This is literally one of the shortest articles you shall find on www.237showbiz.com. There has been a lot of confusion as to how we can classify Cameroon music artistes under these categories. How do we define these set of artistes and link them to the ones we have in Cameroon especially in the urban music scene? Does it have to do with number of albums released, (Legends) owning a record label (established), shutting down shows and uncountable tours (established & Legends), staying in the game consistently for ages(Legends) Upcoming, Mid-Career, Established and the Legendary.
To start with, Upcoming Artistes can be described as those set of artiste who are still to make something happen for their career. Forthcoming or expected to step on the spotlight. In other words, not everyone who begins a music career is been automatically referred to as an upcoming artiste. In the Cameroon urban music scene, who are those artistes you believe are upcoming and awaited, anticipated or predicted to “blow” any minute.
In continuation, the Mid-Career artiste is an artiste that has a good number of songs with one or two well recognized songs. They have exhibited somewhat a loyal fan base at home which is reasonable enough but still growing. The Mid-Career artiste has also receive some kind of recognition from the art world but needs more hits that will take his career to the next level and maybe international. Now in your opinion, who are those artistes who fall in this category?
In the perspective of Established Artistes, the artist is at a mature stage in his or her career and who has created an extensive body of independent work. These set of artistes also have developed for themselves a very strong fan base internationally and locally. An artist who is at a mature stage in his or her career and who has created an extensive body of independent work. They are the type who are doing music fulltime and have a lot of well recognized songs. In fact these are those artistes living that star life. Count all artistes still jumping from one Okada or taxis to another out of this category.
we also have Try and Error Artist , those who know they are not talented and music is not for them, but like doubting thomas’ they want to do music because their friends are doing it or their family lied to them that they are dope. Try and error artist could also be those who have money and are just doing it for fun. They do it as a side hustle, but it’s really not at the professional level.
Lastly, the legends, these are still to be seen in the Cameroon urban music atmosphere. But when it comes to Makossa, there are a lot of them.
With all the above descriptions, who do you think falls on each and every category? Tell us what you think.
Victor Kange
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