Mus'Art Gallery

“This new vision calls for Mus’Art to ever than before engage the people of Kumbo to become more involve in our activities.  It also calls for a new Mus’Art image and approach which intends to be very open and flexible, a space where creativity and uniqueness are promoted through exciting and stimulating programs such as the exhibition we are launching this morning.”

Peter Musa, Director of Mus’Art on the launching of the international exhibition 1000 Peace Women across the Globe at Mus’Art Gallery, Friday 16^th March, 2007.

Join us in this New Vision to make Mus’Art a

 People Friendly Museum

Living Museum

A 21st Century African Museum

Mus’Art has a collection of over 400 objects most of which were created between 1970 and 2000. These varied and diverse objects range from Bamboo work to Wood Carvings, Basketry to Pottery. The museum continues to acquire contemporary Cameroonian arts and crafts while maintaining a major focus on the Western Grass-fields region. This region is internationally renowned for having produced masterpieces of African art. Unfortunately these objects were appropriated by colonial missionaries and officers removed from their place of origin to museums in Europe or the United States of America.

 Mus’Art was created in part as to preserve in response to the loss of these precious objects so the Art of the past is not lost to the region. Its mission is to support the arts and crafts of the Western Grass-fields and to highlight the excellence and diversity of regional artists, past and present, so these may become known nationally and internationally. We propose to do this by providing a source of information leading to a greater understanding and appreciation of the varied and diverse material culture of the peoples of the Cameroon Grass-fields as expressed through their art forms.

We run a schools outreach programme that encourages local schools to send students on excursion to Mus'Art. Regular excursions are organised for students of some of the schools based in Kumbo. The students visit once in a year mostly in first term.

Our first temporary exhibition was organised in June/July 2004 on Traditional Musical Instruments of the Nso' Kingdom of the Cameroon Grassfields. We look forward to organising more temporary exhibitions on specific themes and of individual artists .

Our Arts, Culture and Development Information Centre is committed to collect and catalog information and publications on the Western Grass-fields and to make these available to the public. Its aim is to both preserve and to stimulate interest in regional art and culture. The centre currently keeps pace with development issues through its subscriptions to over 100 journals on arts, heritage, culture and music. It thus acts as a repository for current information and issues.

The newest addition to Mus’Art, our Centre for Music aims to collect local folk music as well as contemporary music in Cameroon. It has become a source for both recordings and printed music. The growing centre promotes cultural diversity through its collection of recorded music, musical scores and various printed materials. In making these available to the public, the centre is a valuable resource for anyone interested in music.

Our ultimate goal is the preservation of Cameroon’s rich and diverse musical heritage, primarily through recordings. We are still far from realizing this GOAL due to lack of funds for the recording equipment and personnel; however we have made progress (as shown by our current collection) and hope to complete the collection over the next decade.

Cameroon is a country with a rich musical heritage. This country is centrally positioned within the African continent. This country situated within the Gulf of Guinea is a cutural paradise. With over 200 ethnic groups (this means over 200 national languages spoken) Cameroon is an excellent example of a society where cultural diversity is promoted in national life through a multicultural and bilingual heritage with English and French as the country's official languages. The richness of Cameroon's cultural diversity can be seen as one moves across this country fondly dubbed “Africa in Miniature.”

Blessed with such diverse peoples, Cameroon is no doubt a land of music. There is a wide variety of traditional or folk music booming using traditional musical instruments locally made by indigenous craftsmen. A visit to some of the tribes especially during cultural festivities, death celebrations or ritual performances will reveal what this country has to offer.

While others are striving to preserve their heritage jealously and still firmly adhere to their roots, some of these ethnic groups or tribes are at the verge of loosing theirs. This puts Cameroon's rich and diverse folk music in danger. Reasons for this are; the influence by western lifestyles, rural exodus, globalization, and the emergence of new ICTs especially the internet.

As earlier mentioned, at our Music Centre cultural diversity is promoted through recorded music, musical scores, information materials and publications. We are contributing in setting-up an institution which will cater for all classes when it relates to music. Non-formal music education is our concern and serving as a source for musical information for all those interested in music.

We also want to contribute to the growth of young Cameroonian musical talents as an information source on numerous international musical opportunities. Richard Kings, a young Cameroonian musician was able to attend the 2004 Mobile Academy in Berlin Germany thanks to the efforts of the services of the Music Centre of Mus'Art who introduced him and gave a recommendation in his favor.