On Saturday, Daphne climbed a rung higher up on the ladder of respect I have for her. It isn’t even about her win although she obviously deserved every single one of the awards she took home that night. My respect for her is about the two times she put what has come to be known as ‘the struggle’ into the spotlight that was being shone on her.
It was symbolic; that this shrill-voice girl from Bokwango (stay with me) who has most probably been affected personally by this crisis that is going into its third year, should stand there in front of those members of government and dedicate her awards to the people of the NW and SW adding that she hopes the crisis soon comes to an end.
It was symbolic, that to get there, she had to accommodate herself to sing in French, a language that today is the symbol of what the crisis is fighting against, and that she had to win over the francophone community with her music.
You see, Daphne represents what I want to think is excellence. And to attain this is excellence, one has to look beyond the music. One also has to look at the resilience and more specifically the Anglophone resilience. A resilience that pushes through and manages to and pull out the aces, despite being dealt a bad hand. It is isn’t about just having a few cards up your sleeves, it is also about playing the dealer and decking the cards to your advantage.
I remember Tino published a rather premonitory article here about how to survive the next 7 years sometimes before the elections. One of the things he said every English-speaking Cameroonian needed to do was to learn French because by being the minority, you were already at a disadvantage and the one way you could win was to turn that around to your advantage. Some people came to the comments section and said they would not.
Look, the Daphne we are celebrating today in 2 to 3 years will be the biggest urban music star in FRANCOPHONE Africa. You see the irony in that? She is already one head in front of everyone else. Yet the same Daphne, when she won the Best Female award on Saturday, what did she say? “Anglophone Oyeeee!”
And even me, a francophone by birth, I shouted “Oye! “ It was for me both a battle and a victory cry. And acknowledgement of how far she has come and a reminder of what struggles lay ahead.
Do you know what many comments on Facebook were saying on Saturday? That many Anglophones won the awards because Canal 2’OR committee was trying to use that as a means to appease Anglophones. First of all, anyone who agrees with that just doesn’t grasp the problem behind the crisis. Secondly, it also shows that the propaganda of the ‘enemmi tapit dans l’ombre’ is working quite well on our generation.
Unfortunately, a lot of people have certainly not been to Buea and do not know how this goes. They have no idea how it all started. They have no idea how the industry was being shaped way back in the early 2000s by students of Buea University. Back to the time of Dr Kapt, back to the days of the Achalle, back to when appearing on Tito Valery’s show was a bit of a holy grail, back to when Ambe was called Denzyl, back when Freddash had a ‘carabot’ for a photo studio, back when UB students organised nights in Amphi 250, back when school associations would organise parties in Kribi, back when students walked around Molyko sticking posters on electric poles, back when they organised the first Dynasty Awards, back when students used their digital cameras to make terrible music videos, back when all they had was a dollar and a dream.
Molyko has been the crucible in which the Dr Nkengs and the other people that graced the Canal 2’OR stage yesterday were melted, purified and forged to what they are today. It isn’t just Molyko now, it’s all those places where all these young Anglophone men and women have practised their craft over and over and have been to make something out of it; the results which we see today.
Daphne’s win on Saturday is a toast to all the resilient spirits that forged on despite having the system against them and creating something out of nothing. It is a toast to the Anglophones that have had to put themselves in the decried position of “leaving” the community that supported them from the start to sing in French. It is a toast to them having to read through those comments accusing them of betrayal in their bid to crossover and gain a larger audience.
Daphne’s win is bigger than her, yes. It is bigger her than her because it is a win for all of us. She’s just the vessel via which that win is channelled to us all. I put myself in too because I understand. And everyone who understands that shares in that win too.
Her win, in its own way, goes beyond the music. It’s about how to dwarf the system. It’s about how to learn how to adapt to that environment, thwarting it and using it to your advantage. But in all, never forgetting where it all started and at that moment when you realise that you have conquered it, stand proudly and salute where it all began with an “Anglophone Oyeee!” or whatever cry you have crafted for yourself.
The crisis has pushed many people out of Buea and Molyko in particular. Silicon Mountain has suffered the most. But the truth is, Molyko isn’t a place anymore. At this point, it’s a spirit. And the moment everyone one of us recognises it and starts using it to our advantage, that will be the moment we start chipping away slowly at the wall that the system has erected before us. If you don’t have the numbers you should have to learn to win the battle in other ways.
Thank you, Daphne
- Wandji Wilfred.
Photo cred: Pearl Louma
P.S. I don’t know if or not Daphne lived in Bokwango. It just sits well in the article. Wona jump am pass abeg.