Remixing is a derivative art-form, meaning music built from a recorded song either by copying the hook, chorus or an element of the instrumental which appeals to you . Remixing instrumentals have become a norm in contemporary urban music with the fluid evolvement of heavily synthesized digital softwares . US artist Girl Talk is the most famous for creating an entire album using sounds from other music and cutting it to his own. Criticism and controversy on P-Square has been outrageous as a majority of their hit songs have been derivative forms of other recorded music or a mere sampling of western songs;, Last night ,Get squared , Game over, ”Bizzy body’, Danger , ”Omoge mi” , just to name a few are quintessences. Remixing and sampling is used by artists as an easy strategy or short-cut to garner quick attention and popularity. As this strategy worked like magic for P-Square and ” now the don di troway”, budding Cameroonian acts seem to have plunged into the same pool . Big Bzy remixed Akon’s ”Belly Dancer” , Steveslil remixed T-Pain’s ”Buy you a drank” to ”Buy you shack” , King Aluan recently remixed ”Chop ma money” to ” mange mon argent” , ”Don 4 kwat to ” Pa 4 kwat ” etc and criticism gets rave as pundits consider this a non-creative aspect or ”gate-scratching” on another’s success. Are these all acts of plagiarism ? . On the other hand, some artists remix or sample songs just to increase fidelity on the older song which may have degraded. Variety of reasons flourish.
Red Cafe
If you are keen enough, you can rightly say without fear of contradiction that Cameroonian mainstream song ”Don 4 kwat” by JOVI is a derivative song from US rapper and Konvict’s Red Cafe 2009 single ”Hottest in da hood” or Is it just a translation of title ?
Listening to the ”Don 4 kwat” instrumental, you get some musical components that are derived from ”Hottest in da hood”. ”Jovi simply added spicy melody like the whistle and hit strings to make it different” someone told me yesterday. ”The rap style equally sounds similar” he continued . Can the assertion that no contemporary urban music is original be justified ?.
Kumba-based ”Ajebota” king WEST DON has declared his intention to file a legal suit against event organizer and presenter of ”Friday Nights Out”Prince Mykel Enobi on the count of using his brand name and image on posters ,flyers and video spot of an event to take place during the opening of the University games on Saturday at Amphi 750, University of Buea without his consent.
Despite several pleas to let this matter go, the Afro-beat artist West Don who calls this act a flagrant disrespect and a stain to his image wants to put the event organizer behind bars . Cameroonian artists are gradually drifting to intellectual property rights .
If the artist , WEST DON is a registered brand and if copyright applies to work that is recorded in some way; rights exist in items such as literary, artistic, musical and dramatic work as well as films, sound recordings and typographical arrangements, it could be an act of infringement or plagiarism which calls for a legal action . But he may not have a point , if his brand is not been registered. Or what do you think ? .
He declared that Prince Mykel has to sign an undertaking to pay a damage of 50,000 frs . Where is Cameroon music industry driving to ?
Rumours have gone rave and the controversy keeps blazing that Mumak Artist Jovi is up for a possible signing with Akon’s label Konvict Music. ’Don 4 kwat’ hit-maker seems to have captivated the interest of Konvict A&R Fotemah Mbah , who held a meeting with the Mumak executives and Jovi at Hotel Meridien in Douala during Akon’s working visit to Cameroon. T Mah (Fotemah) ended on a positive note stating ; ”I am really, really , really impressed, and after I found out he was from BDA, Bamenda, You know that’s where am from. Giving him a co-sign, we gonna be working together” . Clinching a record deal under the international label KONVICT that recently signed Nigerian acts P Square, Wizkid and 2 Face will be great news and prospect for Cameroonian artists who have diligently been waiting for a messiah to pave the way.
I know what you might be thinking: this is just another budding player trying to cash in on the confusion. You’re wrong. Lionel MessiNyamsi are his real names and he is a 16 yr.old Cameroonian prospect who signed for French division two side Angers SCO. He formerly plied his trade at Toulouse Fontaines. His name triggered quite a stir when it came up on the Ligue 2 side’s list of players. This led some people to erroneously think it was his Argentinian Barcelona F.C namesake who had moved. But upon investigation, it was discovered that this was an entirely different person from the Argentin wonderkid. With this incident, the young Cameroonian has gathered some worldwide attention to his name and talent. Let’s pray and hope, on the field of play, his talent also causes comparisons with the three time- world player of the year. Despite being Cameoonian, he has been quoted by some media outlets as saying he wishes to play for France.
Cameroonians hailed the uprise of the Buea -raised trio , BAAM when they sparked off with a terrific international hit, ”Stand up” ( 54,000 views on Youtube) off a well-mastered LP dubbed ”Africa Stand Up”, produced by seasoned producer Wayne Beckford. After having their video massively aired on Trace TV and making a working trip to Paris, Dakar, and Accra , the trio has gradually gone down the drain as their embers continue to fade (A dormant Facebook page and no media attention ). Rumours now looming the media are stale but seemingly true that the group has split. A rivalry that emerged from a mediocre management, poor artist relation, recurrent disagreements and greed has been the major bottleneck that has frustrated millions of fans. Adele , Mabel (Mab-star) and Larry seem to be creeping out of the music scene as a group that has captured the minds of Cameroonians with their soft and melodious vocals. It’s quite amazing that this group clinched the Nescafe African Revelation Award 2008 ahead of international hit-making group Toofan. I wallow in despair when I watch the Togolese group evolving.
