CAMEROON • BAMUM KINGDOM

Music is very important for the Bamum people. The repertoire, instruments and performances are linked to every aspect of the life and history of the kingdom. Much of the instruments and repertoires were appropriated from the various populations conquered by the Bamum; the secret societies play specific instruments which are their emblems; each major political event requires the presence of specific musical pieces. The result is an extraordinary diversity of genres and repertories performed on horns, oboe, whistles in hocket, kazoo, lamellaphones, pluriarc, harp-zither, bells and double-bells, drums, rattles and scrappers.