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Cameroonian ‘mourning’ music, Mbolé, gradually getting nationwide acceptance

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The Cameroonian “mourning” music, Mbolé, which began as a form of song chanted at funeral wakes or during interments to comfort mourners, is gradually becoming a part of Cameroon’s cultural mainstream music, and a powerful form of expression for its frustrated youth.

According to one of the earliest exponent of Mbolé music, Lionel Malongo Belinga, who performs under the name of Petit Malo, the development of the music genre has come a long way from over a quarter of a century ago in poor districts of Yaounde, the central African nation’s capital.

Mbolé music began as a sort of back-and-forth at funeral vigils between a chanter, who would devise lyrics and sing them, and responders, who sang the lyrics back and provided rhythm using buckets, saucepans or other implements,” Belinga told an audience in Yaounde on Tuesday.

“At the start, mbole was stigmatised – people looked on it as gutter music but beneath the image, it was adaptable and it soon won people over. You would invite people around, you formed a circle, and you started to play to keep people entertained,” he said.

From the humble beginning, Mbolé has spread to weddings and baptisms and other ceremonies, progressively becoming more sophisticated as instruments such as keyboards and the big West African drum known as the Djembe, were brought in, Belinga said.

“Around six years ago, Mbolé started to go mainstream, and it is now feted as a national music genre. There’s no TV or radio station which doesn’t have Mbole.

“Mbolé is the grandson of bikutsi and the nephew of makossa, but when you hear it, you feel immediately Cameroonian.

“We have Afro-beat, which came from Nigeria, but when you listen to Mbolé, you hear all the sounds of Cameroon,” he said.

Culture

Survey ranks Egypt, Ethiopia, Morocco, South Africa among 15 ‘cheap countries’ for family trips

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A recent survey carried out by Insider Monkey, an investment website that tracks corporate insiders and hedge funds, has ranked Egypt, Ethiopia, Morocco and South Africa among 15 “cheap countries” to visit with family.

The Insider Monkey’s affordable countries list features Egypt as the top cheapest country for family trips while Ethiopia is in fifth place on the survey report, with Morocco ranking in eighth position while South Africa comes in at 15th place.

Giving a breakdown of what it will cost for a family vacation in the listed countries, the report say a one week trip for two people would cost as little as $935 in the listed countries to visit.

According to the survey, the second cheapest country for family trips is India, while Serbia and Colombia are ranked third and fourth, respectively.

“Ethiopia is the fifth in the list, while Poland and Russia are the sixth,and seventh, respectively,” the report said.

“South Africa ranks 15th, behind Romania (14th), Hungary (13th), Panama (11th), Albania (10th), and Bulgaria (9th),” the report stated.

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Culture

Davido’s ‘Unavailable’ achieves milestone with 100 million views on YouTube, Spotify

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Nigeria’s Afrobeats sensation, David Adeleke, popularly known as Davido, has landed another milestone after his hit single, “Unavailable’, surpassed 100 million streams on both YouTube and Spotify.

According to a release on Wednesday by his management team, the track which features South African artist, Musa Keys, also hit a major milestone as its music video crossed 100 million views on YouTube.

The hit track which was released on April 11, 2023, as part of Davido’s chart-topping album “Timeless”, grew to become the most streamed Afrobeats song of 2023 and received high praise, including being named by Rihanna as her favorite single of the year.

“The single, Unavailable, has also surpassed 100 million streams on Spotify to become Davido’s first single to achieve this feat,” the statement said.

“With the music video surpassing 100 million views, it becomes Davido’s fourth song to surpass the 100 million streams mark following his 2017 hit releases ‘If’, ‘Fall’, and ‘FIA’.

“Following the success of Unavailable, Davido released a remix EP that includes collaborations with Jamaican Dancehall star Sean Paul and American rapper Latto.

“Described by Rihanna as her favourite single of 2023, Davido’s Unavailable was the most streamed Afrobeats song released in 2023.

“Additionally, the single recently earned a SNEP Gold plaque after reaching 15 million streams in France, cementing its status as a global hit,” it added.

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