Cameroonian music

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From Lira 5/2005 www.lira.se

MUSIC – CAMEROON'S NEW EXPORT GOODS

Cameroon's biggest export articles are oil and coconut, but lately some of the country's musicians have entered the international stages. Soon the bass player Richard Bona is coming to Sweden. Annika Westman presents hot music from the old French colony in the Biafra bay.

His breakthrough was quite sudden, not only in Scandinavia where he's coming end of Nov. 2005 for his fourth tour, but also internationally, the Cameroonian super bassist Richard Bona. He played with Zawinul for several years before the solo careeer which so far has resulted in four CD's. And in Sweden his promotion was supported by a gig at the Stockholm Jazz Festival which was broadcast on national TV. His playing and singing are soft and melodic in his own mix of afro, latin and jazz.

Bona comes from Cameroon, just like several other musicians who have succeeded in reaching large audiences with their accessible but still advanced music.

A bunch of bassplayers

There's actually a whole bunch of Cameroonian bassplayers, less known than Bona but just as skillful: Etienne Mbappé (read a review of his debut CD Misiya HERE), Francis Mbappé, Noël Ekwabi and Guy N’Sangue.

Another Cameroonian bassplayer who some Swedes are familiar with is Willy N’For, who played with Sofi Hellborg during the last years of his life.

Other names to remember is the world famous Manu Dibango, drummers Manu Katché and Brice Wassy, ex Zap Mama vocalist Sally Nyolo, Les Têtes Brulées and the pioneer, poet and musician Francis Bebey.

Brice Wassy is a drummer who, just like these bass players, has played with the elite within jazz and afro music, and then made four astonishing solo records: N’Ga Funk (bikutsi fusion), Shrine Dance (mostly jazz and fusion) and Balengu Village (deep into the roots of his home village, mostly vocals and drums) were released on no longer existing labels (B&W and Melt 2000) but can be obtained through mailorder. On the brand new Meditations (Alpha Pocket) Wassy stays in the root music, playing all the (traditional) instruments himself.

Several of these musicians have passed through the bands of Manu Dibango, Salif Keita and Miriam Makeba before reaching the rest of the world. Some of them came into the spotlight thanks to Peter Gabriel, Paul Simon and Zawinul. But before they got there – what is it that makes Cameroon such a fine nursery for musicians?

Makossa

Among the many traditional music styles of this country, there are two which have really been mixed with modern pop: Makossa and Bikutsi.

Makossa became big thanks to Manu Dibango, who made it world famous with his hit Soul Makossa, 1972. Since the 50's he has mixed elements from jazz, traditional music, afropop and R&B in his music and is incredibly big all over Africa. He paved the way not only musically, his example was also a source of inspiration for the musicians in his home country, by showing that it was actually possible to reach international success.

Before that, highlife and rumba were the dominating the African dance floors, but mostly thanks to Manu Dibango they were challenged by makossa, at least for some time. When the National TV station of Cameroon started in 1985, both makossa and bikutsi had a considerable boost. But today the makossa is somewhat passé, partly because its best-known representative Manu Dibango with his 72 years no longer is revitalizing it - today most of his releases are compilations.

Bikutsi

The bikutsi with its intense 6/8 groove has taken over the role as inspiration for the modern musicians. Mostly because of Les Têtes Brulées, who through Paris reached an audience far beyond the afro enthusiasts, with their somewhat raw mix of rock and bikutsi. No polished guitar sounds or soft vocal harmonies, this is more of a punky version of afropop.

Les Têtes Brulées were started in 1987 by the journalist Jean-Marie Ahanda who, after diving deep into the bikutsi tradition, not only modernised the sound but also created an image. The punky attitude with painted faces was matched by a wild music, totally different from anything that had ever been heard in Cameroon or in Paris. But the guitar player's suicide was a set-back for the band and they have been quiet now for a long time.

But the road to the popularity of bikutsi music is longer than that. Its name means literally "to stomp continuously on the ground" and its origin comes from the intense rituals of the Beti people with voices, handclaps, footstamps, balafons and drums, where the women played an important role. In the 60's Messi Martin started transposing the music to guitar, and with the help of the drum set and synthesizers the sound was modernized.

Cameroon's best-known female musician, Sally Nyolo, has made four records since she left Zap Mamas. The debut Tribu (1996) gave her both a place within the world music elite and several awards. Even if she turns to a broader audience with each new CD, they are all very good and exciting, and she has managed to create her own genre.

Pygmy music
And finally, the fascinating pygmy music, with its remarkable polyvocals and trance-like moods – close your eyes when listening, or try to play it for small children, and then you will notice… Baka is one of the more known pygmy peoples, living in the inaccessible rainforests. The English guitar player Martin Cradick lived among the Bakas during a period, and his fine field recordings were released under the name Heart Of The Forest. He was so fascinated by this music that he has continued to work with Baka in various ways, for example by starting a project to save the rainforest which is necessary to preserve the pygmy culture.

Exciting traditions still alive out in the villages, and musicians who have gone there to collect inspiration and then, both through their music and their success abroad have inspired young musicians to follow. And a small country where the musicians know each other personally and can help their skilled but less known colleagues to get a foot into the international, not least the Parisian, music life. That's at least a part of the explanation to the exciting Cameroonian musical phenomenon.

Annika Westman

Six Cameroon CD's to start with

Richard Bona: Reverence. Of his four solo CD's I choose number two even though it's a hard choice between that and the debut, Songs From My Life. Soft and melodic afrolatin (more afro than latin, of course)

Manu Dibango: Electric Africa (1985), produced by Herbie Hancock and Bill Laswell, an upgraded version of Dibango's makossa musc with influences of jazz and elektronica. If you want ”regular” Dibango, choose Waka Juju (1989)

Etienne Mbappé released his solo debut Misiya in 2004, a very well produced mix of Cameroonian music, jazz, fusion, even classical music.

Les Têtes Brulées: Bikutsi Rock. Unpolished vocals, hot horn section and the quick triplets of bikutsi all the way through, but still not monotonous thanks to interesting arrangements with cool intros.

Brice Wassy: N’Ga Funk. En drummer who made a very exciting mix of funk, bikutsi and other traditional rhythms. The instrumentation is advanced with cello, horn section, ballafon etc but the general sound is still "ethnic".

Sally Nyolo goes her own way. Tribu (1996) is her debut – more ethno and less pop than the successors, with strong influences from both bikutsi and the pygmy music that is clearly present also in the Zap Mamas' music.