From Stanley Enow to Zinnia and now Libianca, history is repeating itself as we are again watching an artist from Cameroon go viral with one song on the big stage.
In 2013, after releasing what is still one of the most important hit tracks to shape the new era of the Cameroonian music industry till date by an artist from the new generation, Stanley Enow went on to tour the world with “Hein Père”, a song that put him right up there with other big African names. It also saw him outshine the likes of Burna Boy, at the 2014 MTVA Africa Awards, to become the first and only Cameroonian to ever win an MTV Africa Award ever since.
Four years later, an unprecedented Zinnia would go viral as she dominated the music scene in Fiji and the Mauritius Islands with her hit song Overload. The song was the most trending songs in Fiji in 1998 into 1999 that she was motivated to do the official music video for it in Fiji. While very little can be said of the star girl right now, it will remain in the history books that she toured Africa with just one song.
Four years later, we watched another very talented Cameroonian singer, not only dominating Africa, but the main global music streaming platforms with one song. Libianca has been on every lip with a single hit song “People“, and it’s the first time in several years, that a Cameroonian is controlling global streaming platforms in this manner.
Although Libianca’s streaming numbers for People are significantly higher than Stanley Enow’s streaming numbers for Hein Père, one should not underestimate Enow’s efforts given the era or the time Hein Père came out (in 2013) and given that he is based in Cameroon, and had to work his way to the top of the charts without the guidance of any major international record labels backing him, and the fact that he had did not gain exposure through any music competitions. One thing Enow has on his side is his keen understanding of branding and communication. He is king in that arena and this may have also helped to propel his career during and a post Hein Père.
Those who have followed Enow’s early career during the Hein Père era might agree that Enow managed to make a name for himself in Cameroon, a country where the politics within the music industry seems more than that of it’s government and a country with a slow growing music industry, despite the many talents it inhabits. In other words, Stanley Enow made the most out of his career with the little he had to work with. Others might disagree.
Zinnia and Libianca have very rich musical backgrounds. Zinnia was the winner of the Nescafe Music Competition, a few years ago in Cameroon, while Libianca was part of “The Voice” Season 21. Both vocal queens have had to do it away from Cameroon and while Zinnia’s continuity might have been hampered by the lack of a big music entity to push her forward, Libianca might just be here stay, given that she has got a giant record label (Sony Music) behind her. A part of the Sony Music subsidiary, coupled with her musical talent, Libianca has a big opportunity to go further up in the game.
