A Tree in the Desert: Festival de la Musique--Sunday, June 21

Sunday afternoon, Jessie, Emily, Pete and I went into Garoua for a Festival of Music put on by the Alliance Franco-Cameroonais, a cultural center here in Garoua. The Alliance supports a lot of musicians, both traditional and hip hop artists, as well as a group of artisans who work in leather, wood, silver and painting. They have many many cultural activities as well...Senegalais dinner and movie, documentary film showings, discussions and conferences, dance and music classes, a nursery of plants, an outdoor stage/auditorium where performances take place. and library. And the landscaping there is fantastic, so very beautiful with flowers and trees everywhere. It is there that I take fulfulde lessons once a week. And it is also a sort of sanctuary of sorts, offering so much culture and artistic activities and reminding me in a way of college. It used to be that when I went to the Alliance, it was like entering a different world, so different from village life. Now, as I have become friends with a lot of the people there, and meet them outside the Alliance, for drinks or hanging out, as they have become part of my "other life" the lines are more blurred and it doesn't seem so very different. But at the beginning, the first 5 months or so, when I walked in there, it was such a relief, and I often go there to write and find a little bit of peace and beauty.
But as I was saying....the festival. The festival was held in a park near the bank and about 20 musicians played starting at 4pm. The first set was artists and groups who played just one song each. Included below are some photos, of one group of Chadian musicians and dancers. Music was performed in French, Fulfulde, and a few, I believe in arabic. Rap is very popular at the Alliance, with the young people, so there were quite a few rappers as well. The second set was about 3 or 4 groups including our friends in Sahel Hip Hop, and a group called Waam doing traditional music, who was fantastic. Their traditional guitar player/singer was incredible. The final performance was the artist Isnebo, who is one of the gods/kings of the North. He is very well known, plays in the US and Europe and lives now in Yaounde I believe, although he is from Garoua. I enjoyed most of the concert and was getting tired and almost ready to go home. But as soon as he started playing, I was transfixed. Not only does he have an amazing voice but is very charismatic and had so much energy on stage. I seriously could have listened to him for the rest of the week straight. When it was over, finally around 11pm, I didn't want to leave. I wanted to take him with me or sit at his feet for the rest of the night, week whatever. I believe that night, during and after his performance, I might have been the happiest I have been in Cameroon. I was certainly high off of it. He was/is a fantastic musician, a singer who sang only, and spoke mostly in Fulfulde for all of the night. I actually recognized his first song from a world music album-africa and the middle east. (the entire performance I thought of Bashir, and how much he would have loved and appreciated it and how much I wished he was there to hear!) If anyone has a chance you should check out his CD. I am in the midst of frantically hunting it down so I can listen to it daily....

I thought I'd take this time to share a few cultural notes on musical performances in Cameroon. Ferrete-ing: I am not sure if this is the correct spelling for this french (?) term, which is the practice of giving money to performing musicians. (should be an accent on the last E and silent T) But this is a big custom here and fun to watch as well. At traditional events: Fantasias, parades, weddings, where traditional music is played, while the musicians play, members in the audiance stand up and give the musicians money. Often the money always in bill form is slapped on the forehead of the musicians. Or else tucked into the clothing of the musician. A way to thank the musicians, but also a way to show off your wealth if you are a grand Al-Adji. Sometimes an al-adji will pull out many many bills (the more bills, the more he shows off) and the first bill will be placed on the forehead and after that the bills will be thrown out onto the ground one by one. The rest of the crowd is sure to notice how many bills and what quantity of each! In other cases, this is not necessarily used to show off your wealth but to applaud whoever is performing (whether dancing or playing music). Examples: at a wedding I went to, there were hired professional dancers, but at one point the bride's mother and two aunts, three very large women, went out there and started shaking their butts to one song. People in the audience laughted and a few ran out and started throwing bills onto the ground for them. In a way to joke and say "yes you are a professional performer, we thank you," etc. At the concert, many people jumped up on stage and ferrete-ed many different musicians, to thank or to joke...thanking those that were really good, joking to support and encourage those who maybe were a little on the lower par (usually their friends), but appreciating their passion and interest in music.

Wiping the Brow: Along similar lines, often when a musician is performing really well, or is really appreciated, people from the audience will run (or dance) on stage and wipe their brow. This is during the performance, and there is no break in the singing or playing, which means that sometimes over enthousiastic brow wipers get in the way of the music by blocking the singers mouth. But that's how it goes. A way to show honor and praise and appreciation: we will wipe the sweat off your face because you are working to play us good music.

Communal Stage: One thing that is very interesting to me, and that I like, about the above things, is that at music performance (not so much the official ceremonies with big figures of lamidos and other traditional leaders present) anyone at all can go up there. You don't have to be a rich figure. Going beyond that though, anyone at all can get on the stage to dance with the musicians as well. If the spirit moves you to get up and dance, you can jump on stage. What floors me is that this is the case even with the big musicians...even with Isnebo. Random kids, young folks just jumped on up there at different points of his performance and danced right next to him. And he was really really welcoming, letting anyone interupt his singing, wiping his brow, getting in his way, dancing with him and around him. I really like that. A case of equals on the stage of music.