TIPTOPSTARS

The name Charlo Magique is hugely meaningful to Cameroonian secondary and high school generation of the 90s, especially in the North West region of the country. The name was an incarnation of choreography. And even when Vumomse, the artist who was fondly referred to as such is mentioned today, the first thing that comes to mind is state-of-the-art dancing. In short, the USA-based dance hero, today an up-and-coming gospel singer is a choreography par excellence. “It runs in the blood,” he recently joked when this reporter sought to know if Charlo Magique could still perform the art of dancing as he used to.

Those school dancing days gone, Charlo Magique who simply goes by the name Vumomse has now steered the wheel to a new lane with gospel music on focus. Drawing inspiration from significant blessings he has enjoyed from his creator, the young Cameroonian singer retreated for a while to weave tracks for his maiden album. After months of packaging the bundle, Vumomse has sprang with a carefully woven job the public has received with a lot of excitement. Rakata, the said album has been prominent at home and abroad since its foretaste was officially made public a couple of days ago.

Reactions to this project have come from the artist’s former schoolmates, friends, movie actors etc. Writing from Canada, Lum Irine Asanji aka LIA said: “Our classmate and brother is making us proud.” “God never sows useless seeds…He placed them in you {referring to Vumomse} for a purpose. Here is the maturity stage and harvest is around the corner,” she went on.

According to the artist, Rakata which is the key track in the Afropop/Afrobeat album, was born while he was driving in his car, with mixed feelings, after a series of wrong happenings in his life. A signal of victory swept across his mind and before he knew it, he was speaking in tongues and hailing God for having done it for him.

Other songs in the six-track album, produced by Slim Beats and Charles Vumomse are A Believe Busy Body, Do Me Again, Satan Dey Fee My Bad, You Too Much. The songs are done in English and pidgin (lingua franca). Featuring in the album whose videos are directed by M.T Muna (Benzene Creation) with INV Media in the UK, are Ewube and Na Me Cyrus.

The official release of Rakata has been billed for Michigan, USA in a red carpet event that will take place at Pi Banquet Center, 28847 Franklin Road, Southfiled MI, 48034.

Ahead of the event, Vumomse will be received on Afrikka Radio’s (www.afrikkaradio.com) African Cocktail with Ernest Kanjo on Wednesday, November 26, 2014 at 10am. He has been on the Belgium-run Batimu FM’s African Family Show with Titus Banyoh to talk about Rakata.