Cameroonian artistes facing dormant audience
So, for the past couple of days, a good section of the English-speaking Cameroonian musisphere has been clouded by talks and discussions about dormant audience that artistes meet during their performance in shows.
Last Sunday 6th October 2019, Cameroonian artiste, Fhish met a very dormant audience, nonreactive and un-appreciative and ‘un-interactive; audience during his performance at the Regional Finals of Miss Cameroon that held at Salle Saphir Akwa.
Fhish was caught on camera putting up an amazing and spirited performance to a very dormant crowd who seemed not to recognize his presence or perhaps they just wanted more. Watch video of his performance below.
See also: [Video Premiere] Fhish – Anti Kirikou (Download video)
Recall that another artist, Mic Monsta met almost similar dormant audience during his performance at Njeiforbi Snack bar, Bamenda last year, April 2018 and saw similar reaction from fans, artiste and the media online post the event. Watch the video attached below.
Also, similar talks and reactions were held online when a video of Kikoh‘s performance at the Douala Hip Hop festival 2018 emerged online. Kikoh was so frustrated as he met a dormant audience, he told them that if they don’t stand to cheer him, he will not leave the stage. Watch video below;
Several other artistes have faced similar dormant audience, while others still face them till today. It’s easy to blame the crowd in such circumstances given we see cheering crowds in International performances, or when foreign artistes come and perform here in Cameroon. However, many have advised that this is not only about the crowd, as the artiste and event’s organizers have a huge role to play.
Talented rapper and songwriter Blueprint Hakeem came in on the situation and shared his thoughts. He pointed out that the crowd or dormant audience in many of these shows didn’t come for music, reason why they seem dead. He also pointed out that event’s organizers do not take seriously the aspect of which artiste or song should be played at what sort of event.
Hakeem recommended that artistes and event’s organizers should study the crowd and know what song or artiste to invite for an event. Event’s organizers should also prioritize fans who cheer and scream for artistes to sit in front, closer to the artistes. See screenshot below for full recommendations.
See also: [Music&EP Download] Blueprint Hakeem: Excuse My English EP
Another popular artiste, Mr. Leo, one of Cameroon’s biggest music exports now also weighed in with an opinion on the issue of the dormant audience. Mr. Leo explained that he is surprised to still see such a dormant crowd in shows, something that he witnessed when he was still a rising artiste. He condemned every bit of it and asked on fans to encourage their artistes who only do what they do because of them, the fans.
See also: [Music] Mr. Leo – Toujours Haut (Download audio)
Another artist, Stevelil Njang, editor of one of Cameroon’s biggest and much celebrated media outlets, Nexdim Empire also weighed in on the issue of dormant audience. He rather had a contrary opinion to what Blueprint and Mr. Leo had to say above as he said Fhish for example has not reached a certain level of star power that can cause the audience to immediately applaud when he is performing. He said artistes should learn to communicate with the audience with the various techniques available. See his post below.
Several other artistes, media/online personalities, fans have weighed in opinions on this matter, while others blame the dormant audience as we’ve seen from the above, others say the audience should not be guilt tripped into faking that they are impressed by artistes who refused to improve on their performance.
The truth is that all these different opinions must come up. But we all know and can easily relate when we see those very bad situations. To me, this issue of dormant audience is the perfect milieu to practice the “Support your own” theme. The theme here will not be related to you supporting a Cameroonian or your country man, but to you supporting someone trying in front of you, trying to impress and entertain you.
The above videos and others that I couldn’t upload here are very disappointing and could discourage some people from taking their music and passion public and further commercial.
Entertainers must work on their stage performances, audience-type, type of music, dressing etc, while they use their platform to school their audience, tell them how bad it is for him seeing them dormant. Established artistes should explain to them how difficult it was for them at the early stages. They should condemn the dormant audience and ask their fans to encourage them as they work to entertain them.
We can never cover the excuses, or proposed recommendations for why and how to treat these dormant audiences.
What do you think about this issue of dormant audience? Please weigh in your proposal or opinion with us in the comments section below;
