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Salatiel
high man general
Biography
Pianist, drummer, singer, songwriter and producer, Salatiel has been passionate about music from an early age on, stemming from both personal desire and vital necessity. His single “Fap Kolo” was a winning entry in the 2014 MTN Cameroon competition “Make The Music” and quickly elevated him to one of the essential figures of the local emerging musicians scene. One of a generation that redefines the identity of Cameroonian music, to win over crowds all over the continent.
As the head of his label Alpha Better Records, created in 2013, he has produced Mr Leo, Daphne, Askia, Blaise B and has helped them achieve stardom amongst Cameroonian artists. He also produced songs with internationally renowned artists such as the late Manu Dibango, Youssou N'Dour, Rutshelle Guillaume, Teni, Stone Boy, Amanda Black, Sauti Sol and Soul Bang’s.
Salatiel is probably today one of the greatest African artists and producers of his generation. The child hailing from Tiko, a small town in the Cameroonian South-West Region where he was born on December 26, 1987, was chosen by Beyoncé torepresentFrancophone Africa on the album “The Lion King: The Gift”.
Salatiel adds to this album released in 2019 and inspired by the soundtrack of the animated movie “The Lion King”, a touch of African authenticity, just like the other stars featured on the record: Wizkid, Burna Boy, Mr Eazi, Tiwa Savage, Tekno, Yemi Alad (Nigeria), Shatta Wale (Ghana), or Busiswa and Moonchild (South Africa).
As a pastor’s son, Salatiel thrives on gospel but also feeds on a wide variety of influences, ranging from Afrobeat to classical music, reggae, makossa, bikutsi,coupé-décalé, etc. The thoroughly passionate musician and outstanding producer was trained to produce music alongside Emile Ngumbah, founder of M-One Music Studio, one of the best-known record labels in Cameroon.
Artistic background
As a teenager, Salatiel feeds on music to protect himself from the adversity and difficulties of life. Being farfrom his family’s house and influence while filling the need of a good education and academic studies elsewhere, music became his refuge, his lifeline and his favorite means of expression. The musician he is today owes a lot to the young boy who used to hang out in the streets of his native region of the South-West to soak in very diverse sounds and rhythms.
Brought up by a very religious mother with a natural gift for singing, Salatiel drew part of his inspiration from the source of gospel, especially from artists of the American label “Integrity Music”, famous for its worship music. Initiated into playing the piano by one of his older brothers, he pursued on his own, memorising songs that he then played on a virtual piano drawn with a pen on his high-school bench table.
When he was 17, Salatiel’s parents banned him from playing the family piano as a punishment for not taking his studies seriously. Heartbroken and unspeakably suffering, he had known deep down by then already that music was his way. It might have come as a surprise but that was a time he wrote many songs. In 2007, while performing a lot in churches of the region, Salatiel enrolled at Buea University in his native South-West. A few months later, he gave in to his musical calling to become a studio musician and quickly gained recognition as a songwriter and producer.
Having worked on an array of styles (gospel, Cameroonian South-West folklore, bikutsi, makossa, Bollywood music, hip-hop, etc.), Salatiel developed an exceptional ability for fusing sounds and rhythms. He brought a new touch to the works of famous Cameroonian makossa artists such as Annie Anzouer and Nar6 Pryze in blending traditional rhythms with a mixture of coupé-décalé and fresh afrobeats. Moreover, he conceived, composed and wrote many songs for Cameroonian movies, such as “One by One” for the TV Series “Bad Angel”.
Awards and nominations
In 2010, Salatiel won the Cameroonian competition “Nescafé African Revelations” with his group “Da Thrill” he brought together and produced. For the pan-African finals which took place in Senegal, “Da Thrill” placed second, right behind Nigeria.
In 2014, thanks to his title “Fap Kolo”, Salatiel’s found more success on his own, as he won the MTN Cameroon competition “Make the Music”.
In 2018, Salatiel won the “Best Male Artist of the Year” award at the Urban Jamz Awards, a special ceremony in the Cameroonian music industry to honour artists and all involved in the local music business.
In 2019, with his title “Anita”, Salatiel won several awards:
- for Best Male Artist in Central Africa at the All Africa Music Awards (AFRIMA), a ceremony created by the AFRIMA International Committee, made up of the five regions of the continent, in partnership with the African Union, to celebrate musical works, talent and creativity. During this ceremony he was also nominated in two other categories: Best Artist Duo or Group in African contemporary for “Anita”, and producer of the year in Africa for “Anita” and “Ne lâches pas” interpreted by his compatriot Daphne.
- for his complete work at the “Canal 2’Or” ceremony organised by Canal 2 International, a Cameroonian private channel.
- for both best male artist and video clip of the year at the “Balafon Music Awards”.
Salatiel’s first album, “Africa Represented”, released in 2021, won the “Best Male Artist of the Year” and “Best Album” awards at the MUMA, the Muzikol Music Awards, created in Cameroon to celebrate the local and African music industries.
Artistic collaborations
Complying to his humanistic values and aware that one only enriches oneself through contact with others, Salatiel conceives his craft as a shared adventure. Since his beginnings, his career has been marked by collaborations as a singer, songwriter and producer.
