Artist Bio: [http://worldmusic.nationalgeographic.com/worldmusic/view/page.basic/artist/content.artist/pierre_akendengue_38363]
Pierre Akendengué is one of African music's great visionaries —a onetime protest singer turned composer turned cult favorite turned cultural minister, Akendengué has always marched to the beat of his own drummer.
Born in 1943 in Aouta, Gabon, Akendengué left Gabon at the age of 22 to pursue an Education in France. There he settled in Orléans (and later, Paris), where he took a degree in psychology and sought treatment for his poor eyesight. It was during his student days that he first became interested in a musical career, enrolling at the famous Petit Conservatoire de la Chanson in 1967. He flourished as a singer, coming in third in La fine fleur de la chanson, a national song contest.
In 1974, he made his French recording debut, Nandipo, an evocative meditation on his childhood in Africa, which established him as a protest singer inveighing against colonialism and neo-colonialism. This album was followed in 1976 by Africa Obota, which took home he "Prix de la jeune chanson française" at the Midem conference in Cannes. But while Akendengué's European career began to take off, his visibility back home in Gabon began to suffer, as he could no longer afford to return home to perform on a regular basis.
By the late '70s, Akendengué was frustrated with being pigeonholed as merely a protest singer and begin to focus more on composing and instrumental arrangements. In 1978 he also founded his own label, Ntche (Homeland), and began to focus on behind-the-scenes aspects of the business and developing young new artists. But the label went under in 1982 after releasing only three albums.
In that same year, Akendengué signed onto CBS records and recorded Mando. Released in 1983, the album was produced by French visionary Hugues de Courson and featured over thirty session musicians and some of Akendengué's most incendiary lyrics to date (sung entirely in the Myéné language of Gabon). He toured extensively following this record before returning to Gabon in 1985.
There, despite increasingly serious health and vision problems, Akendengué continued to record sporadically, compiling a greatest hits album (Passé Composé) and an anti-apartheid album (Espoir à Soweto) as the '80s waned. In the early '90s, Akendengué once again teamed up with Hugues de Courson to record his masterpiece, Lambarena, an ambitious, groundbreaking musical tribute to Dr. Albert Schweitzer that set J.S. Bach's "Passion of St. John" to the accompaniment of traditional folkloric ensembles from Gabon. Recorded in Paris in a marathon session that lasted almost one hundred days, de Courson and Akendengue teamed up a European classical choir and orchestral players with ten different Gabonese ensembles as well as a battery of soloists, including Brazilian percussionist Nana Vasconcelos. The result was one of the most sublime and intricate fusions of European art music and African traditional music ever recorded, and it remains a touchstone for African music aficionados to this day.
Akendengué followed this work with 1996's Maladité, 1997's Carrefour Rio 2001's Obakadences and 2005's Ekunda-Sah!, and continues to record today, but since his return to Gabon, he's also embraced another calling separate from his musical career. Always deeply engaged on a cultural level, Akendengué worked as a close assistant to Gabon's Minister of Culture and eventually became one of President Omar Bongo's most influential advisors on cultural matters. In 1997 he was recognized for his outstanding work on behalf of Gabonese culture with the award of the "Prix d'excellence" at the Africa Music awards in Libreville. Most recently Akendengue has been working to document and preserve the music of the Pymgy and Bantu peoples of Gabon's forest belt.
In April 2006, Akendengué released Gorée, a moving meditation on the African slave trade based on the slave fort on Senegal's Gorée Island.
