Bouyon Gwada, Theodora, Perle Lama... Media training lessons from 2024 (1/5)
Yé Moun La! I hope 2024 was a great music year for you. Media-wise, 2024 was the year of Bouyon in France. But that's not all! What if we looked back at how our cultures, our artists and we, the primary audience, have been mocked and scorned...
medias and clickbaits
In March/April, some mainstream media give us yet another example of myth #5 (“West Indian artists are only good for partying, sex and drugs”). Described as a “controversial dance in nightclubs” (CNews), Bouyon is described as a “shocking dance” (Le Parisien) “reminiscent of the sexual act” (Le Parisien bis), which “mimes the sexual act” (20 minutes). The TV show “Touche Pas A Mon Poste” even devotes a segment to it, in which Bouyon is ridiculed and Lestef's reaction is seen as validation, even though it's obvious that his applause is ironic... Let's salute the efforts of some to give Bouyon a positive branding related to “its musical rise” (infopop) or by pointing out that these media project “the same fantasies about the West Indies” (Libération)... It's a breath of fresh air, but we've been so used to it for decades that no one pays it any mind.
From October onwards, certain (Afro)hexagonal “specialized/niche” media take over, using various techniques to give the impression of celebrating “West Indian” music, while continuing to make a mockery of it. Is it possible for them to support us without devaluing us and, above all, without rewriting history? Now that Karukerament has talked about the importance of branding and storytelling, it's time to talk about media training.
the karukerament framework
Before we begin, let's set the Karukerament framework with the example of Nuttea. Since the launch of Karukerament in 2019, I haven't seen any artist do such a comprehensive, cross-disciplinary promo. Over two months, he has been featured in leading specialist media, in generalist media, nationally and in Guadeloupe/ Martinique, in all formats (written/audio/video). In early December, he appeared on radio France Bleu's “Décibels” program. Nothing to say about the interview itself (even if the wording of some questions is sometimes borderline). On the other hand, the introductory article is twice wrong about the album title (and with spelling mistakes to boot). It's a human error, but at the time of translating - more than a month after it went online - it still hasn't been rectified. And it's this lack of rigor towards our artists in the content and/or form of the content that interferes with the creation of the right digital space.
In general, our artists are desperate for media coverage/visibility, although (Afro)hexagonal media have always been unfavorable to them (cf. myth #4 - West Indian artists need the media to shine). For examples from 2024, I invite you to watch the interviews with our artists on Mouv''s Bang! Bang! show, which may be entertaining, but what do we remember of them in the end?
From Karukerament's point of view, a useful and rewarding interview has two goals:
to present the artist as a creative expert in their art
make people want to listen to the album, go to a concert, and to support the artist.
I use two criteria to see if these goals are met:
how many minutes/words are devoted to the promoted album in the entire interview?
do the teaser extracts (audio/video/written) on social media highlight the album and/or the artist's creative process?
Recap themes
Remember in 2021 how some of the (Afro)hexagonal media were writing big OP-eds on how West Indian Zouk had been replaced by Afrobeats, how West Indian Zouk or urban music artists were failing to make it on the national scene because they were stupid. Receipts for 2019-2023 are available in “Our (dis)love of Zouk” and in “The myths surrounding West Indian artists”.
In 2024, how did certain (Afro)hexagonal media denigrate West Indian artists and audiences while refusing to question themselves? How can our artists optimize their digital branding? These are the two axes of analysis within the Karukerament framework for this music review of 2024, which will take place through three themes:
how certain media maintain a miserabilistic view of Guadeloupe and Martinique
how certain media perpetuate the imaginary war between Africa and the West Indies
how Caribbean artists use their social media in a chaotic way
Warning: my comments are not personal attacks. If you feel uncomfortable reading these articles, it's normal. Reading about the contempt we suffer, which has been normalized and even internalized by our Afrodescendant entourage, hurts. It remains to be seen whether we'll be talking about concrete solutions in 2025, but at least let's be specific about the real problems that need to be addressed. Happy reading!
How certain media maintain a miserabilistic vision of Guadeloupe and Martinique
How certain media maintain the imaginary war between Africa and the West Indies
How West Indian artists use their social media in a chaotic way
Bonus