A path shaped by the world
Born in Mbigou, deep in the forest belt of southern Gabon, Huguette Lekat, known as Tita Nzebi, began her career in 1997 with the group Ngumi, led by Sam Mapindi Tsoumbou. She left for France the following year to study, and in 2006 chose to devote herself entirely to music.
Her first EP, Mbiss Miti (2008), then her album Metiani (2011), laid the ground for a world that would take her to prestigious stages such as the Café de la Danse in Paris in 2017, 2018 and 2019. Since then she has built an international career that has led her from the stages of Paris and Europe to India and Canada.
Composer, performer and writer, she weaves together traditional songs in the Nzebi language, contemporary textures and searching lyrics about dignity, identity and memory. Her powerful voice and refined arrangements have made her a genuine cultural ambassador for Gabon.
Her work was part of the research corpus of a musicology thesis defended at Aix-Marseille University in July 2023.
In Gabon, her song L’sa ma kane is known to many. Often the melody is familiar, and many others with it, but less so the voice behind them, Tita Nzebi. With albums such as Metiani (2011), From Kolkata (2019) and Mouma’ngue (2021), she has established a singular musical identity, rooted and open to the world at once.
Réminiscence (2026) is Tita Nzebi’s striking new album, blending African rhythms and contemporary textures, anchored in the heritage of the Nzebi and of Bantu peoples. Arranged by Leny Bidens, it offers ten original songs.
Tita Nzebi has made her voice a cultural embassy. By singing mainly in the Nzebi language, she asserts a strong identity and a will to pass it on. Her lyrics, sensitive and committed, take on dignity, identity and memory with rare intensity.
Through her art, Tita embodies a living Gabonese heritage abroad, carrying a music that is deeply rooted and universally reachable. She describes herself as an artist who has made her voice a gentle weapon, and a formidable one, against forgetting and oppression.
One thing is certain: on stage she is magnetic. Between traditional songs in Nzebi, contemporary arrangements and lyrics that ask questions, she offers moments of pure feeling.
For nearly twenty years, the singer has been weaving traditional song and contemporary sound into a musical identity of her own. Every concert is a tribute to her roots, and to those who shaped, carried and inspired her. It is a return to the heart.
2025Tita, Tita Nzebi confidentielleChristian Lagauche, Éditions MaïaOrder the bookIn this book, the author brings to light the stages that shaped both the artist and the woman: a childhood steeped in the traditions of her people, learning to live far from her own, work alongside major figures of African and international music, and her contribution as a Gabonese citizen in the service of others.
- 2023A musicology thesisAix-Marseille UniversityRead the thesis
Tita Nzebi's work is part of the research corpus of a musicology thesis defended in July 2023. The record and the full text are freely available.
![Couverture de Mè [Je suis], de Tita Nzebi](https://titanzebi.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/me-je-suis-couverture.jpg)
2020Mè [Je suis] par Tita NzebiThe BookEditionOrder the bookAn autobiographical account: learning French, living between cultures, the meeting of ancestral tradition and colonial culture, against the backdrop of Gabon's history and political situation.
Mu Mutu
Where Tita Nzebi’s music comes from.