Cameroon as we know has the rhythms and bass lines of Bikutsi, Mbala, Mangambeu, Ekang, Ashiko, Makossa, Tchamassi, and Makassi are notated here as one could hear them played throughout Cameroon and other regions of Africa. The almost extinct form of Cameroonian popular music was a fusion of Congolese soukous and makossa, a scene which has produced Petit Pays, Marcel Bwanga, Kotto Bass, Papillon and Jean Pierre Essome. Other popular genres include Bend-skin, mangambeu, and makassi.
Cameroon with ethnic groups of about 250 groups with distinct cultural groups ranging from 250-300 with over 300 languages has the power to rhythmically represent the whole African continent in music and it’s arts.
Uplifting a few out of the numerous Cameroonian artists who have made waves through the music history and produced songs topping music charts. These are some music icons with luminary history. They all I.e Manu Dibango, Charlotte Dipanda, Ben Decca and Richard are known for evolving on a particular rhythm we can vividly identify as their lure that made them stand out.
Perceiving music from their master pieces you can’t help but feel the hair on your skin stand on ends, waves and series of goose bumps. There’s always that unique touch which is gradually ousted from the Cameroon music sphere. Either the voice emitted from the vocal chords, the notes it’self, the melodies, the lyrics were all works of pure arts, soul searching music produced with little or no musical instruments.
•Manu Dibango peculiar for that one rhythm of saxophone and vibraphone. He developed a musical style fusing jazz, funk, and traditional Cameroonian music.
•Charlotte Dipanda peculiar for her progressive evolution in Afropop, who plays mostly acoustic music with lyrics in French spiced by her native language Bakaka of Douala has what we call a dulcet voice which allows your ear ever hungry.
•Ben Decca a sawa indigine from Douala welcomed the music genre Makossa, world Instruments guitare, claviers, percussions with open hands and his music pieces remain legendary and we practically still observe it’s resurfacing in modern music.
•Richard Kings a son of the Nso land used his magical fingers on the guitar strings emitting resounding twangy sounds as he tactfully blends in his euphonious voice in the lamnso vernacular.
These above music idols all had that one thing ‘The Rhythm’ no major drifting or paradigm shift, they understood it was their sales pitch and therefore effectively utilised it. We are proud today to mention them for not only doing music out from its birth but leaving behind a legacy. Music that sees it’s appearance in every era when need be, that kind which won’t be easily extinct.
Modern artists today face the problem of constantly switching to find the ‘Rhythm’. Until they understand the basics, music will just be a lucrative business venture and not work of arts. Language should never be a topic to debate or a measuring rod for an artists market outlet, these legends proved that language wasn’t and isn’t a barrier but a lure to find that one ‘Rhythm’.
No rhythm no movement, no movement no music.
|Fon Noel | September 1st | ©prodigysblog
