Modern Cameroonian Music
The earliest recorded music from Cameroon comes from the 1930s, when the most popular styles were imported pop music and French-style chanson. In Douala, the most-developed city in Cameroon, accordions and ambasse bey music were common, with performers like Lobe Lobe, Ebanda Manfred and Nelle Eyoum finding a local audience. Ekambi Brillant and the first major Cameroonian hit, "N'Gon Abo", set the stage for the development of makossa. Post-independence in 1960, a local variant on palm wine music called assiko was popular, especially Jean Bikoko and Dikoume Bernard.
The urbanization of Cameroon has had a major influence on the country's music. Migration to the city of Yaoundé, for example, was a major cause for the popularization of bikutsi music. During the 1950s, bars sprang up across the city to accommodate the influx of new inhabitants, and soon became a symbol for Cameroonian identity in the face of colonialism. Balafon orchestras, consisting of 3-5 balafons and various percussion instruments (including the balafon, which is both a harmonic and percussive instrument) became common in the bars. Some of these orchestras, such as Richard Band de Zoetele, became quite popular in spite of scorn from the European elite.
Read more about this topic: Music Of Cameroon
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