Cameroonian music overtime has been invented and reinvented, every decade has had its own share of intrigue, its own stars and its own influencers.

Now in Cameroon, we are witnessing the era of Urban music, which is mostly influenced by western cultures. In fact it is so influenced by the West that some person of the old school think of it as an an adulteration of music. But even in this whirlwind of Western inspired music some artists of the younger generation are succeeding to blend in the urban style with traditional Cameroonian music genres, thereby striking a balance between modern entertainment and cultural relativity of our music. We have been thrilled by a lot of soundtracks that relate with our indigenous traditional rythms, in this light artists like Kareyce Fotso , Charlotte Dipanda, Locko, Daphne, Dynastie Le Tigre, X-Maleya and some others can be earmarked as the torchbearers of the marriage between contemporary urban music and Cameroonian cultures. First,they all to a certain extent bring in different Cameroonian mother tongues in their lyrics, this factor serves as a bridge between different eras and age groups at a time when mother tongues are gradually losing their uniqueness and the interest of the youths is gradually being shifted to occidental languages, it is quite elevating to hear young musicians integrate these languages to their music and notorious among the young generation of artists doing this are Charlotte Dipanda, Dynastie Le Tigre and X-Maleya and this move of theirs is simply praise-worthy .

Next, the inclination of some of these artists to adopt traditional folkloric rhythms is also a major factor concerning cultural relativism given that these rhythms evoke some nostalgic feeling in the older generations while introducing the traditional music paths to the younger ones ,artists like Kareyce Fotso and Locko have made wide use of this feature and the hard work is evident in the success of their music.

Finally, the inclination of the younger generations to work on sound tracks with legends of the old school is an endeavour that reveals the connection between both generations and the good that can come from it .This was clearly shown in Daphne’s collaboration with Ben Decca in “Ndolo” and Locko’s epic collaboration with Makossa legend Sergo Polo in “Fleur et Venus”. These moves taken by the younger generation are quite necessary now, at a time when Cameroonian music is gradually getting lost in the mix of Western Influenced Urban music it is necessary to be reminded from time to time that Cameroon too has its own musical identity rooted in our own various indigenous cultures and traditions.

Written by;
Emmanuel Asafor