Louise Mbango in Her Own Words: A Meditation on Globalization & Cultural Change in Africa

Culled from Kopo and Lady B a feature documentary on the decline and revitalization of African Tradition produced by Louise Mbango and Steve Dorst

Everybody says education and the Internet are freedom and opportunity. But we're moving from a society where everything was known to one where little is believed and everyone is lost. What good are all the libraries of the world on a computer screen if our Africa changes too soon too fast?

When I was young, we kids would gather around mom and dad and other elders for stories; sometimes they were accompanied by a traditional guitar or a drum. The old lifestyle was all about community, sharing, improvisation.

Now people flee the villages for cities. At night, they go to bars or clubs. Gatherings are less spontaneous, more mediated by commerce, sex, and ambition. The conversation has changed.

Click here to view trailer of Koppo and Lady B.

Community banter used to be part education, part knowledge archive, and part entertainment. Now—aside from wedding and funeral ceremonies—social gatherings are a variation on two themes: money and politics.

African villages used to be full. Now, youth live in the city, attend school in the city, spend their holidays in the city, and their free time watching television, which carries them even further away from their roots, their environment. They know French reality shows and Brazilian football players better than their parents' dialects and stories. Today, village is code for unsophisticated and uncool. The stories—the way they used to be told—are dying.

Everybody says education and the Internet are freedom and opportunity. But we're moving from a society where everything was known to one where little is believed and everyone is lost. What good are all the libraries of the world on a computer screen if our Africa changes too soon too fast? West is offering all of these options, possessions. And we are captivated. We all want to be sexy and rich and beautiful. Looking forward, but not without an inner battle.

The contemporary African is always trying to situate herself: "I know where I was, and I see modernization. But my identity is linked to the past, my community. I like the new opportunities, but I can’t embrace everything we’re becoming.” Most people just feel uncomfortable without really being able to articulate what feels so wrong.

That's why I love the music of my country. My work has enabled me to get to know every Cameroonian musician of note, and a whole lot more: aspiring, accomplished, local, and international. During the past 15 years, I’ve witnessed the rise of the first generation of truly urban Cameroonian musicians—they create for the chaos of the city; their lyrics scrutinize the dislocation we all feel.

A new breed of rappers—especially during the past two years—are just blowing my mind. They are blending the Western urban spirit of hip-hop to local rhythms and realities. Their audience—youth born and bred in the cities—identifies fiercely with them. Being on the frontlines of this transformation is a privilege.

Others are trying to save tradition by modernizing it in a different way: in Yaoundé, Noah Ondongo Generaud is running electric current through a traditional mvet to perform the epic stories of the Eton people.

And some of my countrymen still know how to honor our elders: as do the crowds in Edéa who dance the night away to the music of the Father of Assiko music, Jean Bikoko Aladin—a half-century after his famous popular tunes first hit the airwaves (and helped unify us against French colonialism).

Still another group creates in the diaspora, mainly in Europe and the United States: Richard Bona, Etienne Mbappe, Coco Mbassi, Queen Eteme, Sally Nyolo, The Nubians, Muntu Valdo, just to name a few. Thousands of miles away from home, their music is a fusion, but still draws inspiration from our Cameroonian roots. But I have to wonder, how has their identity changed?

Traditionally, our touchstone was our ancestors, our communities—and our stories. Now, just like us, the stories are urbanizing, quickly. Today, more than any of our politicians or intellectuals, Cameroon's musicians are tapping into the rhythm of the city. And that’s what this documentary is—an urban meditation on change. It’s the new cadence of the rainforest. It’s Africa, authentic, today.

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Louise Mbango is the Head of Programs at one of Cameroon's largest radio station, FM 105 Douala, where she produces, writes, and presents multiple weekly cultural programs in French and English. Since 1996, she has executive produced and consulted for several international documentaries, including most recently in 2006, when she received a co-producer credit for the US feature documentary Volcanic Sprint, which chronicles the spirit and challenge of the Mt. Cameroon Race of Hope. She also directed and co-produced Koppo and Lady B, another soon-to-be-released US-Cameroon documentary described as "an intimate, street-level portrait of a newly confident African urban culture and its musical prophets".

Text and picture reproduced courtesy of DorstMedia Works.

Comments

[emilio]

Fantastic piece.This is the kinds of projects to be supported and encouraged by all cameroonians.Indegenous music and instruments should be preserved and it the place for of all those music loving cameroonians to take the lead.Congratutlations Louise Mbango.

[Sandy]

Once in a while, one comes across an uplifiting and positive story which gives hope. At least, there are creative people in Cameroon who are breaking free from the apron strings of government to help promote and preserve our culture.

Kudos to Louise Mbango, Leonard Chartelain and others who are at the forefront of cultural promotion in Cameroon. It is great that they can see the big picture. Can't wait for the two documentaries to become widely available.

