Makossa is a music genre originating in Douala, Littoral Region, Cameroon in the late 20th century. Like much other music of Sub-Saharan Africa, it uses strong electric bass rhythms and prominent brass. Makossa uses guitar accompaniments, in the forms of solo and rhythm guitar, with a main singer (lead vocalist) and a choir of backup singers, with the focus being on the texture of the guitar, the role it plays in the song, the relationship between it and other instruments (including the bass, drum set, horns, synthesizers, etc.), the lyrical content and languages sung as well as their relationship (as far as timbre goes) with the music, the uses of various percussion instruments, including the bottle, the groove of the bass as well as the drums, and the use of technical knowledge and microprocessors to make the music. It is in common time (4/4) for the vast majority of cases. Language-wise, it is typically sung in French, Duala or Pidgin English. Tempo-wise, it is typically in between 130 and 170 BPM. It traditionally consisted of guitar-picking techniques that borrows from bikutsi; with a guitar-structure of a guitar switching from solo to rhythm from assiko; supplanted with complex bass grooves, and gradually picked up on brass section, from funk and later in the 70s, string section, from disco. It along with this acquired the sebene from Congolese rumba. In the 1980s makossa had a wave of mainstream success across Africa and to a lesser extent abroad. It is considered to be one of the greatest Cameroonian and even African "adventures" as a music. originated from a Duala dance called the kossa. Emmanuel Nelle Eyoum started using the refrain kossa kossa in his songs with his group "Los Calvinos". The style began to take shape in the 1950s though the first recordings were not seen until a decade later. There were artists such as Eboa Lotin, François Missé Ngoh and especially Manu Dibango, who popularised makossa throughout the world with his song "Soul Makossa" in 1972. It is the most sampled African song, in history to date. The chant from the song, mamako, mamasa, maka makossa, was later used by Michael Jackson in "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'" in 1983. In 2007, Rihanna similarly sampled it too for "Don't Stop The Music".
Etymology
The word "makossa" is originated from the Duala words "m'a" and "kossa". "Kossa" is a term that was a term at the edge of neologism expressed initially as a cry of exhortation, and as "a kind of swear word that has the status of a stimulus, a spur. In the book Le Makossa: une musique africaine moderne, a passage including this quote is written as follows:
:"En effet, le terme Makossa, dérive de « m'a kossa » qui veut dire littéralement en langue duala et au pluriel les contorsions; au singulier « di kossa » la contorsion. Ce vocable « Kossa » est un terme à la lisière du néologisme et du cri d'exhortation, mieux, une sorte de juron ayant statut de stimulus, d'aiguillon."
: "Kossa is a kind of exclamation, a cry of joy that is usually uttered to give more vigor, [and] more energy to the dance."
In the original French version, a passage including the translated version of this quote reads:
:"Remy MINKO MBA poursuit: « Kossa est une sorte d'exclamation, un cri de joie que l'on pousse généralement pour donner plus de vigeur, plus d'énergie à la danse. Il s'agit donc d'une sorte de stimulus qui doit nécessairement provoquer une réaction positive »."
Origins
Before the word "makossa" existed, the music emerged in the late 19th century. These include musicians such as Lobe Lobe Rameau, Mouelle Guillaume, Ebanda Manfred, Tibo Essombe, Epee Mbende Richard, Eitel Tobbo, Ebolo Emmanuel, Charles Lembe, Ruth Soppo, Jacqueline Ewondo, Tapelon, Epata, Eyoum Decca, Willy le Pape, etc. The French colonizers arrived in Cameroon and there imparted in that territory a list of different musical forms, which can be categorized under the umbrella of French pop and chansons. Chansons is a term which is from the French word for "song". The music influenced makossa slows, also known as Cameroon slows, which were known for their ballad-like, romantic cadence and sentimental harmonies and lyrics. The lyrics were often, like makossa in general, sung in Duala or French. These songs were particularly based on the French slows that were popular at the time. Singers of this style include Tino Rossi, Eddy Mitchell, and Sacha Distel, whose style of singing further indirectly influenced the development of makossa.
Georges Collinet, a Cameroonian-born radio broadcaster, was known for the creation of Maxi voum voum. This radio program would jumpstart the program the popularity of makossa by making it known to international audiences. Parisian radio stations made makossa available to their audiences, and this led to a global distribution of the music. The music evolved and this gave way to different styles in the music. Record labels, which were in France, created a recipe for international fame and allowed the exiled Cameroonian musicians to set the blueprint for their success.
Notes
References
- West, Ben (2004). Cameroon: The Bradt Travel Guide. Guilford, Connecticut: The Globe Pequot Press Inc.
- Noah, Jean-Maurice (2010). Le Makossa: une musique africaine moderne. Paris, France: L'Harmattan