They aim to entertain us in our homes, cars, on the streets, in night clubs, bars and wherever we take their music with us. It is no wonder that recently, the proliferation of the internet, digital music manipulation and social media exposure have impacted the growth of the Cameroon music . From the look of things, before now, the country’s social kraken had been asleep for decades.
With platforms like YouTube & Facebook, the new generation of artists, after having flirted with Congolese and Ivorian music, is now getting inspiration from the already popular musical scene in Nigeria which is only across the border from Cameroon.
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In the last couple of years Cameroonians at home & abroad have witnessed a wind of change in the music scenery. Gone are the days when the country’s musical chart was strongly influenced and topped by Makossa, Ndobolo, Mapouka, Couper/Decaler and Zouk hits, it has now drifted from there to the hugely popular Afrobeat which is very popular in Ghana and Nigeria. More and more young Cameroonians are now able to write and produce low budget EP and videos which they share digitally on social networking sites like YouTube and Facebook.
They aim to entertain us in our homes, cars, on the streets, in night clubs, bars and wherever we take their music with us. However, the five million francs question is that why is original Cameroonian beats or hits absent on air and in popular music channels at home and abroad. Take for example the Afro hip-hop singer, Nabil a.k.a CallMeNabstar, his music puts me in a good place. From my own judgement the artist is broad and adventurous. His style is comprised of as much structure as is sound. He is always fresh and original. Each time I listen to him I seem to be on a space travel, thinking how creative and easy he plays around with his lyrics. The perfectly tilted Watta (KW@$!@ BRAHA) Staring FINGON TRALALA has a superb tempo change equivalent to a drop but not dance track however doing the drop in a cliché sort of way his Trilogy EP entitled ‘My Survivor Tory 1.1, 1.2 and 1.3 is such a phenomenal piece. CallmeNabstar tries to keep his style edgy in the Diaspora.
Another interesting artist is London base DebraDebs- a young extraordinary solo artist who has had music in her genes since pre-school. In Fizzy Lemonade the artist tone is bruised internally but instrumental in a lot of ways. The artist has an unconventional sexy style with lots of storytelling in her lyrics except for her hit track Higher Higher which has a slightly politically overtone. . Lots of music lovers who have listened to the track talk of it in positive ways which is no surprise that she was awarded best female artist in the first ever Cameroon Award ceremony that recognizes the work of those in the entertainment industry SONNAH. These are artists who amongst others are completely original and purely Cameroonian. Their beats are specific and structured to the song the lyrics trigger a feeling and a sense of nostalgia for those of us listening away from the scene. These are the artists that I want to listen to when am home on vacation. They put so much time and effort into their work and the product should be enjoyed and the artist celebrated.
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