Tributes are pouring in for Guadeloupean musician Jacob Desvarieux, co-founder of the band Kassav’ who died at the age of 65 on Friday after catching Covid. He shot to fame in the 1980s with the invention of  ‘zouk’ – bringing the fast, catchy sounds of the Caribbean to the world.

Local media in the French territory of Guadeloupe announced his death late on Friday, prompting an outpouring of grief.

“A giant of zouk music. An unparalleled guitarist. An emblematic voice of the West Indies. Jacob Desvarieux was all of these things at once,” French President Emmanuel Macron tweeted.

In poor health after undergoing a kidney transplant, the singer and guitarist was taken to hospital in Pointe-a-Pitre, Guadeloupe’s largest city, on 12 July after catching Covid-19.

“The West Indies, Africa and music have just lost one of their greatest ambassadors,” tweeted Senegalese music star Youssou N’Dour.

“Jacob, thanks to your art, you brought the West Indies and Africa closer together. Dakar where you once lived mourns you. Farewell friend.”

A successful experiment

Desvarieux told French daily Liberation in 2016 that his band Kassav’ started out in Paris as an experiment.

“We wanted to find a soundtrack that would combine all the previous (Caribbean) traditions and sounds, but that would be exportable everywhere,” he said.

And so zouk was born, rising to global fame, particularly in France and on the African continent where people partied to its festive rhythm.

“We questioned our origins through our music,” Desvarieux told Liberation. “What were we doing here, we who were black and spoke French?”

Kassav’ rose to prominence along with the increasing popularity of world music in the 1980s.

Modern twist

The brainchild of Guadeloupean artists Pierre-Edouard Decimus and Freddy Marshall, the band was founded in 1979 with Desvarieux, who was born in Paris and had been influenced by guitarists Chuck Berry and Jimi Hendrix.

The band’s base style is gwo ka, a kind of Guadeloupean drumming music, topped up with ingredients from all over the Caribbean and a modern twist.

Kassav’s first album was released in 1979, and the band reached its peak popularity at the end of the 1980s.

It signed a contract with the multinational CBS record label, and was praised by jazz legend Miles Davis.

Since then, zouk music’s popularity has waned but Kassav’ continues to attract crowds at its concerts.

Source: RFI

Cameroonian singer Wes Madiko, better known as Wes, died on the night of Friday, June 25, his family said in a statement. Aged 57, the artist was admitted to a hospital in Alençon, Orne, his relatives told the newspaper L’Orne Hebdo. According to the Cameroonian media The Bled Speaks, Wes died from surgery due to a nosocomial infection.

“A legend has passed away, leaving us a final message of peace for humanity on his hospital bed which will be communicated to you in the days to come,” said his family and his friend and co-producer Djily Smith.

 Arrived from Cameroon in 1987 and living in Orne since 2006, Wes became a world star with his hit “Alane” in 1997. Sold over ten million copies worldwide, the title was number one radio station when it was released and won it a diamond disc in France and Germany. In Cameroon, he was also presented as the “King of World music”. Another of his titles, “In Youpendi”, was also famous for being heard in the Disney movie. The Lion King 2.

Source: News-in-24

Former U.S. President Donald Trump has congratulated Nigeria for blocking Twitter and he is further calling for more countries to follow suit.

“Congratulations to the country of Nigeria, who just banned Twitter because they banned their President. More COUNTRIES should ban Twitter and Facebook for not allowing free and open speech – all voices should be heard,” Trump said in a statement.

American social media companies banned former US President Donald Trump from their platforms after accusing him of spreading falsehoods and inciting the crowd which attacked the Capitol in January.

Trump holds on to the need to create another competitive social media platform.

“In the meantime, competitors will emerge and take hold. Who are they to dictate good and evil if they themselves are evil? Perhaps I should have done it while I was President,” Trump added. “But Zuckerberg kept calling me and coming to the White House for dinner telling me how great I was. 2024?”

Trump is quoted to have said: “Why do we want all these people from Africa here? They’re s**thole countries … We should have more people from Norway.”

He made the comments whiles meeting a bipartisan group of senators at the White House on Thursday. He has tweeted today denying the use of the word.

Millions of Nigerians were unable to access Twitter Saturday after the government enforced an indefinite suspension of the microblogging platform’s operations in Nigeria.

The Association of Licensed Telecommunication Operators of Nigeria said in a statement that its members have suspended access to Twitter in compliance with a government directive to do so.

The Nigeria government said Friday it was indefinitely suspending Twitter in Africa’s most populous nation after the company deleted a controversial tweet President Muhammadu Buhari made about a secessionist movement.

