Franci Neely Recommends Tourists To Vist Cameroon

Houston-area philanthropist and world traveler Franci Neely recently journeyed to Cameroon, where she soaked up all there is to see in the Central African country on the Gulf of Guinea including a pit stop at the National Museum of Cameroon (or Musée National du Cameroun, in French, one of the country’s official languages). That’s where she discovered an intriguing American link.

“I was very interested in seeing the many photographs of the Cameroonian President Paul Biya and his wife, Chantal,” Neely shares, “including one of Chantal with [former first lady] Michelle Obama in New York in October 2009.”

Franci posing in front of the Reunification Monument, Yaoundé, Cameroon, on Feb. 23, 2022. 

The National Museum of Cameroon is the former palace of the country’s first president, Ahmadou Ahidjo. In 1988, it was transformed into a museum and in 1993, it officially became part of the cultural heritage department under the Ministry of Culture. 

Exhibitions feature traditional Cameroonian costumes and fashion, artifacts, photographs, pottery, other culturally relevant objects, and a display of models of the unique housing structures that exist throughout Cameroon, illustrating how different tribes have their own types of abodes, often working with clay and other materials they have handy.

The museum also contains the political history of Cameroon and explanations of the six different versions of Cameroon’s flag over the years. 

There’s even more to see since Neely wrapped her trip last year: The museum’s Facebook page shared the Feb. 9 opening of Memoria, Tales of Another Story. The exhibition features 17 artists from Cameroon and highlights their diaspora. 

Cameroonian History Is Rich With Music, Says Franci Neely 

Music and instruments are prominently featured at the national museum. Stringed chordophones, percussive castagnettes, and tulum, a type of bagpipe, are some of the many tuneful devices on display. Even Dibango’s saxophone graces a showcase there. 

Neely says she connected with a local who taught her lots about the history of Cameroonian music while showing her around the capital city of Yaoundé. 

“I was blessed to have Christinne as my guide,” Neely recalls. “We became sisters that day. She showed me many musical instruments used in Cameroon.”

Neely states that she was delighted to hear Christinne playing an ancient Cameroonian royal piano. 

Neely says she learned that some tribes used music to commune with the spirits. And modern musicians have taken note of the soul-stirring vibes of Cameroonian music.

“Saxophonist Manu Dibango, who died in 2020 from COVID, is from Cameroon,” Neely says. “Michael Jackson purloined (in his song ‘Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’) part of Dibango’s song ‘Soul Makossa.’” “Soul Makossa” was an international smash hit in the ’70s, becoming among the first African songs to reach the U.S. top 40. It led to Dibango performing at the legendary Apollo Theater in the Harlem neighborhood of New York City.

The lawsuit against Jackson was settled out of court, and Dibango continued making music. Born in Douala, Cameroon, Dibango said in an interview with UNESCO that inquisitiveness was the driving force behind his creativity. 

“I have built a bridge between my starting point and my curiosity. I contribute a sound which is unmistakably African. I add my difference,” Dibango said. 

The soulful sax player, who died at age 86 in France, was a Cameroonian musical legend. Producing 72 albums between 1968 and 2013, he popularized African-rhumba rhythms while fusing them with jazz and collaborated with well-known musicians such as Herbie Hancock. He was also an activist, fighting for the rights of Cameroonian musicians, especially when it came to receiving royalties. 

A Cameroonian Encounter Fit for a King

A visit to the sultan’s palace in Foumban also proved to be an unforgettable moment for Franci Neely. She encountered a palace guard and noblemen making their way through the crowd, surrounding the majestic Sultan Mohammed Nabil Mbombo Njoya, leader of the Bamum people, clad in an elaborate gold-and-white robe. Neely captured a video of the sultan making his way out of the palace and through the metropolis followed by a handler with a parasol and a band performing traditional tunes.

Franci Neely in front of the Cameroon National Museum with guide Christinne Mongo on Feb. 23, 2022

“I arrived in Foumban, one of the oldest cities in Cameroon (from the 15th century) on a Friday,” Neely says. “The sultan led a processional to the mosque for prayers. The pageantry took my breath away. After prayers, the sultan conducted an audience, listening to his people make requests or seeking blessings from him.”

Neely says she also got an opportunity to visit the Reunification Monument, which was built in the 1970s. It’s become a symbol of national unity for Cameroon, bridging its past, present, and future.

“It was constructed to symbolize the unification of the two Cameroons as British and French,” explains tour guide and historian Julius Meleng Ntang in a Voice Cameroon TV YouTube video. 

Neely Helps Bring Cameroonian Culture to Houston

You don’t have to travel all the way to Cameroon, of course, to get a taste of its exquisite artistic offerings and culturally rich experiences. Thanks to supporters like Neely, art lovers can visit the newly opened exhibit Art of the Cameroon Grassfields: A Living Heritage in Houston at The Menil Collection in Houston where Neely sits on the board of trustees. 

With two galleries representing Cameroonian art of the past and present, the installation spotlighted artist Hervé Youmbi with several pieces from his Faces of Masks IV series and Celestial Thrones collection. Youmbi’s work has also been seen in his homeland at the Cameroon National Museum.

“Our president is 90 years old and he has been president since 1982,” Youmbi told art lovers during The Menil Collection’s “Artist Talk” series on March 2. “So for many Cameroonians, we are no longer in a republic but we are in the kingdom. So that idea of the kingdom gave me the idea to think at the seat of [a] king. So I decided to be inspired by the stools that belong to king[s] at the western region of Cameroon.”

The five thrones, each inspired by an animal — tortoise, buffalo, panther, elephant, and rhinoceros — were created for, and borrowed from, Cameroonian chiefs. In Cameroon’s Grassfields, there is an impressive roster of royalty with 200 separate monarchies. 

“You’ll find rich tribal culture and ceremonies in the Grassland kingdoms of Cameroon,” adds Neely.