Traditional music
With its many ethnic groups and ancestral traditions, Cameroon's most widespread music is traditional. It is accompanied by ritual dances and ancestral songs. Numerous instruments are used throughout the country to accompany these veritable musical processions. Percussion instruments include the balafon, mbira, sabar, djembe, ka, kabosse, calabash and tama. String instruments include the kora, oud, ngoni and mvet. Although still unknown to foreign audiences in the 1960s, it wasn't until the 1980s that African music began to spread throughout the world, borrowing from its traditional roots. Cameroonian music, modernized in this way and with a strong bass presence, gradually spread, encouraging the professionalization of the country's artists. A parallel market even developed in Cameroon, offering the general public the chance to buy copied records of international variety, sometimes retouched in Cameroonian style with traditional music sounds. The musical fusion is sometimes astonishing!
Makossa
Makossa is one of Africa's best-known musical styles. And its origins lie in Cameroon. Characterized by a funky bass and rhythmic brass, this music is designed above all for dancing, and was initially played in Cameroonian clubs. The influences are manifold: Latin music, Congolese rumba, jazz... The first artists to assert themselves in this style came to prominence in the 1950s, before giving makossa a real identity in the 1960s. Manu Dibango, nicknamed Papa Groove, made it popular at the beginning of the following decade. Thanks to his vocal timbre and mastery of the saxophone, Dibango's makossa became recognized the world over. One event in particular contributed to this: his hit Soul Makossa was covered and sampled by Michael Jackson in 1972 for his song Wanna Be Starting Something, and by Rihanna on her hit Don't stop the music.
Cameroonian music was also brought to life by Richard Bona, considered one of the best bass players in the world, and Etienne MBappe. Over the years, makossa has drifted towards makossa-soukous (audiences remember Petit Pays, Marcel Swanga and Jean-Pierre Essome) or opened up to other styles such as variety, world and jazz.
Jazz
For many Cameroonian musicians, a passion for traditional music and makossa often leads to a passion for jazz. While historians are well aware that this genre has its roots in Africa, emanating from Africans who landed in America to work, it wasn't until the course of the 20th century that a jazz scene actually emerged in Cameroon and other Central African countries. In Douala and Yaoundé, events such as Jazz sous les manguiers, Jazz sans frontières, Yaoundé festival jazz and Festival jazz 237, organized in conjunction with the Institut Français du Cameroun, were held in quick succession. The Alliance franco-camerounaise also supports and broadcasts jazz concerts, in addition to the few jazz clubs in the country where it is possible to enjoy a concert of the genre. Internationally, Cameroonian artists such as Justin Bowen, a native of Yaoundé, have made a name for themselves with a jazz that's full of influences: pure and true, like Charlie Parker's, but tinged with a hint of makossa..
Slam
In Cameroon, as elsewhere in Africa, the art of oratory is at the heart of popular performance. The country discovered an appetite for slam in the early 2010s, thanks in particular to the emergence of several artists: Stone Karim, Ayric Akam, Yanik Dooh, Faithfull and above all, Lydol La Slameuse, who played a major role in structuring this new practice in Cameroon. Halfway between poetry, rap, theater, music and even storytelling, slam is a crossroads of artistic practices, and particularly appealed to the public for its cross-disciplinary, scenic and playful aspects. Slam artists perform at festivals and springboards that have been springing up across the country in recent years, as well as in cultural centers. Verbal attacks" - sudden, spontaneous performances that take the audience by surprise - also take place in public squares and restaurants.
Theater
Cameroonian theater was born of religious and traditional rituals, mixed with European practice. This art form combines improvisation, dialogue, mime and masks, as well as dance and music. It took off a few years after independence, when the country was looking for an identity. It wasn't until the proclamation of the unitary state in 1972 that freedom of expression was unleashed. The first generation of theater artists made a name for themselves. Among them, Dieudonné Afana (known as Jean-Miché Kankan) and Dave K. Moktoï laid the foundations, but soon witnessed upheavals: theater was affected by the economic crisis and political changes. Forms varied with the times: monotheaters, commercial performances, musicals, video theaters... Everything was on the agenda. The theatrical institution is often singled out for criticism in Cameroon. The potential is there, but connoisseurs attest to a lack of public intervention to bring about a drastic structuring of the theatrical scene. Actors need training, teaching, venues... Many leave to pursue their careers abroad, while others manage to set up projects at home. Such is the case of Jacobin Yarro, who took his first steps on stage in the 1970s. He trained abroad, then returned to Cameroon to set up his own theater company, Atelier Cocrad (collectif des créateurs d'art dramatique) in Douala, with the help of the French Cultural Center in Cameroon. Today, he is considered one of the country's finest actors and directors.
