Album artwork for Roger Bekono by Roger Bekono

Roger Bekono made a deep mark in the contemporary history of Cameroonian music through the four-on-the-floor, ribald intensity of bikutsi. The Ewondo-language dance-pop style that forms an undulating tapestry of interlocking triplet rhythmic interplay came to international prominence in the European “world music” scene as the 90s began. But the relentless sound of bikutsi developed in Yaoundé at the hands of Bekono and many others, as it developed from a village-based singing style performed mostly by women into a cosmopolitan music force that rivaled the popularity of established musics like Congolese rhumba, merengue and makossa. With his unique—some say suave—voice, Bekono contributed much over a period of more than 10 years as part of the evolution of this traditional rhythm-turned-urban dance movement.

Roger Bekono

Roger Bekono

Awesome Tapes From Africa
Album artwork for Roger Bekono by Roger Bekono
LP

$19.99

Black
Released 06/16/2023Catalog Number

ATFA047lp

Learn more
Album artwork for Roger Bekono by Roger Bekono
CD

$14.99

Released 07/07/2023Catalog Number

ATFA047cd

Learn more
Roger Bekono

Roger Bekono

Awesome Tapes From Africa
Album artwork for Roger Bekono by Roger Bekono
LP

$19.99

Black
Released 06/16/2023Catalog Number

ATFA047lp

Learn more
Album artwork for Roger Bekono by Roger Bekono
CD

$14.99

Released 07/07/2023Catalog Number

ATFA047cd

Learn more

Roger Bekono made a deep mark in the contemporary history of Cameroonian music through the four-on-the-floor, ribald intensity of bikutsi. The Ewondo-language dance-pop style that forms an undulating tapestry of interlocking triplet rhythmic interplay came to international prominence in the European “world music” scene as the 90s began. But the relentless sound of bikutsi developed in Yaoundé at the hands of Bekono and many others, as it developed from a village-based singing style performed mostly by women into a cosmopolitan music force that rivaled the popularity of established musics like Congolese rhumba, merengue and makossa. With his unique—some say suave—voice, Bekono contributed much over a period of more than 10 years as part of the evolution of this traditional rhythm-turned-urban dance movement.