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Bikutsi

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Bikutsi is a rhythmic style which originated with the Beti people of present day Cameroon. Literally, it means to "thump the earth," which gives a strong indication that the Beti are what anthropologists would call "dirt affirming people"; that is, they recognize many aspects of human nature including those that are sexually driven. In origins the bikutsi rhythms were war- and blood-affirming. The music would call the people together by resounding through the forest. Such calls were made for requisite vengeance against other groups. These heavily energetic rhythms were meant to enjoin one's blood to boil -- in the figurative sense -- for the cause of war. Rhythmic dances of the bikutsi were preserved by the women as a response to Christian missionaries who attempted to "save" the people from their own "sinful" expressions. Storytelling occurred, followed by dances in which the shaking of the shoulders, back, and buttocks were succeeded by a series of clapping. The dances are still performed and the fighting concepts have been removed. Sexual underpinnings and fantasies (as told in the stories of the women) clearly remain in the bikutsi rhythms.