This characteristic music originally began around the years 2008 and 2010, and it’s mainly a way of expressing emotions in both good and bad times.

The origins can be traced back to funeral celebrations in the poorer parts of Cameroon to suppress sadness and bring some cheer to the morose wake keeps. But it has recently turned into a new type of music with the addition of lyrics and dance, spreading among youth in destitute neighborhoods of Yaounde.

Mbole, which becomes famous on social media with the song "Dans mon Kwatta" by the Cameroonian musician Petit Malo, gained international fame in 2022 with the participation of Cameroonian sound artists such as Happy d'Efoulan and Petit Bozard.

It is outdoor animation for cultural events, public joints, informal events like wake keeps, and community events.

Young Cameroonians, most of them in their late teens and early 20s, with many of them stricken by poverty, meet in squares of slums to express their emotions such as frustration, despair, love, and sometimes to share their ideas about the problems of the neighborhood and the country's economy through lyrics and dance.

Their lyrics are mostly a reflection of where they come from, their experiences, the views that the world had about them and against them, and their utopic dream of what life could be.

Mbole is putting together musical instruments noticeably the balafon, Meet, drums, and maybe shakers, two unique beat patterns that could practically serve as the main rhythm for the song’s existence and then narrate a story.

AA