Six months on the ground. Four cities. More than 60 artists, producers, engineers, label heads and venue owners on camera. This is "Inside Cameroon's Booming Music Scene" — Like Wow TV's most ambitious original documentary to date, releasing in full next Friday.
The film traces a single arc: how a country that exported Manu Dibango's "Soul Makossa" in 1972 — a record many credit as the first true global African crossover — went through three quiet decades, and is now, finally, finding a new generation that the world is ready to listen to.
What's In The Film
- Stanley Enow, in his Bonanjo studio, walking us through the making of "Waka"
- Salatiel, talking honestly about working on Beyoncé's Black Is King and what he learned about exporting African sound
- Daphne, on the move from francophone-only to Pidgin-inflected releases
- Charlotte Dipanda, on holding the line for a Cameroonian voice in a Lagos-dominated industry
- The new wave — Reniss, Tzy Panchak, Askia, Locko, Mr Leo — and the producers building the next decade in studios from Bafoussam to Buea
Why We Made It
"Cameroon's story has been told by everyone except Cameroonians for too long. This film is our turn."
That is the opening line, narrated over a slow aerial shot of Mount Cameroon at sunrise. From there, the film moves city by city, artist by artist, and lets the scene speak for itself. There are no Western talking heads. No "expert" commentary from outside. Every voice in the documentary is a voice that lives, works and creates inside the country.
How To Watch
The full 90-minute documentary releases on the Like Wow TV homepage and YouTube channel next Friday at 8pm WAT. A shorter cinema cut will tour Yaoundé, Douala, Limbe, Paris and Brussels through summer.