At some time in 1472, the Lepidophthalmus turneranus (or ghost shrimp, if you're a plebian (not to be confused with the other two species of shrimp called ghost shrimp)) had one of their massive swarms they have every 3 to 5 years, bursting out of the mud for a grand shellfish orgy in the Wouri River. It was a grand time to be a ghost shrimp. At the same time, a group of Portuguese sailors arrived on the coast, made their way into the river, and couldn't help but notice the piles of copulating shrimp, and decided to name the river Rio dos Camarões, or "Shrimp River." This marked the beginning of a less than grand time to be African in the area which English speakers would mispronounce as "Cameroon."
Before we get to that colonial Cameroon, there are two human groups which formed the first cultures in the area. The first, the Baka peoples (or "Pygmies," but you'd do well to avoid using the term) settled the area probably 5000 years ago, or so. Hunter-gatherers of the Central African rainforest, their culture is undergoing rapid change due to increasing deforestation. They are also excellent fishers, and if you want to learn more about Baka fishing practices than you'd ever imaging, you can click on this link.
Afterwards, and alongside them, came a number of Bantu migrations, leading eventually to the Bornu Empire. This empire lasted from about 700AD to 1900AD, encompassing areas of Chad, Niger, and Sudan. The history of the Bornu Kingdom is known mostly through a text called the Girgam, or Royal Chronical. The long-lived kingdom finally fell in 1900 when the French won a decisive victory against warlord Rabih az-Zubayr in the Battle of Kousséri and captured the capital, Dikwa.
Is there much can be said about the region before 1800? Yes. Can I easily find that information? No. But the 1800s saw two big events - Modibo Adama led the Fulani people in a jihad and established the Adamawa Emirate, causing a large redistribution of the population in the area; and Sultan Ibrahim Njoya invented what is called Shumom, or the Bamum script, a written language that compressed the whole range of script evolution, from pictographs to phonetic script, in 14 years. The time was otherwise rather dark for many people in the area because the German colonizers ran a system of forced labor (I don't know why Wikipedia doesn't call it slavery) to lay down railroads, and introduce industry. The treatment of local Africans got so bad, one governor, Jesko von Puttkamer, was relieved of his duties. But don't worry, Wikipedia tells us he at least left a "splendid residential manor" behind.
Wikipedia was less than helpful with Cameroonian art. Literature is divided between colonial writers and post-independence (1960) writers. The city Yaoundé is rising as a center of various visual and performative arts exploring nature, ecology, and colonial fallout. Standout musical genres (beyond traditional music) are the enormously popular makossa and a dance craze called bikutsi.
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Our composer today is Francis Bebey (1929-2001). Poet, guitarist, composer, mathematician, radio broadcaster... He had many talents. As a guitarist, he was influenced by Andrés Segovia while in Paris, and was hired by UNESCO to travel and document music of Central Africa. Stylistically, he blended elements of African, Latin American, and European classical music, leading many to consider him a pioneer of the world music genre.
A good introductory song to his pop-oriented style is The Coffee Cola Song.
Catchy tune!
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