ENGLISH CAMEROON ENTERTAINMENT – THE HOME OF DIGITAL CELEBRITIES.

My people of the same struggle. Accept warm greetings from yours truly. It has been an uphill battle for the fight for a constructive independent entertainment industry in English Cameroon, but the battle is yet to be won. I do not write to bring havoc, but if havoc will lead to victory, then here comes the bomb. If we have to destroy to build, then here comes the sledge hammer. 

Recently, our digital media has been flooded with digital charlatans who call themselves entertainers. In a world where digital media has overtaken traditional publicity avenues (television, radio, newspaper), we are continuously bombarded with releases and fake publicity from digital celebrities who pride themselves with electronic fame. Nowadays, it suffices for one to sit in his room and record rubbish, post it on the net and boom! A CELEBRITY IS BORN.

Granted, the world is moving towards a more digital era, but let us not forget the place of traditional media in our society when it comes to publicity. Traditional media (television, radio, newspaper) feeds information to new media (internet, phones etc) and not necessarily the other way round. New media was not born to replace traditional media but rather to mass communicate information provided by said medium.

Though the world is digital, how many people in our society are connected? We all knew about Petit Pays when we watched him on Tv. EVERYONE saw how good he was. His music sold itself. Why? ACCESSIBILITY. Even with no TVs, we squatted at our neighbours’ houses to get a glimpse of his splendour. How often do you borrow your neighbour’s connection to download a track released by our digital celebrities? Granted, celebrities have been born in the digital realm, but they have never remained there. 

Our Cameroonian movies, music and comedy will be much better if the propagators desist from self proclamation on Facebook and Twitter, and focus more on the traditional media in place. Come to think of it; how many cab drivers, call box operators, bar owners and buyam sellams have Facebook accounts? If we limit ourselves to interacting with THE SAME people we meet on the internet EVERYDAY, then we will only manage to limit our publicity scope. Stop the digital award shows. Stop the digital album releases. Strive to be different. Embrace change, not mediocrity.

SELF IMPOSED AWARDS IN ENGLISH CAMEROON ENTERTAINMENT.

 “And the winner is….”

This famous sentence used to resonate in the halls of trustworthy award shows, creating anticipation and generating standing ovations as deserving winners and nominees congratulated each other on their immense contribution to the entertainment industry. You can name them; The Oscars, The Golden Globes and recently, The Africa Magic Viewer’s Choice Awards. Award shows used to mean the celebration of outstanding men and women who have changed the face of entertainment, people who have reinvented the wheel of art.

Now, we are flooded with numerous “award shows” some of which are created from the egocentricity of the minds of charlatans who call themselves entertainers. 

Granted, some English Cameroon entertainers have put in a colossal effort in the industry, but when they start patting themselves on the back with these consistently substandard award shows, one begins to question their motives. 

Often times, these quack entertainers just make much ado about nothing as they magnify their trivial contributions to an exaggerated scale, creating wrong impressions in the minds of the public who have thankfully not yet seen their horrendous works of art. How on earth can a movie be nominated when it has not yet been released? In fact, some movies have been nominated though still at the editing stage.

One clear example is “DECODED”, which has gathered numerous awards on various online and offline award shows (Cam Movies Merit Award, DAMA Awards, the recent SONNAH Awards etc.) How does a jury screen a movie while it is still at the editing level? What are we celebrating? Assumptions or facts? I am not saying the movies which were nominated were poor, but I am decrying the criteria for their selection. I do not hold the producers at fault. All fingers point to award show organizers.  

If we want to allow the wind of professionalism to blow in the nooks and crevices of this “emerging” industry, we should learn the proper ways to professionalize our actions. Only then can we benefit from the rewards of real recognition and not selfish self-donated awards that only help to diminish the potentials of talented minds in English Cameroonian entertainment.