My Journey of Self Discovery - Prologue!

I was born on a certain Tuesday in January 1990. I like to think my birth was a herald of greatness as barely 11 days after I was born, Nelson Mandela was released from jail after 27 years.

That same year my country took its place in the world of global football or as the Americans call it, soccer. Cameroon became the first African country to reach the quarter-final of the World Cup in 1990.

                       A headline on June 09, 1990 by the Chicago Tribune read:

 “Cameroon Surprises World Cup Champs!”

      One fervent Cameroonian journalist Dibussi Tande who recounts the events puts it thus:

Remembering the "Miracle of Milan": How Cameroon Beat Argentina and Changed the Face of World Football

But football wasn’t the only area in which Cameroon was soaring. New oil discoveries were made off the Cameroon coast, the first political opposition party was formed and the economy was thriving. 

Sounds like a bed of roses so far right? But sooner than later did the thorns creep in and in the twinkle of an eye the story changed…

In the late 1990s Cameroon experienced a recession as world prices in oil, cocoa and coffee dropped. And coupled with the ambivalent political situation, this economic crisis led to “Operation Ghost Town”, a peaceful strike turned violent that left my country at the brink of war...

                                                Fast forward to today - 2013!

A country that was once the pride of Africa is now plagued by obscurity. Most people don’t even know where Cameroon is.

But who’s to blame really?
From being called Cameroes by the Portuguese, to Kamerun by the Germans to British Cameroons to French Cameroon and finally Cameroon/Cameroun; this tiny country which oscillates between West and Central Africa has had its fair share of change – an identity crisis in some respects.

Notwithstanding these changes, one immutable fact remains which makes me always proud to be a Cameroonian – our national culture and heritage. That is not to say that cultures are bounded and unchanging; that would be foolhardy - especially for an anthropologist like me.

Through time and space, Cameroonian culture has remained and will always be an amalgamation of the traditions and customs of the people witnessed in the language, literature, music, art, religion and cuisine of the country.

In fact, Cameroonian music best embodies our culture, through its unique genres of makossa and bikutsi. Makossa is a type of funky dance music, best-known outside Africa for Manu Dibango; whose 1972 single "Soul Makossa" was an international hit. 

The lyrics of our music, tell any listener our past and our future aspirations as a nation. The melodies celebrate our diversity, food, culture, football victories and beauty. And the rhythm, mesmerizes the listener...                                                                    

                               Cameroonian music celebrates our unity amidst diversity!