Obscene music in Cameroon: Mani Bella’s Dagobert title, a bad example

By Nfor Hanson Nchanji

Obscene music in Cameroon, like in many other places, has raised concerns about its potential influence on societal norms, especially among the youth. Communities, parents, and educators need to engage in conversations about media literacy, values, and responsible consumption to mitigate any negative impact.

At a time when the government passed stringent finance bills, fuel scarcity hitting hard on the people, and high cost of living, Cameroonian youths were not served with intellectual debates about their future but with obscene music that gave them sexual pleasure at the detriment of their rightful thinking.

Recently, Bikutsi Artiste, Mani Bella released a song titled, “Dagobert” where she talks about how she wants her man’s “Dagobert”, apparently, manhood, to be long.

It’s concerning when inappropriate content influences young people, with her new song, every young girl has jumped up to the challenge of sending her videos of them dancing sexually. Promoting awareness and encouraging discussions about responsible media consumption can help address the impact of obscene music on youths in Cameroon.

Obscene music can have various impacts on society, including influencing attitudes, behaviors, and cultural norms. It may contribute to the normalization of explicit content, potentially affecting social values, relationships, and the well-being of individuals, especially the youth. Open discussions, media literacy, and promoting alternative positive content can help mitigate these impacts.

The government of Cameroon has not taken measures to regulate such a sector- in the past, the government would quickly ban a political song or focus attention on the producers; like in the case of the late Lapiro de Mbanga and Valsero. But what has the government done to regulate songs that degrade the moral values of Cameroonian youths? Nothing.

Grammy Award winner, Richard Bona, said Mani’s song was useless for the youths and depicted the situation of the Cameroonian society, but Mani Bella picked on him and poured insults on her Facebook page.