In 2016, his piece “Ça se passe ici”, inspired by Cameroonian and African hits that have travelled around the world, was acclaimed by the public and became one of the signature songs of the 2021 African Cup of Nations held in Cameroon. These achievements based on hard work and undeniable talent were recognized by Beyoncé and her team, who chose Salatiel as the representative of Francophone Africa for the album “The Lion King: The Gift”, released in July 2019, shortly after the soundtrack of the movie “The Lion King” that inspired it came out. An album to which Salatiel has added a touch of African authenticity, as did Nigerian stars Wizkid, Burna Boy, Mr Eazi, Tiwa Savage, Tekno, Yemi Alade, Ghanaian Shatta Wale and South Africans Swabusi and Moonchild.
2023 Salatiel released the hit song "Closer" with the cameroonian music queen Charlotte Dipanda and introduced his second album "family man".
Over ten years, Salatiel arranged at least three thousand songs of different styles and produced nearly three hundred artists from very different backgrounds.
Closer
(Salatiel & Charlotte Dipanda)
2023
L’homme est mauvais
(Tzy Panchak ft. Salatiel, Cleo Grae & Vivid)
2022
We stand for Africa by BIFTY
(Salatiel, Timi Dakolo, Dadiposlim, Mylmo, Imilo Lechanceux, Samini, Emmerson Bockarie, Peque Jazz, Wj de King, Rinyu, Fame Sene, Cremilda Medina, Teddy Yo, Lord Ekomy, Jaylann, Jah Prayzah, Hakim, Assia, George Kalukusha, Rayen Youssef, Lesmes Monteiro, Texvor, Acho, Azaya)
2021
Vocal concert bringing together 24 artists from the 24 countries qualified for the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations football tournament hosted by Cameroon.
Good girl (with Rutshelle Guillaume)
2020
Song with the Haitian star singer and record-breaking song in Haiti and Cameroon
Water ft. Beyoncé & Pharrell Williams
2019
Salatiel was chosen to feature on the song “Water” for the album “The Gift” looking for African sounds in a remake of the movie “The Lion King”
We need peace (Nabila, Ko-C, Blanche Bailly, Daphne, Mink’s, Mr Leo, Pit Baccardi, Blaise B, Sango Edi)
2018
A song for peace in the frame of ongoing crisis in the North-West and South-West Regions of Cameroon.
Qu’est-ce qui n’a pas marché (Mr Leo, Salatiel, Askia, Blaise B)
2017
Most popular song from Alpha Better Records
Live performances
As a pastor’s son, Salatiel attended from a very young age gospel choir concerts in the Christian community churches his father was a member of. Musician, songwriter and performer at the same time, he started to extent his collaborations with those choirs, and later became choirmaster. His songs are performed in many churches of the region.
Those valuable on-stage experiences allowed Salatiel to become a showman with breathtaking charisma but also an artist whose music touches his listeners deeply.
Created in order to be in communion with one another, Salatiel’s concerts are incredible shows with an aesthetically pleasing harmony that really get to the heart and soul. Through his music, Salatiel wishes to be an ambassador for universal and unifying values such as love, peace, brotherhood, solidarity, and sharing.
Festival Afromonde, Montreal
2023
IFC Live Show - World Music Day, Yaoundé
2022
UCB Show - 50th anniversary UCB, Douala
2022
Salatiel at TotalEnergies Africa Cup of Nations – Olembe Stadium, Yaoundé
2021
Google Live Show
2020
Inter African Trade Fair, Durban, South Africa
2019
Salatiel and The Bail out Band - Live Acoustic, Buea
2014
Social and humanitarian commitments
At the initiative of the collective “Artists for Unity and Peace in Cameroon”, he is a member of, Salatiel and his label Alpha Better Records produced and released the song “We Need Peace” in October 2018, co-written by ten Cameroonian artists: Nabila, Ko-C, Blanche Bailly, Daphne, Mink’s, Mr Leo, Pit Baccardi, Blaise B, Sango Edi and of course Salatiel.
“The country is in trouble, too many problems, it’s not right. It’s not the kind of story one wants to tell”, Salatiel said on the occasion. To him as to all of the members of the collective, it is a matter of building peace in Cameroon. As a matter of fact, the country has been facing several crises as the one born from the jihadism of the Boko Haram terrorist sect and the separatist movements in the anglophone regions. Since 2016, secessionist groups have taken up arms against the central power of Yaounde, the capital.
In 2020, in line with this commitment to peace, Salatiel launched “Feed 10 Families A Week” in the English-speaking parts of his country, to counter the effects of the crisis in the English-speaking regions of the North-West and South-West of Cameroon, which has claimed many victims and is responsible for hundreds of thousands of displaced people.This was thought as an initiative to help at least some of the distraught families when the global Covid-19 pandemic broke out.
Salatiel handed out sanitary articles against Covid-19 at the central prison of Bamenda, the capital of the North-West Region. All of these actions convinced the United Nations Commission on Human Rights to award him a certificate that year for “his dedication, sacrifice and help to protect the less fortunate from the effects of the pandemic”. The artist also participated in the pan-African initiative of his friend and compatriot Mr Leo, led by a song titled “Zero Corona” which brought together ten artists from Cameroon,of course, but also from Nigeria, Côte d'Ivoire, Burkina Faso, Uganda and the DRC.
