The Cameroonian comedy sector has been making waves for some time now and the efforts employed by some people to make sure it is on and running must be applauded. The biggest challenge the industry has faced and is still facing, is breaking even. It has never really been all about talent alone, but about the right resources, ranging from branding, networking and sponsorship.
Looking at an Industry like Nigeria’s where the comedy sector skyrocketed and has only been on the rise since then, it might interest one to want to find out, whether Cameroon can depend/rely on it’s comedy sector to do what other entertainment sectors haven’t done.
It is however fair to say that the movie industry has not totally disappointed, as the industry can already boast of some home produced movies like “Saving Mbango” already on international screens and a host of others too like a “Man For the weekend”.
In recent time, the Cameroonian entertainment industry has been labeled “baby industry” and the questions you might want to ask is what qualifies an industry from a baby to a mature one – well, we all can outline the factors as some were early mentioned above. If you consider those, you might actually want to believe that comparing with other countries, the industry is actually “a baby” industry. Who can make it mature then? The comedy sector?( Huum…) may be or may be not.22
The greatest challenge the Cameroonian entertainment has faced and is still facing, is the division of both industries. There is no doubt whatsoever that the industry is divided into two : English and French and this might be a lifetime challenge. May be bilingualism is more of a curse than a blessing. Whether music, movies or comedy, it has never been easy for both the Anglophone and Francophone to commune together. The cultural disparity is a huge barrier and not even the best wishes could help men ride horses. With some topnotch comedians in the west side of the Country like Moustik karismatik officiel, Ulrich TAKAM Officiel, KOLA SUCRÉ and Steve Fah Officiel who have actually been collaborating amongst themselves and reaping the fruits of their labor, their collaboration has only ended amongst themselves.
On the other hand, it is a similar case with the other side of the country, where comedians like Oboy Da Comic, Spaco Lee, Tembu Daniel, #Old_Pancho have only done a few collabos amongst themselves. The Francophones who support each other so much have stayed on their lane and the Anglophone ones who are still struggling for form and a brand are seemingly staying on their own patch too. Guess it’s about who will go to who?
Anyone who knows how Nigerian comedy scaled through can remember “A night of a thousand laughs” which was a Nigerian comedy festival. It did marvelous for who and what they are today. In Cameroon, we have a few of such shows which hardly involves both industries (English and French)
So what makes you think the comedy sector can do what others haven’t done?
If there is anything that has been able to bridge the gap between the two industries, then that thing must be “music”. Collaborations between artists has bridged that gap and if any other thing has to be more than such, the comedians should rather do more of what the musicians have done.
The likes of Jovi, Salatiel, Daphne, Stanley Enow have bridged that gap and you only knew how talented they are when they started collaborating or fusing their sound with the prime language. These are artists who had been doing music before they that time. (Argue with facts)
Going through social media the other day, i read a comedian’s post who was very confident that Cameroonian entertainment will be scaled by comedians (Anglophone comedians he meant) and that got me pondering over and over whether or not that’s possible. Nothing is impossible as they say but this might be very impossible.
The thing is, many of them have been in the sector for long and have only been working hard, what about working smart? You can’t make it to the top in Cameroon without touching both industries most importantly the Francophone industry. They have the highest population take it or leave it.
Why is this coming up, because there is always a cry about showcasing foreign art or craft, so you don’t want foreign craft, you neither want to exploit the larger population in your country, how then can you depend on it to sell a whole industry?
The comedy sector might be able to take Cameroon to another level if and only if both the Anglophone and Francophone comedians can unite. The Francophones can say they don’t really need the Anglophones possibly because they are already international but what about Anglophone comedians? Can they boast about that?
There is always a burning pride of who came first. If this mentality is dropped and many had to walk up to the ones who have the goods for the sake of growth, it will be a battle of why we are not winning international awards.
Those are my thoughts anyways. What about you, what do you think?
~ Pureyuvenity
