Bikutsi music is built on a very fast, syncopated rhythm played on traditional drums and the balafon. The balafon is like a large wooden xylophone with gourd resonators hanging underneath the wooden keys - when a key is struck, the gourd makes the sound ring out and echo. Bikutsi rhythms are complex and layered, with different drummers playing interlocking patterns that fit together like puzzle pieces.
Traditional bikutsi was originally performed at important ceremonies - funerals, initiations and celebrations - and the lyrics often contained proverbs, advice, and commentary on everyday life. Singers would use humour, satire and wordplay to communicate ideas in a way that was entertaining and sometimes cheeky. The audience would respond, joining in and calling back to the performers.
In the 1980s and 1990s, bikutsi went electric. Artists like Anne-Marie Nzié and later groups like Les Têtes Brûlées (The Hot Heads) added electric guitars, synthesisers and louder drums, turning bikutsi into a modern dance music phenomenon. Les Têtes Brûlées became famous for their wild stage performances and painted faces, and brought bikutsi to audiences in Europe and America.
Today bikutsi and makossa are considered the two great musical pillars of Cameroonian culture. They are often played together at celebrations - a party might start with slow makossa and then erupt into fast bikutsi as the night goes on and the dancing gets more energetic. Both styles are taught in some Cameroonian schools as part of the national cultural heritage.