I’ll never cease to remember my man, Silver, especially as he hopped the twig only yesterday, 14/4/17 at the University Teaching Hospital in Yaoundé. He was the only (dreadlocks-carrying) reggae musician I knew and still know who shunned cannabis. He was an embodiment of simplicity, overly respectful and ever willing to serve. There was a constant smile on his visage that was charmingly inviting.

Upon graduation from the university in the mid-1990s, he embraced music as his profession despite muscular objections from his dad and despite the life of near mendacity that most Cameroonian musicians live. In fact, Silver didn’t live a beggarly life. Far from it!

He changed his artistic name from Sakis to Silver after he resisted his dad’s call for him to dump music. He adopted the latter name from the saying “In every dark cloud there is a silver lining “. This tells you how determined he was to succeed in music in spite of his dad’s resistance.

He was quite focused and never in a haste to release an album. He always told me that he took his time to prepare his albums in order not to serve his fans with unpalatable stuff, in the same way good restaurateurs do their cuisine carefully to attract and keep their customers.

When, some months ago, he came back from Addis Ababa where he was invited by the AU to sing for peace, I was the one who interviewed him in Ayukogem Steven Ojong’s The Median newspaper. As I, his 3rd solo album is complete and ready for consumption. Now that Silver is gone, will it ever be put on the market?

Adieu l’artiste!!

By Douglas Achingale