Minister of Information and Culture Lai Mohammed said Friday that government officials decided to suspend Twitter because the platform was being used “for activities that are capable of undermining Nigeria’s corporate existence.”

Mohammed criticized Twitter for deleting the post, saying, “The mission of Twitter in Nigeria is very suspicious,” and that Twitter had in the past ignored inciting tweets against the Nigerian government.

In recent months, pro-Biafra separatists have been accused of attacking police and government buildings. In his tweet, Buhari vowed to “treat them in the language they understand.”

Twitter had deleted Buhari’s post on Wednesday, calling it abusive.

Source: Africa News

The so-called National Communication Council has a new president. He is Joseph Chebonkeng Kalabubse, a former journalist with Cameroon Radio and Television who retired several times from the public service.

Joe Chebonkeng replaces Peter Essoka, who headed the media regulatory body since 2015, following the death in 2014 of Bishop Joseph Befe Ateba, first president of the CNC.

The 88-year-old President Biya recently made a clean sweep of the board and only two of the nine members were retained after a Ferdinand Ngoh Ngoh teleguided Biya decree.

The ruling CPDM party retained Vice President Joseph Janvier Mvoto Obounou, Guibai Gatama and fired Alfaki Abdourahman, Charly Ndi Chia, Jean Claude Ottou, Christophe Bobiokono, Suzanne Kala Lobe, Nadine Machikou Ngameni.

An unknown media figure Serge Ngando Ntonè is now in the new NCC board.

By Rita Akana

ASAMOR is a German based Cameroonian musician that God in his infinite image created and planted in Fontem, Lebialem Division, South West.

Like many of the royals in the Bangwa Kingdom known to be great performers, Prince Asamor was born with music in his DNA and has already bank 15 years in the Show Biz industry.

The renowned Cameroonian artist enrolled at the University of Bonn to study Agricultural Science but eventually spent his time at the Department of Music from where he propounded a blend of Bangwa rhythms and Makossa which he named “Abanda Kossa”.

His interactions with German music professors deep within the University of Bonn paved the way for Asamor to study Sound Engineering and upon graduation he opened his own recording studio.

Today, the music world can sing with pride of Asamor as he celebrates a series of hits in the music industry:

“Full force”, released in 2002, “Etiorndem” released in 2004, “Sorry” released in 2008

Asamor’s second album featured Petit Pays; one of Africa’s greatest singers, song writer and producer. Frankly speaking, the Petit Pays-Asamor duet was the very first collaboration that Adolphe Claude Moundi aka Petit Pays did outside his band- Les Sans Visa.

Between 2013 and 2018, Asamor made public 5 singles to reaffirm his position in the music world. It was followed with 6 other singles spread across a 10-year period.

A recent hit “Dr Coro Coro” became Cameroon’s national anthem. The song was released shortly after he survived the deadly Covid-19. Dr Coro Coro heralded Strong Bangwa Boy in the album Mougou.

Cameroon mega star Asamor has received a good number of awards including: The KAMA Award (Germany) and the African Diaspora Living Legend Award

Asamor has been voted twice among the 100 Most Influential Africans in Germany and surprisingly he has not been signed to any label. His music empire is self sponsored with additional support from a dedicated fan base.

He has great admiration for Petit Pays and Koffi Olomide and has been heard recently speaking of his retirement from Show Biz.

In a conversation last year with the Cameroon Concord News Group, he opined that his wife remains his best friend even though he was exposed to so many “Makandis” in a clip he released which rocked the entire African community in Germany.

Asamor is a God fearing man who believes in himself!!

Link up with Asamor:

Facebook: Asamor

Instagram: @asamormorfaw

YouTube: ASAMOR OFFICIAL

This is a Cameroon Concord News Production

Cameroonian singer Charlotte Dipanda has released her second album. The album dubbed ”CD” is a work on her life’s story as a young woman. Dipanda’s shift into this new music art form is something she sees as challenging.

“I like the idea that people listen to my music when they are down. This is because they are willing at that moment. It was bias at the beginning of my career to tell me that as an African we always tend to believe that if we do not dance, if we are not drunk, there is always this second degree side that we need to listen to music. And today, even if I make songs that you can dance to in a club, there is always a theme that will appeal to you, I like the intellectual side associated with the music”, the artist said.

CD which is initials of her name has ten tracks. They include, ‘Quand tu n’es pas la’, meaning ‘’ When you are not there’’, ‘‘L’ombre d’une autre’’, translated as ‘’The shadow of another’’.

The musical work also features artist Singuila with ‘Cœur en cage’ meaning ‘’caged heart’’.

‘’CD’’ features collaboration with the famous Congolese guitarist Olivier Tshimanga, Guy Nsangue and Singuila.

