Royalty Grooms Stardom: Meet Franchika Abey

I come from a culture where it is customary for the child(ren) to be seen and not heard. You queue into the living room and, with the best manners possible, greet the visitor(s) and then get out of sight. Excuse me if this does not sound like your generation. If it is not, you probably belong to the next generation, like that of the budding Star Franchika Abey. She is from Royalty, because her father is a traditional ruler (Fon) from Tikom, Widikum in the Northwest Region of Cameroon. How she navigates between her semi-stardom status – where she is the center of attention – and her father’s world – where children are nonentities – is an experience that we hope you find as introspective and revealing, as it is insightful.

Franchika barely crashed through the teenage gate a few months back, an event that she shared in pomp with her friends on Facebook. At close to 5ft 6’, the tall, pretty and wholesome teenager mostly shies away from eye contact, always lifting her head just in time to locate where her friends and siblings are.

On this day, my goal is to have a discussion with her so as to have a sense of her musical idols, the genre that speaks most to her and why, her mentors, and what success in this business would mean for her. I’d like to know of the source of her fortitude to light and fill up the room with performances that are older than her teenage years, yet only as mesmerizing as can be achieved by innocence and combined passion. But on this day, my enthusiasm to delve into this labyrinth is equally matched by her age – her monosyllabic answers and fidgeting with a CD player in hand are clear indications that she’d rather be somewhere else, rehearsing for an in-house performance that she has coming up.

Franchika Abey

Several moments later, a platform has been created for her and she is holding her microphone with both hands in a cusp. Someone, perhaps her father – I don’t know because I can hardly see from my position in the half-basement – ushers the attention of the crowded house to the special rendition that Franchika is about to give. For a second, silence sweeps through the house … In the meantime, Franchika looks completely absorbed into a world of her own; her eyes are closed and she is tapping her right leg gently to the ground to a beat no one else can hear but her. Then, out from the huge speakers towering by the family entertainment system, filters this smooth, jazzy, R&B feely, touchy rhythm…

Her stage presence and vocal range are stunning. I can feel, see and hear her. It is crystal clear to me that there has been an investment of time and understanding of what the word in the song – pain, desperation, hope, longing, violence … She curls her body, stretches out her arm, reaches out for the microphone stand, whispers into the microphone filled with the emotion of the song, glances at her audience, reaches a fever high note and dials it down several notches within the second… I am also transfixed by her composure and, yes, her theatrics.

It is this transformative ability – to be a bona fide teenage girl one minute and an assertive artist the next minute on stage – which I later discussed with the Dad, the Fon of Tikom. To get to the heart of it, he told me a story that had happened one too many times while they were honoring invitations at different events. On a recent trip, he recounted how they were all sitting in this music executive’s office, having a conversation.

“We were talking about several things, but mostly about the music industry and the amazing stream of talented kids,” the Fon said. “But, you know what?” he continued, “the whole time Franchika was quiet; not touching things left and right like kids her age would typically do, acting with excitement when they see things they’d love to have or have only seen on television or in the movies. She spoke to the Executive only when he asked her a question directly, otherwise she listened and watched.

“When the stage had been prepared and as the kids were getting ready to perform, this executive leaned over to me in the auditorium and asked whether everything was fine with Franchika. “I find her to be timid,” the Executive added. “In this business, you have to be a go-getter.”

The Fon said he smiled at this observation by his host. He smiled because he understood perfectly what the gentleman meant. “Just watch her performance and decide for yourself,” was his reply.

The other kids performed and then it was Franchika’s turn.

“When she took to the microphone on that stage and did her piece, I sat back and watched the guy fighting hard to hold fast to his seat. He was in rapturous applause when she finished… He turned towards me with the anticipated question… “How do you reconcile the coy girl from a moment ago, and the eruption that we just witnessed?”

“How do you?…” I re-echoed the gentleman’s question.

“Respect. This is about teaching the kids to be respectful of themselves, of one another, and of others – particularly older folk. I should not be having a discussion with my kid about standing up and offering you a chair when you are in her presence. It is up to you, the older person, to ask the child not to bother about it.”

“But often times,” the chief continued, “you walk into a home and the kid is so absorbed by what they are doing they hardly even look at you, and some parents just shrug their shoulders and invite you to go take a seat somewhere else! Whose house is it? These things may appear insignificant at first, but when you are blessed with kids, you realize that there are mind games and turf games going on. If you fail to define the boundaries and to explain why, the kids will define the boundaries to your chagrin.”

“Is it part of the ‘Respect Doctrine’ that the kids call me Uncle?” I asked.

“That is very true” the Fon replied. “It is not the African culture that we grew up in that a child calls an older person by their first name or by any name at all. You address them by their traditional title – like Ni for the Bali people, or Bobe for most Kom people, etc, etc. This is important not only for the child who is deemed as respectful; it also entrusts on the older person receiving this respect, the responsibility for and protection of the child. You see how that works!”

“Some people maintain that ‘respect’ is used, more often than not, as a ruse to keep the mouths of young people shut and their opinions not heard. How do you counter that?”

“I do not dismiss their opinion. And it is unfortunate and we all may be guilty of that. The fact, however, is that Franchika and her siblings know that they are free to come to me or their mother to share what their dreams and aspirations are. They know we will listen to them. For instance, it was obvious from the get go that Franchika wanted to be in music. She just showed so much passion for it. Her older sister, Iya, on the other hand, had something else in mind. A parent has to be able to pick up pretty fast and desist from imposing their will on the child. It is not your life that the child is living; he or she is going to live their own lives.

“As a parent, you are there to guide them the best you can. But you also have to know which decisions they have no choice in – like getting much needed education in order to cope in a world where a high school diploma no longer suffices. So, even before Franchika thinks about her music or whatever career choice, her homework has to be done. There are no ifs and buts about it.

As we prepared to part ways, I catch a glimpse of Franchika and her siblings again and wave good bye.

“Bye bye uncle,” I heard them chorus out.

But there is one more thing about Franchika that I just cannot shake out of my mind. Her father narrated the story to me after I asked him what he believes Franchika would have been great at besides music. He chuckled, the kind that tells you this will be interesting.

“When she was about six or seven years old, the Catholic school that they were attending summoned us to find out why we were shaving Franchika’s eyebrows, which was a violation of school policies. As you can imagine, I was dumbfounded. My wife was at a total loss as well. So, we called Franchika and asked how and why she had to shave her brows. Do you know what she told us?”

“No” I answered in anticipation, so curious because the father was laughing so hard; I could not wait to hear the answer.

“She told us that while she was in the ladies’ room brushing her teeth, her mother’s shaving blade flew from the shelf and landed on her eyebrows!!! How do you beat that, Innocent? She would make for a great lawyer if you asked me. She is always trying to speak for the rest of her siblings…”

From the horses’ mouth, Franchika would ask the father to take another guess because other than music “I’d like to study to become a surgeon”. As for her musical idols, she rattles off four names “Mariah Carey, Whitney Houston, Alicia Keyes, and Christina Aguilera. But there are many others. These four are my favorites”.

(Article first published in DUNIA print Magazine, Issue 2)

Innocent blogs on ChiaReport; Twitter: @InnoChia

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