I’ve never really been a fan of gossip blogs and sites but I always find myself every now and then inexorably reading or watching some piece of content on these platforms. Yesterday I got attracted to a post made by Kiki Bandy. I had seen the original information from the source itself just the day before and had not given much thought to it. However, when I saw the information on Bandy Kiki’s page, I was prompted by the comments to write this article.
For those who do not know the lady on the cover photo, she is Eva Sobila. She is an OAP at Sweet FM Radio and also the Sony Music Country Representative for Cote D’Ivoire. Tuesday, she tweeted the following;
“Hi fellow Cameroonians. Please play songs from your village for your traditional wedding. Flavour is not from your village. Sincerely, Management.”
A screen grab of the tweet was posted on Kiki’s page and a flurry of comments, of course, accompanied the post; and after scanning through the comments I have two main things to say.
NUMBER ONE
It’s sad how much we Cameroonians almost always miss the opportunity to have open conversations about things that down the line, could turn out to be full of meaning. I don’t know if the anonymity of the internet or our natural sass-mouthedness overrides our thinking when these matter arise. What I mean is, what was an opportunity for us to discuss a pertinent issue on the state of our pop culture was openly mocked by many people. Here are some comments that I curated from the post.
Are you my wedding planner? / Is she married / Eva is not your village name..Eat only village food and put on your village clothes, Gucci isn't from your village / she shouldn't have even used Facebook because it's promoting this modernity and networking that she is discouraging so badly / My dialect doesn't sound nice, so you want me To play K-tino or Atango de manadjama? Nooo better Flavour or Davido their songs sound nice / She should speak for her and her village people / Now that our village boys are not musicians, what should we do?
I will spare the rest of it. You can check that out yourself.
Granted, somewhere I would blame Eva for not putting more of her thoughts down and explaining a little more why she sent that tweet out. Perhaps it would have opened up things more for a constructive debate. I also understand that some of the persons who made some of the sass-mouthed comments above did not really want to do so. It has become trendy to be “savage” on the internet just for the sake of it and sometimes we say things for shock value and to bask in the likes we receive from it. And I would also like to say that as many mocked Eva, many also supported her.
In any case, Eva’s thoughts raises some very pertinent issues on the state of our culture especially for us pop-influenced people. It’s become very, very common to attend weddings and see Cameroonians decked out in attires that resemble those from our neighbours from the west. I mean, seriously, if you’re not Ejagham or perhaps Oroko, you have no business looking like an Igbo couple on the day of your traditional wedding.
And it speaks volumes as to where we are standing at the T-junction where cultural pride, foreign influence, and self-awareness meet. Like someone said, Eva is not their wedding planner. Well neither am I. We have no right telling people what entrance song to dance to at their traditional weddings, and white weddings for that matter. Nor do we have a right to tell them what should the ratio of Naija-to-Camer songs played there. But we cannot deny that when we look around at the number of weddings happening around us, it is quite disturbing to see how much ‘Ada Ada’ has taken over us.
And if we continue to sweep that under the rug and make a mockery of anyone who thinks something is amiss, then we might as well change our names to Obinna and become the 37th state of Nigeria.
NUMBER TWO
Do we have a problem of traditional music in Cameroon? Absolutely not. Why then do we not have wedding songs of the likes and the magnitudes of ‘Ada Ada’? Oh but we do. Daphne and X-Maleya have songs in that light.
The issue with traditional music is the same issue with just about every music; that of distribution and of finding an audience with which it resonates. If you look at things closely, the highest poles of population concentration in Cameroon are in Douala and Yaoundé. Then you have the likes of Bafoussam and Garoua and then university towns like Buea and again Bamenda.
Also, the most common form of music distribution today is via the internet. Now, who are those who use the internet most, where do they live and what kind of music do they listen to most? The answers are Young people/the population poles/ urban music.
This simply means that musicians who sing, purer forms of traditional music are for the most part unknown. Every now and then, one or two may burst on the popular scene. But for the most part, they remain in the shadows of the festivals organised by the Ministry Of Culture.
Here’s the kicker. Songs like “Ada Ada” have a solid root in Igbo music. The musicality is clearly there, albeit with a modern touch. That is why it has such a large crossover appeal. I daresay until our pop and urban artistes begin to dig a little more than they have done so far, we are not going to really have those distinctive Cameroonian sounds in our songs. There has to be a certain mix between the two in such a manner that that strong crossover appeal is there too.
And then there is the issue of the audience owning it, appreciating it and promoting it. Because, I mean, nobody will promote our music if we do not promote it first. It will take time, but it will be well worth it in the end. Those guys have been putting in work for the last 15 years and we may have to put in more than that. Maybe we may not have to. Whatever the case, what we have to make sure we do not do is get lost.
But it starts with each and every one of us. While we ask the Lockos and Salatiels to their part, we should on our end, try to forsake the geles and the Adas at our wedding, at least for the entrance song. It’s a small sacrifice for a greater good.
I understand many may not see eye-to-eye with me on the issue. All I ask from you is to refrain from snarky comments. Let us, for once, have an open an honest conversation to see how we can make things better for ourselves. Now, let me hear it from you
- Wandji Wilfred.
📸 @xmphotographie