“I think that if we give a little more responsibility or if women become aware of the responsibilities they have in our society; they will certainly be mature. Big up to the young girls who are in rural areas, because they are often forgotten in our society. I would really like that these young girls go to school so that they learn, and over the weekend they accompany their parents in the fields because it is not incompatible”, the singer said.

Her presence in Cameroon was also to support young girls in remote areas. Thanks to her foundation, Dipanda has built a high school in the locality of Ebonè in the region of Moungo, more than a 100 km from the capital Douala. She is using this project to encourage young girls to go to school and get an education.

Dipanda hopes to resume concerts by September in Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Gabon and the rest of the continent. She also awaits the reopening of theaters in Europe that have been closed due to the pandemic.

Source: Africa News

Facebook Inc’s oversight board on Wednesday upheld the company’s suspension of former U.S.  President Donald Trump but gave the company six months to determine a “proportionate response” going forward, a verdict that may chart how social media will treat rule-breaking world leaders in the future.

The company inappropriately imposed an indeterminate suspension without clear standards, the board said, requiring a company review.

The Board said Facebook should determine a response that is consistent with rules applied to other users of the platform.

“Facebook left the indefinite suspension in place and referred the entire matter to the Oversight Board, apparently hoping the board would do what it had not done,” said Michael McConnell, co-chair of the Oversight Board, during a press conference after publishing its decision on Wednesday.

McConnell added, “Indefinite penalties of this sort, do not pass the international or American smell test for clarity, consistency, and transparency.”

Facebook indefinitely blocked Trump’s access to his Facebook and Instagram accounts over concerns of further violent unrest following the Jan. 6 storming of the U.S. Capitol by supporters of the former president.

“We will now consider the board’s decision and determine an action that is clear and proportionate,” Nick Clegg, Facebook vice president of global affairs and communication, published in a blog entry following the decision. “In the meantime, Mr. Trump’s accounts remain suspended.”

At the time of the suspension, Facebook Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg said in a post that “the risks of allowing the President to continue to use our service during this period are simply too great.” The company later referred the case to its recently established board, which includes academics, lawyers and rights activists, to decide whether to uphold the ban or restore Trump.

“Both of those decisions are no-win decisions for Facebook,” said Kate Klonick, an assistant law professor at St. John’s University who embedded at Facebook to follow the board’s creation. “So, offloading those to a third party, the Oversight Board, is a win for them no matter what.”

The binding verdict marks a major decision for the board, which rules on a small slice of challenging content decisions and which Facebook created as an independent body as a response to criticism over how it handles problematic material. Facebook has also asked the board to provide recommendations on how it should handle political leaders’ accounts.

Tech platforms have grappled in recent years with how to police world leaders and politicians that violate their guidelines. Facebook has come under fire both from those who think it should abandon its hands-off approach to political speech and those who saw the Trump ban as a worrying act of censorship.

Trump was permanently banned from Twitter Inc, where he has more than 88 million followers.

Trump, who has been sending out short, emailed press releases, continued to promote election misinformation in one on Monday, saying “the Fraudulent Presidential Election of 2020 will be, from this day forth, known as THE BIG LIE!”

On Tuesday, he launched a new web page to share messages that readers can then re-post to their Facebook or Twitter accounts. A senior adviser has said Trump also has plans to launch his own social media platform.

Source: REUTERS

Music fans in Barcelona hugged, danced and sang along at a sold-out rock concert on Saturday night after taking rapid COVID-19 tests in a trial that could revive the live music industry in Spain and beyond.

Some 5,000 fans at the show for Spanish indie band Love of Lesbian had to wear masks but social distancing was not required in the Palau Sant Jordi arena.

“It was spectacular. We felt safe at all times. We were in the front row and it was something we’d missed a lot,” said publicist Salvador, 29, after the show. “We are very proud to have had the chance to take part in this. We hope it’ll be the first of many.”

In surreal scenes after a year of social distancing, fans danced up close to one another, but the sea of faces covered in masks showed that things were not quite back to normal.

Health controls at the entrance delayed the start of the concert, but could not dampen the celebratory spirit.

“Welcome to one of the most exciting concerts of our lives!” lead singer Santi Balmes told the crowd to a roar of cheers.

The government-approved concert served as a test for whether similar events will be able to start up again.

“It will be safer to be in the Palau Sant Jordi than walking down the street,” concert co-organiser Jordi Herreruela told Reuters earlier on Saturday.

Pre-concert testing at three Barcelona locations was carried out by 80 nurses wearing full personal protective equipment. Some people winced as nurses swabbed their noses.

