Satire musicale et nouvelles formes d’expression des mouvements citoyens au Cameroun : esquisse d’analyse des textes musicaux de Valsero et Dimaï

After independence, the visible forms of commitment (especially political) were
led from above, through the single party which constituted a real framework of
social control. The struggles for political liberalization as well as the controversial
presidential election of 1992 gave rise to waves of mobilization favored by Law
nº 90-55 of 19 December 1990 to lay down regulations governing public
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meetings and processions. But upon observation, an implementation gap
between the law and practice exists ; consequently resulting in the prohibition
or repression of social and political street mobilizations, especially when they are
not favorable to the party in power. Studies on the end of demonstrations or
collective demobilization in Cameroon highlight this repressive system. This state
of affairs, far from putting an end to citizen mobilizations and expressions, rather
reconfigures them. This article reviews a form of mobilization through music of
collective frustrations by two selected artists, namely Valsero and Dimaï. This
piece of work shows that protest or satirical music is the way of the "outsiders"
faced with a repressive system that imposes the refinement of the registers of
participation. The paradigms of "relative frustration" and "mobilization of
resources" make it possible to analyze these modes of action as a reaction to
permanent social frustrations but which reveals a certain specialization of the
operating modes.