Are you listening to Cécile Doo-Kingué’s latest solo album Anybody Listening Pt. 1: Monologues?
You should, as the first chapter of this trilogy explores blues/roots and pulls no punches towards current and topical issues taking place in the world.
The Montreal-based musician is currently touring with Pierre Desmarais (bass) and Anthony Pageot (drums) and will take part in the Canmore Folk Music Festival (Aug. 1-3).
Getting from venue to venue and from town to town can be problematic anytime, but this summer has been especially harrowing for Doo-Kingué and her bandmates as they travel through Western Canada’s forest fires.
“We saw a few of them on our way from Jasper and it’s unfortunate,” Doo-Kingué said from Salmon Arm B.C.
The Cameroon native says natural disasters won’t stop her from making it to Canmore, where she plans to share not only her latest release, but also songs from her debut solo album Freedom Calling and Gris, released in 2012.
“It’s a combination, I’m presenting all three albums and you get a preview of part two (Dialogues), and I’m travelling with a rhythm section of Pierre and Anthony for the western tour – it’s all a power trio,” Doo-Kingué said.
A few of the songs on Monologues are inspired by current events, with Doo-Kingué drawing from her personal reactions to the hypocrisy surrounding the Sochi Olympics, and the race issue as a whole.
“Not just in the States, but here as well, Europe, the Caribbean take your pick – we have a long way to go,” Doo-Kingué said. “The amount of what I call racial murders publicized couldn’t go unaddressed as far as I’m concerned, and I wanted to do it not in an angry way, but in a way that would open up debate and sensitivity.”
Her song “Six Letters” deals with the use of the N-word in today’s society, especially among urban youth. “We have a generation that’s spewing the N-word around like it’s going out of style and not understanding the weight it has by that word, so it’s a bit of a response to lack of awareness as far as using certain expressions and not realizing that expressions aren’t theirs to rehabilitate,” Doo-Kingué said.
Bringing current events to people’s attention is what’s fun in being an artist for Doo-Kingué. She feels the freedom artists have to move people should never be underestimated or taken for granted.
“It’s better to move people to listening than, say, if you were a politician, ramming it down somebody’s throat – you can do it in a way that’s not necessarily hostile or defensive and that’s what I’m striving for as far as the songwriting. And the older I get the more I want to talk about real issues and not just about a broken heart,” Doo-Kingué said.
A planned three-part trilogy wasn’t necessarily her initial intent for Anybody Listening, but the artist found herself reconnecting as a singer/songwriter and wanting to get back to solo performance.
“That’s how I started, playing around town with an acoustic guitar and vocals and I missed that in touring as a trio for the last five years. So I thought what is the difference between me playing solo and me playing with a rhythm section? So I decided to do the trilogy,” Doo-Kingué said.
“I explore how my delivery changes, how the tunes change depending on whether I’m playing them alone, or accompanied or in front of an audience – tunes have their own universe … it’s really just a personal trek through blues and through music.”