Poe
Pierre Akendengué Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Isamu yé mèno
Poe k′ékoké ningo
Djèèèèè isamu yo manda
Isamu yo manda
Poe k'ékoké ningo
Poe Poe Poe mo gnoni gnango gnango
Poe Poe Poe k′ékoké ningo polo
Djè uuuuuummm Poe Poe Poe Poe Poe Poe bondolo
Poe Poe Poe Poe Poe Poe bondolo
Poe Poe Poe mo gnoni gnango gnango
Poe Poe Poe k'ékoké ningo polo
Ignoni gnoni sa go tchua sa kalwi go landw′a boudjè è è è è è è
Poe Poe Poe Poe
Umm umm umm umm
Poe Poe Poe n′orèma
Poe Poe Poe n'itonda
Poe ékékoké ningo
Ndo ningo na m′onanga mègo
Poe umm
Djèèèèè isamu y'émèno
Isamu y′émèno
Poe k'ékoké ningo
Na gombizani Poe gi lamba ya buni mi tomé djuwawé
Zizaréni Poe gi r′irèmi yani mi tomé djuwawé
Poe Poe Poe m'intondo kwanga gi djuwa
Na gombizani Poe gi lamba ya buni mi tomé djuwawé
Zizaréni Poe gi r'irèmi yani mi tomé djuwawé
Poe Poe Poe m′intondo kwanga gi djuwa
Poe
Poe
The song "Poe" by Pierre Akendengué is a lively and rhythmic track with a mix of African and Western music elements. The song's opening lines, "Ooooo isamu yé mèno / Isamu yé mèno / Poe k′ékoké ningo," are sung in a call-and-response style, with the lead singer and background vocalists alternating. The lyrics are primarily in Fang, a Bantu language spoken in Central Africa. The chorus of "Poe Poe Poe mo gnoni gnango gnango / Poe Poe Poe k′ékoké ningo polo" is a repeated chant that has a catchy and upbeat quality.
The term "Poe" is believed to refer to an animal or a type of dance. The lyrics go on to describe a range of activities and experiences, such as "na gombizani Poe gi lamba ya buni mi tomé djuwawé" (I dance Poe in a red boubou with my friends) and "na gombizani Poe gi lamba ya buni mi tomé djuwawé" (I sing Poe in a high-pitched voice). There is a sense of joy and celebration in the song, which is conveyed both through the lyrics and the lively instrumentation.
Overall, "Poe" is a fun and energetic song that blends African and Western musical styles. The lyrics are sung in Fang and describe various activities associated with the dance or animal known as Poe. The song has a positive and celebratory tone, with a repeated chorus that is catchy and memorable.
Line by Line Meaning
Ooooo isamu yé mèno
Oh, my soul is resonating
Isamu yé mèno
My soul is resonating
Poe k′ékoké ningo
The spirit of the forest whispers
Djèèèèè isamu yo manda
It's the soul that commands
Isamu yo manda
The soul commands
Poe k'ékoké ningo
The spirit of the forest whispers
Poe Poe Poe mo gnoni gnango gnango
The forest spirit repeats and repeats
Poe Poe Poe k′ékoké ningo polo
The spirit of the forest whispers over and over
Ignoni gnoni sa go tchua sa kalwi go landw'a boudjè è è è è è è
The ancient power echoes through the trees
Djè uuuuuummm Poe Poe Poe Poe Poe Poe bondolo
The deep voice of the forest spirit
Poe Poe Poe Poe Poe Poe bondolo
The forest spirit's voice
Poe Poe Poe mo gnoni gnango gnango
The forest spirit repeats and repeats
Poe Poe Poe k'ékoké ningo polo
The spirit of the forest whispers over and over
Ignoni gnoni sa go tchua sa kalwi go landw′a boudjè è è è è è è
The ancient power echoes through the trees
Poe Poe Poe Poe
The forest spirit whispers
Umm umm umm umm
The sound of the forest
Poe Poe Poe n′orèma
The spirit of the forest whispers deep inside
Poe Poe Poe n'itonda
The spirit of the forest whispers softly
Poe ékékoké ningo
The spirit of the forest whispers
Ndo ningo na m′onanga mègo
In the voice of the forest, I hear my own soul
Poe umm
The sound of the forest
Djèèèèè isamu y'émèno
It's the soul that resonates
Isamu y′émèno
My soul resonates
Poe k'ékoké ningo
The spirit of the forest whispers
Na gombizani Poe gi lamba ya buni mi tomé djuwawé
The forest cloth is wrapped around me
Zizaréni Poe gi r′irèmi yani mi tomé djuwawé
The forest beads are strung around my neck
Poe Poe Poe m'intondo kwanga gi djuwa
The spirit of the forest is in my heart
Na gombizani Poe gi lamba ya buni mi tomé djuwawé
The forest cloth is wrapped around me
Zizaréni Poe gi r'irèmi yani mi tomé djuwawé
The forest beads are strung around my neck
Poe Poe Poe m′intondo kwanga gi djuwa
The spirit of the forest is in my heart
Poe
The spirit of the forest whispers
Poe
The spirit of the forest whispers
Writer(s): pierre akendengue
Contributed by Nicholas K. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
@yannickboukila3252
Chanson profonde
@tikilauroreragavoevenago1330
❤️❤️❤️🇬🇦👍🤫🤔🎶