Canal d'Or: When Gold Threatens To Rust
Rumour has it that gold is one of the least reactive elements on the Periodic Table. In fact, gold does not react with oxygen and so cannot rust. However, there is a rare kind of gold in Cameroon that is threatening to rust because it reacts with cultural inaccuracies, politicians and popular outcry for representation. This gold is Canal d'Or: an award show created in 2004 by Canal 2 International, a private television station.
Nominations for the 13th edition of this award were announced recently to resounding backlash from some leading English-speaking music and movie makers. Following the nominations, Anglophone singer Magasco posted a rather cryptic message on his Facebook page wondering whether he should not change his stage name from Bamenda Boy to Graffi given that the latter seems to be a problem. Adah Akenji, another Anglophone singer and music video director, posted in far less cryptic terms, saying that he will boycott this year's edition of the award show because Magasco was snubbed despite the body of work he has produced. Nkwanya Nkwai, a filmmaker, also expressed his frustration asking whether award organisers were deliberately biased or just ignorant as they snubbed several Cameroonian movies and actors, mostly Anglophone-made, who have racked up several awards internationally and delivered breath-taking performances.
In as much as the above frustrations are relevant, permit me to opine that these alleged shortcomings fall short of two others that have escaped popular attention. Let me explain. Or try to explain. I hope it makes sense.
Creation & Promotion of Discriminatory Hierarchy Between Local Genres
There is one award category that has never sat well with me since its creation. I am talking here about the Best Folklore Artist/Group. Usually, the performers featured in this category make music from genres that objectively can be labelled non-mainstream: Bend-skin, Sahelian, Njang, Makoumé, and Xylophone folklore. Bear in mind that all these genres are indigenously Cameroonian. Meanwhile in other categories, performers engaged in what can again objectively be defined as mainstream genres—Makossa, Bikutsi, Afropop—are featured.
This is the problem: this segmentation is problematic in the sense that it creates and entrenches genre elites in a multi-cultural context like ours. Basically, the organisers have inadvertently created a vertical, and so discriminatory, hierarchy between genres that should be horizontally juxtaposed. In other words, how can Cameroonians sit and create a value system that celebrates some indigenous genres at the expense of others? Isn't this subtle musical tribalism? Aren't the organisers creating a devaluatory system similar to what African performers and their exotic genres have experienced for decades on the international scene where they are all bundled up in the 'World Music' category because there is an implied consideration that their art, despite its global appeal, has no place competing against Western pop art forms on the same stage?
Based on the foregoing, I am left wondering when we decided that Makossa was better than Bend-skin? Or Bikutsi better than Njang?
Bad Romance with Politicians
Another undercommented issue with this prestigious award show has been its growing romance with politicians. Since 2015 at least, the First Lady of Cameroon has attended this show to patron-deserving ovation. Her attendance has become regular and a highlight of the event. As a political figure, she *de facto* brings a trail of controversy and suspicion to a feast that otherwise doesn't need such a burden. The motherly image her aides try to beam into the nooks and crannies of our national consciousness does not in any case help here because to the average Cameroonian, she is more closely associated with the rustiness of her husband's regime than with the glitz and glamour of entertainment. Her disco-ball outfits and luminescence tend to hijack popular attention that should entrancingly fall on the actual stars of the night—musicians and actors; not politicians or their marital offspring.
Consequently, her continuous presence lends itself to unfortunate and unnecessary conclusions and is a disservice to the entertainment event. Under other skies, politicians are never front and centre at such events. They are on the margins. On the fringes. Space debris whose orbital presence next to the real stars is more the result of negligence than merit. There is an argument to be made that this is an example of government support for the arts, but if Cameroonian performers were asked to choose between such support and cleaning the Augean stable we call royalties in this country, I dare say I know they would easily forfeit the First Lady's charming presence.
About that Alleged Marginalisation of Anglophone Performers
Music and movie makers are artists: painfully emotional beings by nature, so it is unsurprising to see them respond with such primal almost uncensored emotion to the snubs. Alleged at this point. Emotions aside, a cursory look at the evolution of the Canal d'Or award shows provides little evidence of an anti-Anglophone bias. There is rather clear evidence of the contrary.
During the show's first edition in 2004, the first winner of the Best Hip-Hop Artist category or group was XLM 4 Real: an Anglophone urban music duo from Buea that sang exclusively in English. No syllable of French in their award-winning hit song "Magic." Other Anglophone performers have over the years walked away with the oval gold trophy: Stanley Enow, Daphne, just to name these two. This fact definitely warrants the use of alternative terminology to report the recent snub of notable Anglophone performers. Rather than lazily vilify the organisers, the smart thing to do could be to search for more logical explanations for these disturbing absences. New award show rules? All-Francophone nominating panel? Etc., etc.
Some Alternative Explanations
As a human endeavour, Canal d'Or can fall short every now and then. It should even be expected to. Here are some alternative reasons to explain the shortcomings:
- Given the times we live in, marginalising Anglophones on such a platform would be a huge mistake by any "Francophone" organisation because it will be BAD PR.
- Maybe the bi-annual nature of the award doesn't align with current consumer habits. People easily forget. Recent releases are quickly crushed by the weight of new releases. So nominating someone for a great song released over 16 months ago can feel discriminatory to someone who released a good song four months ago.
- Maybe the nominating committee is made up of people with a narrow musical and linguistic palette.
This list can go on and on.
That Said
Despite its evolutionary defects, Canal d'Or remains a pioneer award show that played a pivotal role in showcasing the breadth and depth of Anglophone talent. It is no exaggeration to argue that Canal d'Or fast-tracked the rise to national prominence of Anglophone performers. Through numerous nominations and a few yet ground-breaking victories, Canal d'Or repeatedly spotlighted Anglophone singers, making them fixtures on the entertainment landscape.
Its organisers too have proven that they are quite accommodating of change. An example of this is when they included the public in the voting process following outcries over panel-based selection of winners. Outcries are an opportunity for feedback-friendly individuals and organisations to introspect and improve. Hopefully, all our comments will be heard and corrective action will be taken. As ground breakers, this is a chance to polish their gold that threatens to rust in defiance of chemical logic.
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P.S.: Starting a piece about Cameroon urban culture with chemistry references is quite strange even more so given my academic precedents. Terrible at chemistry and physics in secondary school, I googled all those parts you see here about the chemical properties of gold. This is my disclaimer lest my former classmates who know I was no science-subject kingpin come at me for forging my scientific credentials. Lol. Now that we have gotten this out of the way, I hope you get my point.