By midday, three out of 2,400 people already screened had tested positive and one had come into contact with a positive case, said Dr. Josep Maria Libre, a doctor who oversaw the testing. They were unable to attend the concert and would get a refund.

Attendees received their antigen test results in 10 to 15 minutes via an app on their phones. The test and a mask were included in the ticket price.

“I believe today we have made one thing a reality which is to show the world that culture is safe,” said Ramon, a 49-year-old fan.

(REUTERS)

A year ago, Cameroon, Africa and the world lost a music legend – Emmanuel N’Djoke Dibango, better known as Manu Dibango.

The Afro-jazz artiste died on March 24, 2020 after contracting the coronavirus in a Paris hospital where he was being treated for another illness, his family said.

Born on December 12, 1933, Manu first came to global prominence in 1973 inspired many a younger generation of Afro-jazz musicians, including Michael Jackson.

He was celebrated for his unique tunes that blended American funk and traditional jazz with local Cameroonian rhythms to form a unique genre, with fans remembering him as a man whose hearty laughter filled his conversations.

Manu’s biggest hit, Soul Makossa, is said to have influenced Michael Jackson’s Wanna Be Starting’ Something, which was the opening track of the American’s famous 1982 album Thriller.

Manu’s song was originally written as the anthem of the 1972 African Cup of Nations football tournament that Cameroon hosted.

Manu sued the American singer for lifting a line from the song without authorisation and the two artistes settled out of court after Michael Jackson admitted his fault and requested an amicable settlement.

Manu’s love for music dates back to his teens when he attended Protestant church every night in Douala. He later moved to France where he attended high school and began learning instruments: first the piano, then saxophone – for which he became best known – and also the vibraphone.

At 86, Manu was still able to withstand a two-hour long concert and despite being a chronic smoker, he could still play the saxophone, an instrument that required ‘lung power’.

The trailblazing saxophonist, nicknamed “Papy Groove”, collaborated with many other musicians, including Fela Kuti, the Nigerian multi-instrumentalist, musician, composer and Hugh Masekela, the South African trumpeter, flugelhornist, cornetist, singer and composer.

In an autobiography, Manu said he left Africa for France, carrying three kilos of coffee for his adopted family. The book, Trois kilos de café: autobiographie (Three Kilos of Coffee: An Autobiography), chronicles his remarkable rise from his birth in Douala, Cameroon, to his worldwide success—with Soul Makossa in 1972—as the first African musician to record a top 40s hit.

On the first anniversary of Manu’s demise, local radio and television stations in Cameroon played his songs as a tribute to the iconic musician.

Manu Dibango died five days after singer and composer Aurlus Mabélé, whose family confirmed also died of the virus. His daughter and singer, Liza Monet, confirmed he died of the coronavirus in Paris on March 19, 2020, at the age of 67.

Aurlus had a fragile health condition for more than 15 years after suffering a stroke.

Aurlus Mabélé created the musical brand Soukous, a high-tempo African and Caribbean dance hall style with pop and soul blends. He also created a dancing and dressing style that accompanied the music genre, which many of his fans adopted.

Born Aurélien Miatsonama on October 24, 1953, the man who was nicknamed “King of Soukous” moved to France after rising to prominence in Brazzaville, in his native Republic of Congo in the 70s and the 80s with the group Les Ndimbola Lokole. While in France, he cofounded the group “Loketo” with the famous guitarist Diblo Dibala and became its lead singer. The group toured Africa, Europe, the Caribbean and the United States.

The Congolese legend sold more than 10 million records and had a huge following across Africa.

Culled from The East African

Thousands of people have taken to the streets in Spain for  a third consecutive night demanding the release of a jailed rapper.

For the third night in a row, protesters took to the streets on Thursday night demanding the rapper be released.

In Barcelona, hooded youths hurled stones and bottles at police vans, damaged some vehicles, and a barricade was erected, prompting police to fire tear gas. Small fires were lit in various places in the Catalan capital where protesters burned whatever furniture they found.

The newsroom of the newspaper El Periodico de Cataluna was attacked, while TVE television showed images of clashes in the eastern city of Valencia. Protesters also took to the streets in several cities in the Basque Country.

Since the protests started on Tuesday, police have arrested dozens of protesters in protests that intensified on Wednesday night, with police in Madrid, Barcelona and other Catalan cities firing tear gas, foam and sound bombs at the growing number of protesters who hurled projectiles and set fire to dumpsters. Fifty-five people were injured in the clashes, including 35 police officers. In total, police arrested some 80 protesters in the past days and one woman lost an eye after being hit by a projectile during clashes with Barcelona police who were shooting rubber bullets at protesters.

Source: Presstv