[Nga Adolph]

Great write up on the nefarious consequences Globalisation on our African cultures.It has created what is now called the 'Mc world'which is the product of MTV,McIntosh and MacDonalds.This has assumed alarming proportions driven by new technologies.In Africa this presents specific problems.Traditional African cultures emphasise values such as community,family,respect of life,hospitality.But these cultural values come into strong confrontation with values communicated through western music,movies,videos,sat.tv and advertisement.
Africa is being affected in profound ways by the new electronic networks that bind the globe in previously unimaginable ways.Pc's,fiber electronics,satellites,cell phones,faxes,email,internet have made economic and political globalisation more and more a reality.But I think,it is too early to say whether these innovations will truly benefit the majiority of Africans.Only a small portion of the population have access to pc's.
Also,the globalised view that free trade and unrestricted investment will solve development problems is a farce.Poorer African countries which have opened up to foreign imports and firms has led to the destruction of local enterprises.Our once flourishing textile industries are being wped out by imports from Asia particularly China.The World Trade Organisation(WTO),the emerging powerful actor in the globalisation process is primarily there to serve the interests of rich countries.
One significant political development of globalisation in Africa is the push toward 'democratisation'.Includes a heightened emphasis on good governance and respect for human rights.But the West often pushes for political reforms that it considers compatible the neo_liberal political order.Free politics and free markets are too closely equated.The West pushes for reforms where and when it serves them most without taking into consideration the reality on the ground.In a bid to punish the Mugabe regime the West has imposed embargoes that have gone a long way to impoverish Zimbabweans.
Moreso,the effects of Global warming(Green House Effect)caused by the pollution levels in the developed world and the dangerous practice of toxic waste dumping.The case of a french expatriate company which discharged toxic waste products around Abidjan(Cote D'Ivoire)causing several deaths and intoxication amongst the peoples is still fresh in our minds.Soil erosion,deforestation,rapid expansion of the Sahara,storms caused by dratic climatic changes.Many local communities depend entirely on their natural environment for subsistence but are now threatened out of existence.The USA's refusal to sign the Kyoto Protocol has been a great setback to efforts that are being made to reduce global warming.
The gap between the rich and the poor is ever increasing.The richest 20% of the world's population receives 82.7% of global income while the poorest 20% only receives 1.4%.The only major beneficiary of globalisation in Africa is South Africa which accounts for over 40% of Sub_Saharan GDP.The rest of her neighbours put together only account for less than 10%.It is time our stakeholders impliment policies to protect our economies and our peoples from the onslaught of globalisation lest we shall be the big loosers by the time this 'revolution'comes to an end.

Nga Adolph,
Leuven(Belgium).

[Patrice Mpah]

Louise,
Once again carry on the good work. There should be more of this type of work from Cameroon. It’s time to come to a consensus that the change in Africa in general and Cameroon in particular should come from within. Is it not true that the intelligence is the capacity to adapt to new circumstances? We, as African or Cameroonian should be able to adapt to the changing times and make these ours.
I believe our future is in our hands. You quite rightly mentioned the influence of the West on our culture. No one better than us should identify how to get out of this alienation. I hope there is not cynicism by saying there is no equal partnership in any business relation. The reality is that the West or other part of the world will not come to Africa (Cameroon) for No benefit. If it means in the way there will be loss of local culture, they will not be bothered.
We need to start thinking about our own interest. If our leaders are short sighted, the revolution should start by us and the interest we will have in our culture. We need to make the culture more attractive to the youth. We need to embrace the development, put a twist on it to reflect our culture.
There should be a new emphasis from the intellectuals and philanthropist on art and culture. We need to celebrate what is great in our culture without being jingoistic. The challenge in this new world is how we will negotiate our future. We have been culturally brain washed for so long that, initiative like Louise’s should emulate each of us to do something.
Patrice Mpah
(UK)

[Fon]

One´s culture is one´s identity. Killing our culture is tantamount to destroying our identity. First we must be proud of our culture rather than look down on it to be inferior to that of the west.When we project our culture, it becomes attractive to others. Shall it make sense if a westerner travels to Cameroon for touristic reasons to find that we are fast adapting to what he/she finds in the west?
One needs to see how westerners admire us out here when we dance "Bicusi"-they do because we are proud of it in the first place.

When we were growing up, youths from the cities thought speaking the dielete was like taking themselves down to the level of those in the village-a misleading mentality. Many later realised that they missed something.
Let our culture be a source of our pride.

[George Esunge Fominyen]

I know Aretha and have followed her career in the world of entertainment and culture on the media in Cameroon. Her bilingualism and the ability to get into the skin of things cultural, (since FM 94 in Yaounde, through CFI in France and now FM 105) is tremendous. You got to hear this girl talk or read her pieces.

I also know the new class of urbanite musical and cultural talent that she is referring to. My brothers and sisters, you've got to listen to a bit of Koppo, Ak'Sang Grave or Bantou Possi! It is something Cameroonian, an experience that we see here at home each day. Hopefully, the TV production would do this growing trend a cultural service.

Than you Dibussi for having this story on your site!