When BAAM emerged, our joy was to see them evolve to the heights of internationally endorsed acts who could pave the way for other Cameroonian artists, but disappointment has finally set in as they have rested on their laurels. If their flame is reignited, we shall be happy to savour the good music !!!
Kumba is rife with rumours that Kumba-based comedians Spaco and Zachary who made a formidable duo have witnessed their relationship dwindle considerably due the stale influence of a beautiful ‘Hollandaise’ who came to Cameroon for internship. According to information gathered , the white lady whose name was mentioned as Kim has given her boyfriend Zachary a serious verbal warning never to perform on stage with his dreadlocked mate Spaco considering comedy as humiliating and degrading. Zachary’s career and dream now seems to be in shambles simply because of ”Sara nga”. This will definitely be a sad news for their numerous fans across Cameroon.
What’s trending on social network is that our ace Cameroonian striker Samuel Eto’o was spotted riding in a brand new Bugatti Veyron with his girlfriend , Georgette. The gray metallic car is estimated at $2.4 million more than 1.186.572.401,94 FCFA .Russian team Anzhi Makhachkala paid Inter Milan €21 million (about $27,800,000) for his contract and they are paying him an annual salary of €20 million (roughly $26.5 million) after tax per season. This makes him a higher earner than Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo. Samuel Eto’o is bent on spending the cash . ”See how sara them di look like na fiction film”.
Criticisms have been hurled on artist and CEO Steveslil since the release of a remake of T-Pain’s ”Buy you a Drank” off the Epiphany album . Steveslil who contextualized the song to suit Cameroonians, is currently baring his fangs through social networks following criticisms by some pundits on his ”Buy u shack”. video. They buttress their arguments that he is just trying to garner fast popularity with the song cashing on T-Pain’s glory. Or does he want to do it the Banky W way ?
According to the R&B crooner, ” First , I’m a T-Pain fan. I used his instrumentals in a mixtape I failed to release in 2010 . This is the only song I released from the mixtape. I remade this song in Cameroonian pidgin, just to contextualize it and bring it close to the people with a comic approach. Since people loved my remix, I decided to shoot a video. So everyone has a right to an opinion”
Steveslil’s ability to compose his own songs has been questioned by some pundits. But songs like , ”Panjo”, ”I go marry you” and more released after ”Buy u shack” still keep him on the pedestal .”My best is yet to come” says Steveslil.
Ace cameroonian player Pierre Wome Nlend has finally resurfaced. After the billion -dollar penalty miss in 2006, the player went missing for a while. But according to recent media reports, he is currently training with MTNEliteone super club Cotonsport. This has sparked rumours that the clubless player might be on the verge of signing with the Garoua -based side. Declarations from Cotonsport officials that for now he is just training haven’t quietened those rumours. The former Werder Bremen player has been without a club now for two years and while his experience can be a big plus to the cotton harvesters,I feel like I hear some Cotonsport fans already shouting, “Keep him away from our penalties”. Wish him the best though, he has served this country well, that penalty aside.
”Lettre au président” star Valsero is now writing an open letter to anybody who can release him. If recent media reports quoting persons close to the artist are right, the “Général” as he likes to be called was arrested as he led a peaceful solidarity march for a yound lady called Vanessa whose child was stolen from a hospital in Yaounde. While we all must take this info with huge helpings of salt and not just a pinch, one can imagine such a scenario given the activist dispensation of the guy. If he’s really been caught we music lovers can only wonder why some musicians can’t stick to what we love them for: music.
Remixing is a derivative art-form, meaning music built from a recorded song either by copying the hook, chorus or an element of the instrumental which appeals to you . Remixing instrumentals have become a norm in contemporary urban music with the fluid evolvement of heavily synthesized digital softwares . US artist Girl Talk is the most famous for creating an entire album using sounds from other music and cutting it to his own. Criticism and controversy on P-Square has been outrageous as a majority of their hit songs have been derivative forms of other recorded music or a mere sampling of western songs;, Last night ,Get squared , Game over, ”Bizzy body’, Danger , ”Omoge mi” , just to name a few are quintessences. Remixing and sampling is used by artists as an easy strategy or short-cut to garner quick attention and popularity. As this strategy worked like magic for P-Square and ” now the don di troway”, budding Cameroonian acts seem to have plunged into the same pool . Big Bzy remixed Akon’s ”Belly Dancer” , Steveslil remixed T-Pain’s ”Buy you a drank” to ”Buy you shack” , King Aluan recently remixed ”Chop ma money” to ” mange mon argent” , ”Don 4 kwat to ” Pa 4 kwat ” etc and criticism gets rave as pundits consider this a non-creative aspect or ”gate-scratching” on another’s success. Are these all acts of plagiarism ? . On the other hand, some artists remix or sample songs just to increase fidelity on the older song which may have degraded. Variety of reasons flourish.
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