Golden Sounds
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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Golden Sounds or Zangalewa is a makossa group from Cameroon. It was led by a career member of Cameroon's presidential guard, Jean Paul Zé Bella. The men in the group provided comical musical entertainment, often dressing in military uniforms, wearing pith helmets and stuffing their clothes with pillows to appear like they had swollen bottoms from riding the train and fat stomachs from eating too much. The band is most famous for its song, Zangalewa, which was a huge hit in Africa since its release in 1986. The song was also popular in Colombia where it was known as "The Military" and brought to the country by West African DJs. The song made their band so popular that they later changed the name of their group to Zangalewa, which means "Where are you from?". In 2010 Shakira's collaboration with Freshlyground for the 2010 World Cup, produced the song "Waka Waka (This Time For Africa)" as a tribute to African Music.
Jean Paul ze Bella has since retired from the presidential guard in 2002 after 30 years of service but his song stands as an icon of Cameroonian military history.