The most popular and successfultheatrical genre in Cameroon is farcical theater, characterized by exaggerated comedy, which makes this art form as popular as possible. In response to cultural and social precariousness, this practice adapts to the context and allows certain comedians, such as Moustik le Karismatik and Charlotte Ntamack, to come out on top.
In Cameroon, but also in other Central African countries, puppetsare linked to ancestral ethnic rituals. For example, among the Ejagham and Widikum peoples, puppets embody characters that used to be brandished during major commemorative celebrations. Among the Fang, portraits of ancestors are carved in wood and used as puppets during initiation rituals. Among the Béti and Ewondo, the melan ceremony is impressive, with puppets performing skits. Among the Kapsiki and Banen, puppets are used in funeral ceremonies to pay tribute to the deceased.
Over time, puppets have become objects of entertainment, first in the villages before arriving in major Cameroonian cities such as Yaoundé and Douala. Travelling puppet theaters stop in the street in front of passers-by to perform short plays.
Some troupes have been able to professionalize and even export Cameroonian puppet theater abroad. An annual festival, the RIMAC (Rencontre internationale des Masques et Marionnettes du Cameroun), was founded in 2004 before dying out a few years later. It did, however, initiate a genuine puppet-related artistic practice in the country, now taken up by the contemporary theatre scene.
Dance
The art of performing, whether musical, theatrical or choreographic, comes from a ritual tradition. The most widespread dances in Cameroon are descended from choreographies typical of certain communities: the luma comes from the Pygmies, the mangambeu from the Bangangtés, the menang and oku from the Tikar, the djingo from the Bassa's, the assiko from the Béti... These dances were later westernized with modern influences from Europe, and the popularization of certain styles of music, with the introduction of new musical instruments such as the electric guitar, led to an evolution in the movements and opportunities for performing these dances. Douala and Yaoundé are the performance grounds for so-called "modern" dances. From this effervescence palpable in the discotheques, one of the leading lights, Lisa Ngwa, founded the Ballet National and took over its direction. Other ensembles followed: Ballet Adongoro De Ngoro, Ballet Ngono by Alfred Ngoume and Edouard Etouké, and Ballet Bantou by Moïse Malobo. In the 1990s, Cameroon plunged into a political crisis, and it wasn't until 1993 that the theatrical sector enjoyed a new lease of life. This was helped by a nationwide communication campaign encouraging the development of "African contemporary dance".
Ben skinis a relatively modern dance that has become popular in the slums of Douala. Historians say, however, that it has its roots in western Cameroon among the Bangangté people, who maintained an equivalent practice in essence. Literally, ben skin means "to bend forward". The choreography is performed by the women, who show off their beauty and sensuality. To accompany the movements, the music features drums and maracas made from recycled materials.
One of the best-known traditional dances is bikutsi, from the Betis tribe. Its purpose is to heal the suffering caused by the loss of a loved one or physical pain. As its name suggests, bikutsi symbolizes the act of hitting the ground. This dance is performed by women using sticks. The export of this style to the big cities and the arrival of the "guitar-balafon" in the musical line-up in the late 1970s gave another dimension to this dance, giving birth to a musical style in its own right. While most singers are now men, Anne-Marie Nzié, considered the "Queen of bikutsi", has Cameroon and Yaoundé dancing. Each bikutsi group establishes itself in a bar in the city: the Escalier bar, the Mango bar, the Palladium bar, the Chacal bar... A Cameroonian guitarist makes his mark on the national and international scene: his name is Zanzibar and he joins the Têtes brûlées group in the 1980s. Two films were produced to tell the story of this group: Bikutsi Water Blues, by Jean-Marie Teno, and Man No Run, by Claire Denis. Other big names followed: Zélé le Bombardier, the Maxtones and Givinal Ndzinga Essomba, forerunner of "techno-bikutsi".
