Frank Bessem's Musiques d'Afrique: K-Tino

Frank Bessem's
Musiques d'Afrique:

K-Tino
(Cameroon)

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K-Tino is not yet known outside of Cameroon, but on a national level, she is famous for her energetic bikutsi music. This music from the central part of the country, around the capital Yaoundé, gained importance during the late 1980s and 1990s, partly to the detriment of makossa music. As the political power basis shifted from the north to the south, a cultural renaissance of the people living in the south, i.e. the ewondo, beti and bulu, occurred.
The bikutsi music is characterised by a up-tempo rhythm, danced with rhythmic pulsations of shoulders and/or the pelvis. Since more than ten years now, K-Tino (on earlier albums Catino) is one of the main exponents of bikutsi music. The lyrics of K-Tino are said to be quite explicite, something she rejected during an interview: "dire que ma musique est obscène, c'est dire que la langue ewondo est obscène" (ICCnet Cameroun, 2000). Song titles such as Action 69, Viagra, Ascenseur, Casse Bambou can be interpreted as explicitely as you wish though...

Musicians on "Ascenseur": Tino Beauregard (guitar), Félix Akono (bass), B. Robert (keyboards), Yves Abanda (toumba), Ange Abanda (backing vocals).

Born: as Catherine Edoa Balla
Style: Bikutsi

Discography:

Title	Year	Label	Remarks
7eme ciel	2006
Best of Vol. 1	2003	Nkulnnam CDNKL 058
Ne pousse pas... le bouchon loin	2003	Nkulnnam CDNKL 055	& Quartier Poto-Poto
Poto-Poto	2003		& Quartier Poto-Poto
Ekargator	2001	Nkulnnam NKL19	CD
Action 69	2001?	Nkulnnam NKL18	CD
Egalité Oblige	2000	Polla Prod. FF 004	CD
Ekobo	2000		Local cassette
Viagra - Baisse-toi	2000	JPN Paris	CD
La Petite Adada	1998		Local cassette
Casse Bambou	1995		Local cassette
Thermomètre	1993		Local cassette
Ascenseur	1991	Chalet Productions Vol.1	Local cassette
K-Tino, Rantanplan & Fam Ndzengue:
Le meilleur du Bikutsi	2001?	MC Pop Music CD MC 0042