In 1983, Jean-Marie Ahanda, future leader of the famous Têtes Brûlées, led Vétérans Du Cameroun. Me Ne Ngon Oyap was their first album, mixing bikutsi and soukous in a cocktail that was as unexpected as it was successful! The title track, Kulu (The Tortoise), is one of the highlights of the album, which went gold in Cameroon.
A word about the Ebobolo Fia label, of course, illustrated by the famous manioc stick wrapped in a banana leaf from which it takes its name, accompanied by its inseparable lawyer. The label was founded in Yaoundé by Claude Tchemeni, on the advice of Jean-Marie Ahanda. It specialises in more traditional music, with an emphasis on bikutsi, with artists such as Les Vétérans, Ange Ebogo Emerent, Anne-Marie Nzié, Ohandja Etranger, Mbarga Soukouss and Ottou Marcellin. Further west, he published U Nguo Ya, the only opus by the griot from Foumban, Claude Ndam, whom I met a few times.
