Talk:Makossa

New makossa

Jentleman Nwachukwu have boost makossa music of Africa with his new Abulm which he called “No More Suicide” like never before the Nigerian is highly overwelmed with this little 23yrs old boy he rock Africa with bazz Kossa Mamassa ko ko. Lol. Check it out now Jentleman Nwachukwu _No More suicide. Aka.. De bomber Jentleman Nwachukwu (talk) 17:47, 4 November 2016 (UTC)

European colonial influence

MUsicIaN, your addition has been challenged and removed several times. Per WP:BRD, you must engage the community of editors here on the talk page, to gain support for your additions, to form a consensus for the material.

My big concern with the material is that it puts too much emphasis on German, French and British colonial influence in the 19th century. This influence is not given so much prominence in music theory books or world music books. Your sources are not established works about Makossa. Instead, one source is about the German influence on Ambasse Bey music, another source is a doctoral thesis which was not widely seen, and another source is about Cameroon music in general, not about Makossa specifically. I think this material of yours is WP:UNDUE; it gives too much weight to peripheral issues. Binksternet (talk) 22:36, 13 August 2024 (UTC)

Also I would like to mention a few more things. First off, a lot of my sources are about makossa, just that they don't directly mention makossa. But if you connect the dots in the article (given Cameroon was a German colony at one point, that the music of German colonists would influence Cameroonians, and there is actually another source that deals with makossa more directly that mentions the origin of makossa lying with ambasse bey music, which is in turn influenced by German music according to a Cameroonian source), it'll just make sense. That's what I'm aiming for with these contributions. MUsicIaN (talk) 12:37, 14 August 2024 (UTC)

That's the problem. You are connecting the dots, which is a violation of WP:No original research and/or synthesis of sources. Wikipedia expects that the WP:SECONDARY source authors will be the ones who connect the dots for the reader. Binksternet (talk) 14:52, 14 August 2024 (UTC)

Okay. How about this? Can I add 1-2 lines about the Schutztruppe who were also considered German soldiers in the German colonies in Africa, since German soldiers according to a music history source that I looked up were the ones who influenced the native Africans to play the same melodies that were played on the accordion on their artisanal guitars? MUsicIaN (talk) 16:32, 14 August 2024 (UTC)

And I understand you think the material I used is WP:UNDUE, but I got to use some of it. I bet there are plenty of other articles that use some material that doesn't directly have the name of the Wikipedia article, but has information pertaining to the context of the subject material. Why not this one? MUsicIaN (talk) 20:10, 14 August 2024 (UTC)

And also I would like to add, I am not synthesizing new material. In the makossa article, I mentioned that the Schuztruppe were German soldiers. I also mentioned that the Schuztruppe played music for the natives who were not soldiers. Although the word Schuztruppe is not mentioned in all my sources, they all agree that it was German soldiers who played music that inspired the birth of ambasse bey music. And that ambasse bey music is by many accounts known to have inspired makossa music. Nothing is just made up. MUsicIaN (talk) 21:06, 14 August 2024 (UTC)

I am not seeing a compelling reason to add 19th century influences on makossa. The genre was popularized in the 1960s and 1970s, as described by the Rough Guides book on World Music, and by Frank Tenaille's Music is the Weapon of the Future: Fifty Years of African Popular Music. The Bradt Travel Guides book on Cameroon says that makossa started developing in the 1930s from dance music powered by electric guitar; it fused high-life music and soul music. I have seen no books talking about European influence from the 19th century. If authors writing about makossa are not mentioning the 19th century, then it must not be very important. Binksternet (talk) 21:21, 14 August 2024 (UTC)

I have a source on that actually, and I actually cited it in the first few sentences, if I am not mistaken. MUsicIaN (talk) 21:26, 14 August 2024 (UTC)

My edit about the history of makossa

I would like to keep the edits I have made on the history of makossa as it pertains to the overall context of Cameroonian music history, including the colonial influences. I understand that I am doing something a little bit different, but it is important that we move past the surface and go to the roots, so to speak. I have the sources down. I don't know what I'm doing wrong here. Every time I edit the page, my edits get reverted, supposedly because the information given is emphasizing too much European influences. I believe I am just given as much information as I need to give on a part of makossa's history that has been heard and needs to be heard.

MUsicIaN (talk) 22:51, 13 August 2024 (UTC)

MUsicIaN: If you are trying get more people to understand a section of little-known history that "needs to be heard", then you are violating the behavioral guideline at Wikipedia:Tendentious editing, specifically the section "Righting great wrongs". Wikipedia is here to summarize the topic in balance with the way it is represented in the literature. Wikipedia is NOT here to correct an imbalance. Binksternet (talk) 00:05, 14 August 2024 (UTC)

Alright. I will make sure to be more careful with my editing tendencies. Thank you for the advice. MUsicIaN (talk) 02:03, 14 August 2024 (UTC)

However, I still believe that my sources have a tangible connection to makossa, because I am able trace it back to its roots in a way that I believe doesn't deviate from the topic. MUsicIaN (talk) 02:27, 14 August 2024 (UTC)