22, January 2020
Bikutsi: Cameroon’s hyper-erotic dance giving women an artistic ‘voice’ 0
Bikutsi, a dance celebrating sexuality and relationships, has taken centre stage across Cameroon in the past three decades.
The form arose in patriarchal communities where women were forbidden “to raise their voices in public”, Cameroonian ethnomusicologist Jean Maurice Noah wrote in his book on the subject.
Olivia Beyene, Bikutsi singer said: “That’s the soppy, frilly side, that’s what it is. It’s a bit seductive too, it’s part of bikutsi, especially on stage and it’s specific to Cameroon, it’s specific to the Cameroon bikutsi show.”
An artistic director says Bikutsi is hyper erotic, sensual and expresses what is basic. The, ground, the earth, the essence and at the end of the day, and at the end of all that we have done, there is what is essential to man, to human being, a rapprochement between man and woman.
Olivia adds: “It’s kind of popular. In Cameroon the population likes it, the population likes the perverse side, that’s what attracts attention. It’s just to attract attention and to play to the gallery. But if not, behind all this, there is always a message to convey.”
Bikutsi was born in pre-colonial times in the fang, bulu and beti ethnic areas of central and southern Cameroon, where women would gather together after a hard day’s work, without the men, to sing and dance of joys, sorrows and frustrations.
In this era of freedom, some women expressed, the pain of living next to a violent husband, while others shared the secrets of a successful marriage with the younger ones.
Source: France 24
15, February 2020
St Valentine’s Day in Dublin: The African Chaplaincy Connection 0
Valentine’s Day is celebrated throughout the world as a time for love and romance. This year, the Irish Republic witnessed an African touch into the normal desire to sell cards, flowers and chocolates as members of the Swords Centre, African Chaplaincy in the Archdiocese of Dublin made history by staging one of the most colorful St Valentine’s Day party ever.
Speaking during the event that was hosted at the Royal Plazza Chinese Restaurant, the chairman of the Catholic Men Organization Swords Centre, Sir Dr Denis Chima observed that historians have revealed much about St Valentine considered the patron saint of love and courting couples.
Sir Dr Denis Chima furthered that Valentine lived in the third century and was executed for his Christian beliefs and for performing illegal wedding ceremonies for soldiers that angered the authorities because married men did not have to go to war.
For her part, the president of the Catholic Women Organization Swords Centre, Lady Sabrina Ada pointed out that there should be more to love and marriage than just a practical affair for couples to pair off to increase their wealth and status.
Romantic love thrived among couples who attended the celebration which ended with a memorable exchange of gifts between the Catholic Men Organization and the Catholic Women Organization.
By Soter Agbaw-Ebai