Baka Beyond is a world music group formed in 1992 and based between Cameroon and England. The group fuses Celtic and other western musical styles with traditional Baka music from Cameroon, and its line-up includes musicians from a range of backgrounds and cultures.

In 1992, Su Hart and Martin Cradick, who had previously been in Outback, travel to south-east Cameroon and live with the Baka people in their rainforest environment. While there, they record music with the Baka, and some of those recordings later appear on the group’s first album, Spirit of the Forest, after their return to the UK.

In its early years, the group consists of English musicians attempting to recreate the sound they record with the Baka and bring it into their own performances. It later expands to include musicians from Senegal, Brittany, Sierra Leone and Ghana. The current listed members are Eleanor Churchlow, Martin Cradick, Su Hart, Patrick Le Mercier, Lakh Niasse, Marcus Pinto, Nii Okai Tagoe and Yegba Likoba.

Recordings and repertoire

The 2009 album Beyond the Forest features arrangements of traditional Baka women’s songs, recorded in the Cameroon rainforest and mixed in Martin Cradick’s studio in Bath. The group’s rhythms are performed by people rather than machines. A related project, Baka Gbiné, also connects to the musicians who inspire Cradick to form Baka Beyond; Cradick records the album Gati Bongo in the rainforest using a portable laptop-based studio.

Live work

Baka Beyond Live brings together musicians from six countries on the Celtic fringes of Europe and in Central Africa, presenting the group’s live world fusion sound.