wounds are deep. “Singing saved me from madness, from being overwhelmed by the pain of the violence I suffered in childhood, adolescence and a little later, in adult life”she tells us.
These pains, she subtly evokes them in the rock and blues title Under My Skin. But at a time when others would make their honey, Sandra Nkaké is distinguished by her elegance. She never weighs herself down. An impulsive and dancing song such as My Heartfull of soul, the illustrious. “Pain won’t break me down/ Rage won’t be my guide” (“Pain won’t break me / And anger won’t be my guide”). Just like the very rock Singing Leaves. Intimate, but generous above all, the heady Scars is turned towards others. And especially women.
Sorority
True to her heart, Sandra Nkaké is also true to her “sisters”. Activists, singers (like her friend L.) or poetesses to whom she dedicates Sisters. A romantic stroll where she celebrates sisterhood and pays tribute to those who give her strength to move forward.
This strength is found in Rising-Up. “It’s like I’m making my own protest call! (she bursts out laughing) It’s not waiting for us to be validated to say that we’re tired of being invisible. I took through different trades (computer scientists, farmers, surgeons, researchers, astronauts, professors, Editor’s note) to say that humans assigned to the feminine are humans”.
As for Our voiceswhich she partly interprets a capellait is a moving tribute to Nina Simone, whom she has listened to since childhood. “It’s a way to give back to her everything she gave me. I was hoping that this song, crossing the spaces, would reach the dimension in which she is and that it would do her good”.
The Americans Abbey Lincoln and Tracy Chapman as well as the Englishwoman Laura Marling are also important for Sandra Nkaké, who is more fascinated by trajectories than by vocal abilities. “They use their voices to tell how the world impacts them and how they would like to change it. They are totems”.
Just like her best friends, her “pillars”, she tells us, whom she met when her family, who came from Cameroon, settled in France. So these are two of the characters of three leaves, a captivating ballad, on which the velvety flute of Jî Drû, which marries his voice so well, is particularly poignant. She sings there that they “carry spring as their only motto”.
Tribute to native Cameroon
A lightness that suits the sensitive Sandra Nkaké well. Who does not forget where she comes from. Because the compositions of Scars are also tinged with African sounds. Particularly does she dedicate Red earthwhich she interprets in French and Douala, to her native land which, she says, resonates in her “in a very gentle and very simple way”.
Sandra Nkaké wanted to sing in Douala on Scars. A language she does not speak, having been raised in Cameroon, in French culture. So she grabbed a dictionary to write it down “It took me a long time to accept that it was an injury. And that I was the only one who could fix it without blaming myself. I can learn it, it will grow, the connection is there”.
What especially fascinates this artist, curious about others, is the incredible destiny of her grandfather, who left a small Cameroonian village without infrastructure, became a dancer in the national ballet of Cameroon, who traveled to Europe. A long generational journey to her, independent singer, producer and composer.
Red earth also draws an answer to the recurring question of her Africanness, which she finds intimate. “She’s there”she summarizes before telling us with emotion about her last trip in the fall. “We were nourished by so much love and strength! It reminds us that beauty and strength are found in very simple things”.
Sandra Nkake Scars (Sinks) 2023
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And concert :
April 22: Bourges (The Spring of Bourges)
April 25: Strasbourg (Espace Django)
1 & 2 mai : Tokyo (South Hall)
3 mai : Kyoto (Festival Kyotorama)
May 11: Toulouse (Nougaro room)
May 18: Countances (Jazz under the Apple Trees)
June 15: Paris (Café de la danse)
June 28: Rochefort (Twin Sisters Festival)