Bio
ELIK TARA GROUP
Web version, structured and easy to read
I was born in Cameroon, in a world where balafons sounded like bursts of sunlight and church choirs rose to heaven like prayers in music.
I remember the wooden benches, the voices rising, the skin shivering, the feet tapping out the rhythm without realizing it.
It was then that I understood, without yet putting it into words, that music would be my truest language.
One day, life took me across the ocean.
Canada, the cold on the skin, courtrooms, verdicts falling like doors closing.
I was asked to be silent, to give up, to give in.
I wavered, yes. But deep inside, a small flame refused to go out.
So I made a choice: instead of closing myself off, I decided to open up my world.
To invite other voices, other hands, other breaths.
To transform an ordeal into a birth.
ELIK TARA GROUP
Once upon a time: ELIK TARA GROUP.....
A story full of beautiful meetings and music.
The tight-knit world music group ELIK TARA GROUP began its musical journey in 1997. But the story began much earlier. The members of the group grew up listening to various musical genres (makossa, soukous, zouk, rhumba, salsa, bossa nova, reggae, jazz, funk) which influenced their musical journey and finally brought them together. With ELIK TARA GROUP, they have found their own musical style together. They offer a unique and different sound to their fans, and take pride in the original music they write and share.
For more information, don't hesitate to contact them.
Bio
Little by little, musicians entered my life, with their stories, their accents, their scars, their dreams.
And one day, it became obvious:
We are no longer one person.
We are ELIK TARA GROUP.
We are a collective without borders, born from a wound but sustained by a light that refuses to go out.
We bring together Afrobeat that makes hips vibrate, traditional Cameroonian rhythms that anchor, reggae that soothes and awakens, smooth jazz that caresses, makossa that ignites, rhumba that embraces, bossa nova that whispers, salsa that swirls, bikutsi that shakes things up, zouk and kompa that melt distances, in permanent conversation with international pop.
In each of these mixtures, we put memory, joy, healing, dignity, spirituality, and the link between cultures.
We write in French and Ewondo, our first two language families.
Then we let our texts travel in Yoruba, Haitian Creole, English, Spanish, soon in Swahili and Wolof.
Each language is a bridge to a heart somewhere on the map, a way of saying:
No matter where you are, there's a place for you in this music.
Over the years, we have designed a constellation of projects that tell the story of this journey:
from the first pulsations of "Mbembe Dzam" to the confidences of "Je cherche encore mes mots",
from "In French please" to "Ayitis Heart",
from "Iya Ife Nia" to the special "Off-series" edition,
from "Voyage au Pays Yoruba" to "Honoré Vraiment",
down to the emotions of "Assia",
and others who continue to write our history under the Eliktaragroup label.
Each album, each mini-album, is a chapter of life:
Some make people dance until they forget.
Others offer comfort during difficult nights.
Others still put words and notes where we thought there were none left.
Today, we create between several shores – our Cameroonian roots, our adopted lands and our inner stopovers.
On stage, we love to see faces light up, bodies let go, eyes shine.
Our concerts and videos are moments where we laugh, where we sometimes pray in silence, where we dance a lot, where we finally feel like we belong.
Our website is our open house.
You can listen to our albums and micro-albums like you would leaf through a logbook, go behind the scenes thanks to our blog, discover what lies behind each song, each choice, each silence.
And if you wish to support us more intimately, our shop allows you to do so: projects, special editions, creations that bring a little of our light right to your home.
I am that first voice that refused to be silenced.
We are ELIK TARA GROUP, this family of sounds, languages and hearts that has chosen to make every wound a source of light.
If you hear something in these lines that resonates with you, join the circle: subscribe, listen, share this music with someone you love.
Perhaps from the beginning, the person our music was looking for... was you.
Bio
Born on February 6, 1960, in Otélé, Cameroon, Noah Ayi Aloys Claude, better known by his stage name Elik Tara, is a Canadian singer-songwriter of Cameroonian descent.
He began playing music at a very young age. At 8, he taught himself to play the balafon (an African xylophone) and occasionally accompanied the church choir in his village, Nkum Ékié, in Ngoumou, Cameroon. He arrived in France at the age of 10 and developed his musical curiosity: African music, reggae, rock, bossa nova, jazz, etc. Through various encounters, he created rehearsal studios in the Paris region, worked as a radio host, and participated in the exciting adventure of Studios Campus. With different groups, he toured France and Europe. In 1989, he produced the album "Eliktara (mbembe dzam)." Following a disagreement with the distributor, he stopped producing music and focused on event production: the Festival des Airs dans la Ville in Garges and the Scène & Voix festival in Picardy.
Since settling in Quebec in 2011, the joy of creating music has returned, and we are beginning to rediscover new compositions… listen to them on the Eliktaragroup YouTube channel
Born on February 6, 1960, in Otélé, Cameroon, Noah Ayi Aloys Claude, better known by his stage name Elik Tara, is a Canadian singer-songwriter of Cameroonian origin.
He started playing music at a very young age. At the age of 8, he learned the balafon (African xylophone) and occasionally accompanied the choir of the church in his village, Nkum Ékié, in Ngoumou, Cameroon. He arrived in France at the age of 10 and developed his musical curiosity: African music, reggae, rock, bossa nova, jazz, etc. .... He created rehearsal studios in the Paris region, was a radio host, and participated in the great adventure of Studios Campus. With different groups he travels around France and Europe. In 1989 he produced the album: Eliktara (mbembe dzam) following a quarrel with the distributor he stopped producing music for the event production: the festival of Airs in the City in Garges and the festival Scène & Voix in Picardie.
Installed in Quebec since 2011, the pleasure of the musical creation returns and we begin to rediscover new compositions..... to listen on the YouTube channel Eliktaragroup ...
