Jeune Lio, the Cameroonian-born ‘music conductor’ charming the Ivory Coast – Al Jazeera English

In June 2022, he was announced as artistic director for Francophone artistes at Sony Music Africa, highlighting his influential status on the Central and West African music scene. He is already working with up-and-coming artists such as Ivorian acts Revolution and Widgunz, as well as Gabonese singer Emma’a.

But it was the staple La Sunday party, first introduced in 2018, that turned him into a bonafide superstar and fulfilled his dream of music dominance, on the domestic scene.

“When I started DJing in Abidjan, I told myself that I was going to be the best in town. I didn’t know how I was going to do it, but I was going to do it no matter what,” Obam told Al Jazeera at a Sony Music recording studio in the city.

“I met my now business partner Faycal a few months after moving to Abidjan,” he said. “I would hang out at his creamery all the time and he would badger me about organising parties. But at first, I wasn’t having it. Having done that in Paris for 10 years, I knew it was hard. I knew it was time, energy, and money consuming.”

But Faycal persevered and Obam eventually caved.

“I met Lionel through friends right when I was starting to get bored with the nightlife in Abidjan,” Paris-born entrepreneur, Faycal Lazrac, told Al Jazeera.

“The initial idea was pretty selfish. I just wanted to have a good time and create a different kind of partying experience for us. Lio had the cool factor. He was passionate about music. It all just made sense. But none of us expected that this idea would turn into what it’s become” he explained.

The duo’s initial plan was to create an alternative musical experience for a close-knit group of pals. But when they met their other associates, the idea took on a life of its own.

“We partnered with Aziz who had this cool concept store in the city. Then there was Aurore who had the connections and marketing experience. And Charles who was also a great DJ. We all had our strong suits and complemented each other. From that alliance, the project evolved organically and soon became professional and serious,” Faycal said.

The very first La Sunday party took place on December 9th, 2018 in the parking lot of Aziz’s store with some 50 people in attendance. Within a year, a total of 30,000 people attended the recurring outdoor events, approximately 18 in total, which would feature more and more DJs from Ivory Coast and beyond.

The event’s philosophy of carefree enjoyment resonated with many people. In a city known for vibrant nightlife with a “bottle culture” – an unsaid but obvious emphasis on sales of bottles over single drinks in nightclubs – Obam and his partners wanted to break the mould with an inclusive space for attendees to escape that form of societal pressure.

“Our formula was a breath of fresh air,” Obam told Al Jazeera. “We were basically telling people; “show up as you are.” It’s not about fronting or showing off how many bottles of champagne you’ve got at your table. It’s all about enjoying the music and the experience.”

The organisers also chose not to invite popular artists to headline the festival, preferring instead to let the music reign supreme – through the DJs.

“There’s a reason why La Sunday has been so popular over the years,” according to Ines, a young professional who moved to Abidjan in 2022 and has attended the festival on two separate occasions since.

“The event is well marketed on social media. They usually host it at an unusual location and there’s a pretty good mix of music and vibes to cater to a diverse audience. Plus, it’s affordable!” she added.

But the young woman admits that there are some areas to improve on. “The only problem when organising an event of this scale is to take into consideration that if the event has to be interrupted or doesn’t go according to plan, coming from Europe, I generally expect a refund – full or partial. This is something that the team could consider in the future to enhance the customer experience,” she noted.

This is all the more crucial as the festival’s audience has expanded beyond Ivorian borders. Indeed, Obam and his partners have craved expansion and taken the festival on the road, holding it in Dakar, Accra, and Paris.

He says: “Over the years, we’ve kept asking ourselves, ‘How do we sustain this? How do we make it better time after time?’”

Crossing over to Anglophone Africa has always appealed to Obam and the Accra edition of La Sunday 2021 began to open doors for the crew and has allowed them to dream more, he told Al Jazeera.

“My grandmother is from St Lucia. My mother grew up in Nigeria. I’ve always found myself in between those cultures and influences. Plus, the Nigerians, the Ghanaians, and the South Africans, they’ve conquered the world with their music and swag. I want the same for us Francophone artists and creatives,” he said.

His upbringing naturally influenced this need to build bridges between cultures; an aptitude that Lazrac noticed from the very beginning of the La Sunday adventure. “He had such an expansive and analytical approach to music. To this day, he truly enjoys creating connections. He has a flair for finding and curating sounds that will entice people of different backgrounds,” he explained.

And in his role as head of A&R for Francophone Africa at Sony Music, Obam now has a first-row seat in the development of budding acts in Ivory Coast and its environs.