Cameroon's popular musical genre Bikutsi does not need foul language and explicit content to thrive, a former Cameroon TV (CRTV) presenter, Nadine Patricia Mengue, has said.
Bikutsi has been criticised over the years for the perceived sexual content of its lyrics and the dance styles performed on stage and in videos.
"In Europe when you say you are a Cameroonian (artiste) and you play Bikutsi people have the impression that you are doing pornography," the France-based broadcaster said. (see video below)
"We can talk about happiness and fun but we don't need to get into trash," she added while co-presenting Tam-Tam Weekend, the CRTV show that is celebrating its 25th anniversary.
But should this be an issue at all? Shouldn't it be left to people to choose what they want or don't want to listen to? And aren't such lyrics part of Bikutsi from its inception?
Bikutsi started as a means for women in various Beti and Fang people of central and southern Cameroon to speak out about the trials and tribulations of everyday life, love and relationships with their men including sexual taboos.
This was accompanied by singing, clapping and stamping of their feet on the earth. It later became a part of traditional song and dance events with the men playing the balafon and drums while the women sang.
"The improvised and usually erotic female choruses are at the heart of the Beti’s bikut-si tradition," Hortense and Charles Fuller wrote in their History of Bikutsi Music.
"This profane aspect is at the very heart of bikut-si’s lyrics, and one can roughly define the songs into a set of recurring themes...those lyrics dealing directly with the erotic and sexual side of living, whether it be fantasy, societal taboo, or expressed frustrations from a Beti woman to her husband," the authors added.
K-TINO
Bikutsi was locked in bars and select cabarets for several years (even after Messi Martin succeeded to adapt its traditional melodies to the electric guitar in the 1960s). The male artistes who dominated the Bikutsi scene in the 1970s and 1980s were reluctant to tap from the mainly female reservoir of crude folks songs. As such, most non-Beti Cameroonians were not exposed to its crusty content.
All of that changed when Catherine Edoa alias K-Tino stormed into national prominence. K-Tino took Bikutsi back to its (unwanted?) roots. Her mastery of the Ewondo idiom meant she used metaphors and imagery to say things that were completely taboo. The Bikutsi loving masses so welcomed her that she quickly became "la Femme du Peuple" (the woman of the people).
Her success encouraged many young and old (including male) performers to emulate her with varying levels of explicit and suggestive content. Some texts were buried in metaphors (Mbarga Soukouss in Essamba) others, including the latest Bikutsi queen - Lady Ponce - are more direct.
“You can say a lot of things in Beti. Originally, our culture didn’t make any moral censorship on intimate issues. (…) These young women have a really strong village culture. In some ways they’ve made bikutsi tribal again. It’s popular culture’s vengeance and a victory over the academic rules of music theory," Jean-Marie Ahanda, a founding member of the famous Tetes Brulees band, said in a Radio France International (RFI) story.
CHOICE
Nonetheless, not every Bikutsi track is an exposee on erotism. Not all Bikutsi artistes use explicit language in their songs (see playlist below). Atebass et les Martiens released a poetic ode to Bikutsi that celebrates genre as one for all. Sally Nyolo talks about love but her work cannot be labeled as sexually provocative.
Women can be seen engrossed in rhythmic foot-stamping in some scenes of Sanzy Viany's video but the song Minga Atan advocates women empowerment and there's nothing sexual about it. Tonton Ebogo's ode to his mother Odile has a clear message while his Zero La Vie is a philosophical look at life.
It's up to every consumer to choose which Bikutsi they would like to watch, buy, listen and dance to. You may enjoy Carole Bakotto's jazz-flavoured beat but your neighbour may find she's not as edgy as Mani Bella while your colleague prefers Georges Seba and Les Veterans de Yaounde from the 1980s.
Dear Nadine.
I am very delighted to have had this explanation about Bikusti music from.In nearly most of these musics sex is overtly discussed, celebrated, and acclaimed.One thing you didnot tell readers is that Bikusti musicians took advantage of the Biya regime that gives them much favours to enter music at the same time,Prof Medoze giving them free time to sale their talents on CRTV.You should be one of those who benefited from the Profs largess, because immediately he fell off from CRTV you went off the air too. I know you cant bit the figure that fed you. Long live Bikusti music but let all cultures in Cameroon have the same exposure and benefits that Bikustsi has and is having.
Posted by: Emmanuel Ngang | January 17, 2012 at 09:24 AM
It is quiet clear and unfortunate that Nadine Patricia-the author of this article has no really background concerning the history of our musics.Emmanuel, Nadine dropped classes in senior secondary school 4 in Lycee General Leclerc when she was given a 30mn vibration program on fm94.How can she in this case come up with a scientifically objective analysis on an intellectual essay such as this one.Unfortunately,nepotism is killing our country.I am a Mvog-Manga.She is my cousin because, her mother being a Mvog-manga(a sister to Michelle Ngoumou)is the cousin of Mendo Ze wife Mvog-manga too of Bitoutoa @ Nkomo Yaounde.Spome of this Webbs should seek advises from students of the university.When she pretends that Europe this secular music is not respected ,what about the like Koffi Olomide...
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