Makossa

Makossa
Stylistic origins
Cultural origins19th century, Douala, Kamerun
Subgenres
Other topics

Makossa is a music genre originating in Douala, Kamerun in the late 19th century.[1] 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.[2] 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.[3] 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.[2]

Makossa, which in some accounts is said to mean "the contortions" and others to mean "(I) dance" in the Duala language,[4] 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.[5] 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".[5] Many other performers followed suit. The 2010 World cup also brought makossa to the international stage as Shakira sampled the Golden Sounds popular song "Zamina mina (Zangalewa)".[6]

  1. ^ RaDio2-FuTure1-AfriCa2 (13 January 2022). "Music: The Emergence Of A New Sonic Language". Radio Future Africa. Retrieved 29 February 2024.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  2. ^ a b Noah, Jean Maurice; Owona Nguini, Mathias Éric (2010). Le makossa: une musique africaine moderne. Études africaines. Paris: l'Harmattan. ISBN 978-2-296-54150-4.
  3. ^ "Makossa Music Guide: A Brief History of Makossa Music". 22 March 2022. Retrieved 23 February 2024.
  4. ^ George Echu. "Multilingualism as a Resource: the Lexical Appropriation of Cameroon Indigenous Languages by English and French". Section "Cultural-based terms" (last line)
  5. ^ a b Durosomo, Damola (8 May 2020). "This video explores the countless songs that sample Manu Dibango's 'Soul Makossa'". Okay Africa. Archived from the original on 14 May 2020. Retrieved 13 December 2023.
  6. ^ Smith, Courtney E. (19 June 2019). "Shakira has the biggest World Cup song of them all. Here's how she did it". Refinery 29. Retrieved 13 December 2023.