Makossa is a Cameroonian style of urban music. Like much other late 20th century music of Sub-Saharan Africa, it uses strong electric bass rhythms and prominent brass. In the 1980s makossa had a wave of mainstream success across Africa and to a lesser extent abroad.
The music of the Cameroon includes diverse traditional and modern musical genres. The best-known contemporary genre is makossa, a popular style that has gained fans across Africa, and its related dance craze bikutsi.
Emmanuel N'Djoké "Manu" Dibango was a Cameroonian musician and songwriter who played saxophone and vibraphone. He developed a musical style fusing jazz, funk, and traditional Cameroonian music. His father was a member of the Yabassi ethnic group, while his mother was a Duala. He was best known for his 1972 single "Soul Makossa". He died from COVID-19 on 24 March 2020.
Jacques Dutronc is a French singer, songwriter, guitarist, composer, and actor. Some of Dutronc's best-known hits include "Il est cinq heures, Paris s'éveille", "Le Responsable", and "Les Cactus".
"Soul Makossa" is a song released as a single in 1972 by Cameroon saxophonist and songwriter Manu Dibango. It was originally recorded as the B-side for "Hymne de la 8e Coupe d'Afrique des Nations", a song celebrating the Cameroon national football team's accession to the quarterfinals of the Africa Cup of Nations football tournament, as well as Cameroon's hosting the games for the first time; the lyrics were written by Cameroonian poet and musicologist S.M. Eno Belinga. Except for some words in English, it was written in Duala, a native dialect continuum from Cameroon. Manu Dibango later recorded a new version for his 1994 album Wakafrika, titled "Mouvement Ewondo".
Sam Fan Thomas is a Cameroonian musician associated with Makossa. He began in the late 1960s and had his first hit with "Rikiatou". His "African Typic Collection" was an international hit in 1984 and is perhaps his best known work. Thomas began his career in the early 1970s as a guitarist in the Cameroonian band Tigres Noires. He stayed with that band until 1976, when he launched his solo career.
Moni Bilé is a Cameroonian makossa musician. He was the best-selling makossa performer of the 1980s, and his album Amour & Espérance was an international hit that extended the worldwide popularity of the genre.
Petit-Pays is a Cameroonian musician.
Francis Bebey was a Cameroonian writer and composer.
Elizabeth Bessem Ayamo Manga, also known as Bébé Manga, was a Cameroonian makossa singer whose best-known song is "Ami O". She is considered one of the most popular makossa singers of the 1980s.
Ndukong Godlove Nfor, known by his stage name Jovi, is a Cameroonian rapper, songwriter, sound engineer, entrepreneur, and record producer. Jovi graduated from the University of Yaoundé II (Soa), with a BA Hons in Economics and Business Management.
Stanley Ebai Enow is a Cameroonian rapper, and music producer. He is the co-owner of the record label, Motherland Empire. Enow is best known for his 2013 single "Hein Père". He was the first Cameroonian to win in the Best New Act category at the 2014 MTV Africa Music Awards.
Jacob Nguni, nicknamed "Pa Jay" or "Micro-wave", was a Cameroonian singer, high-life guitarist, activist, humorist whose partnership with late Prince Nico Mbarga as a lead guitarist produced songs like Sweet Mother that redefined the era of High-life music in Africa. The song would go on to become the Africa's best selling song with 13 million copies. The song was equally voted in 2004 in a BBC poll as Africa's favourite song. He died in his sleep in the late hours of Saturday 25 April 2015 in Washington D.C.
Mboko God is the second full-length studio album by Cameroonian rapper and producer Jovi, released May 20, 2015. Entirely self-produced under his producer alias, "Le Monstre", Jovi composed, recorded, and mixed the album in Yaoundé, Cameroon.
H.I.V is the debut album of the Cameroonian rapper and producer Jovi, released August 31, 2012. Entirely self-produced under his producer alias, "Le Monstre", Jovi composed, recorded, and mixed the album in Yaoundé, Cameroon. The album blends instrumentation and rhythms from traditional Cameroonian genres with Western hip hop beats and style, as well as influences from pop, rock, electronic and industrial genres, and includes samples from African musicians Tabu Ley Rochereau and Eko Roosevelt. H.I.V received critical acclaim for its use of punchlines, rhyming, and wordplay in Pidgin English, mixed with English and French. Jovi’s H.I.V album was highly anticipated in Cameroon following the release of his debut video “Don 4 Kwat” on October 14, 2011, which is seen as re-energizing the hip hop scene in Cameroon, which had largely been dormant and dominated by Bikutsi and Makossa genres. Originally released on iTunes for sale, the album was removed after one year, and became available for free download on Bandcamp on September 12, 2013, according to the website, as a "special edition of Jovi's debut album."
Kien Rennise Nde, known by her stage name Reniss, is a Cameroonian singer and songwriter. Reniss sings in English, French, Pidgin, and Ngeumba. Reniss became well-known in the African music scene after releasing her music video "La Sauce" on May 6, 2016.
Nde Ndifonka, popularly known by his stage name Wax Dey, is a Cameroonian singer, songwriter, entrepreneur and social activist. He won Best Male Artist in Central Africa at the 2016 All Africa Music Awards (AFRIMA). He owns a record label called Calabash Music. In December 2015, he released the Yemi Alade-assisted "Saka Makossa" and pays tribute to the Makossa music genre. Wax Dey is also the Producer and main actor of Cameroonian reality TV contest, Number One Girl, which airs on Equinox TV.
Grace Decca is a Cameroonian singer and producer from Douala, the country's economic capital. She is the younger sister of Ben Decca, a well-known Makossa singer, and she worked alongside him and other musicians like Jean Jacques Goldman before establishing her own career in 1989 with the album Besoin d'amour.. Her five other Makossa albums are Le Duo D.K (1992), Doï La Mulema (1993), Appelle-moi Princesse (1998), and Donne-moi un peu d'amour (2001). She returned to the Cameroonian music scene in 2014 with a gospel album, Mouna. She has also started her own label, GNS Productions.
Laetitia Laure Nsoutou, better known as her stage name Lor is a Cameroonian rapper, singer-songwriter, actress, animator, and multi-instrumentist. Her Extended Play (EP) Dawn, is according to Samuel Lacmene, founder of Stillac, "an album that exudes freshness", where she "managed to send strong messages, but above all to transmit emotions through her particular vocal timbre".
Emmanuel Eboa Lotin August 6, 1942 - October 6, 1997 was a Cameroonian musical artist, creating music based on the style of Makossa, native to his home country.
