Petit-Pays

Petit-Pays born Adolphe Claude Moundi in Douala Cameroon(1969) [crawfurd.dk] . He is also knows as OMEGA, Rabi Rabi, Turbo and famously Advocat defenseur des femme (advocate for women). He is one of the most celebrated Cameroonian musicians of the late 80's and 90's. He is known as the best Makossa bass guitarist of his era and arguable the best ever. [West 19.] His music has evolved over the years adapting to contemporary African genres. He mixes native Cameroonian makossa with sokous, zouk, and salsa, leading to the portmanteau label of "makozouk" for some of his music. [Mbaku 198; West 19.] He lunched his first album Houssa in 1987, after working with makossa producers. In Houssa he says his father is Houssa and mother is Douala.

His has a band and they are known as Petit Pays et Les Sans Visa and has seen several band members moving on to start their own solo careers over the 90's and 2000's. It includes artists like Samy Diko, Kaissa Pakito, Samantha Fox, Guy Manu, Njohreur, Xavier Lagaf and lots of other succeessful makossa musicians, through his band called sans visa. It is rumored that he gave the name Sans Visa to his band because he was deported from France for not having a visa.

He is the self crowned king of Makossa. In one of his songs Le Jour de ma Mort(the day I die) from the album Class FM and other songs, he compares himself to Fela Kuti of Nigeria, Alpha Blondie, Salief Keita of Mali and Youssou N'dour of Senegal. While it is a controversial topic amongs Cameroonians, he always gives credit to legends like Francis Bebey, Eboi Lotin and Manu Dibango.

He is known for his sometimes offensive dressing, controversial album covers and lyrics. He caused a stir in the mid nineties(94?) when he posed naked for his album cover King of Makossa(Love Class FM).

Notes

References

* Mbaku, John Mukum (2005). "Culture and Customs of Cameroon". Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press.
* West, Ben (2004). "Cameroon: The Bradt Travel Guide". Guilford, Connecticut: The Globe Pequot Press Inc.
* Fritzgerald Enow (2007). "makossa legends". Kansas city, missouri:
* http://crawfurd.dk/africa/petitpays.htm