Ambass-bey

What is it?

Ambass-bey is a traditional music and dance of Cameroon's Littoral. It is played on simple instruments, above all the guitar, with percussion from bottles struck with sticks or forks. Its tempo is faster than that of assiko.

History and origin of the name

The genre grew popular in Douala after the Second World War and evolved across the Littoral through the 1950s and 1960s. It is one of the Sawa rhythms that inspired the pioneers of makossa, which eventually overshadowed it in the mid-1960s.

Rhythm, instruments and dance

• A brisk rhythm, faster than that of assiko.
• A very acoustic music: guitar, bottles and sticks, sometimes a conga; Eboa Lotin added the harmonica.
• A dance for couples or soloists, made of fluid steps and jerky shoulder movements, performed in traditional Sawa dress at celebrations and funerals alike.

Key artists

• Sallé John — described as the standard-bearer of ambass-bey, he celebrated 45 years in music in 2021.
• Eboa Lotin — in the mid-1960s, his ambass-bey on guitar and harmonica was one of the earliest forms of makossa.
• Nelle Eyoum — an ambass-bey player in Douala before launching makossa.
• Lobe Lobe Rameau and Ebanda Manfred — other ambass-bey musicians who found an audience in Douala.

Today

Supplanted by makossa, which became the country's most popular music, ambass-bey was partly revived by Sallé John. It is still danced in the Littoral at festive and funeral ceremonies.

What sources disagree on

Sources disagree on its origin: English Wikipedia first places it among the Yabassi, then calls it Sawa in origin and modelled on German dances of the colonial period. The origin of the name is not established. Its popularisation is credited either to Tchako around 1952 or to Sallé John in the 1960s.