Donny Elwood, a man renowned for his caustic lyrics and biting political satire - not to mention the famous black hat he wears pulled down low over his brow -  has been a rare sight on Cameroon’s live music scene in recent years. But fans have remained impressively loyal and, it seems, Elwood’s songs remain as topical as ever. Time for a government reshuffle? Time to dig out the chorus of that old Elwood favourite: "My life’s gonna change/ It’s been decreed/ My brother’s been appointed to a top government post!"

38-year-old Elwood is a songwriter who has always been aware of the power of words. As a young boy he was fascinated by the way in which the late great French ‘chanson’ star Georges Brassens manipulated language, discovering his songs through a cousin when he was just 8 years old. "At first," he says, "I didn’t really understand why he bothered to listen to Brassens – his voice was much louder than the music. It didn’t sound anything like the music I was used to listening to at all. But then my cousin explained what Brassens was singing about, what he was trying to get across in his songs. And I realised the potential there was for playing with words and telling witty stories. That really opened my eyes!"

Elwood was further inspired by the humour of Coluche, Les Inconnus and a range of other French comics. He went on to get together with a bunch of student friends from university and created his own comedy group, Nul’Art. "That was back in the early ‘90s, he says, "the dawn of the multi-party system in politics. Basically, we wanted  to see whether it was possible to start saying certain things without getting into trouble." Nul’Art gave free rein to their satirical talent, parodying TV shows and political parties in Cameroon. "We raised serious issues while we sent everyone up," points out Elwood with some pride.

From Stand-Up to Songwriter

Influenced by singers such as Brassens, his own compatriot Francis Bebey, the Congolese protest singer Zao and Pierre Akendengue from Gabon, Elwood eventually turned to music to get his message across.

One day while performing on a radio show Elwood accompanied one of his texts with a few simple guitar chords. And it went down so well with listeners that he soon found himself performing live in concert every night at La Terre Battue, a music venue in Yaoundé that was all the rage at the time. Then, with support from the Coopération Française (a sort of Voluntary Overseas Organisation), he went on to record a debut album in 1996 entitled Negro et beau (Negro and Handsome). The album caused a major stir. Indeed, local music critics hailed it as the Album of the Year. A major triumph for Elwood who proved that it was possible to reach mainstream audiences without playing either makossa or bikutsi (the two most popular musical styles in Cameroon).

On his debut album, Elwood continued in the same satirical vein he had mined with Nul’Art, making fun of Cameroonian politics and society in general. On one of the outstanding tracks from Negro et beau Elwood highlighted the plight of Pygmies, singing about how the only time “civilised people” would dream of making contact with Pygmies was to take advantage of their supposed magical powers. "When a civilised man comes to see a Pygmy… It’s because his wife wants a divorce… When he wants a promotion… When he wants his football team to win… That’s when they think of me, Mr Pygmy." Elwood also told the time-old tale of Akao Manga who when he was rich had a wide social circle, but whose friends all deserted him when he became poor, “dropping him like an orange squeezed dry." And on a song entitled Le cousin militaire, he sang of daily life in Cameroon: On m’appelle monsieur galère  / On m’appelle tonton misère / Je vis dans un quartier populaire / Et nous sommes de vrais prolétaires (They call me Mr Trouble /Uncle Misery/ I live in a working-class neighbourhood/ Where we’re all authentic proletarians.)

In 2001, Elwood returned to the forefront of the music scene with Eklektikos, a second album recorded in Paris. Using more sophisticated arrangements and singing in French and Ewondo, the Cameroonian agent provocateur regaled fans with more witty tales and modern-day fables including the story of how his dog Dick ended up on the dinner table. "When I pick up my pen to write, it’s because I’m angry and worked up about something," he says, "I want people to stop and think about their attitude or the way they behave. There’s a real problem in this country due to a lack of respect for others. We tend to value things that aren’t necessarily the most important things in life. If we had more respect for one another, we’d be more polite, we’d be more honest and we’d have a greater civic sense and do things for the public good."

Elwood himself devotes much of his time and energy to that cause, organising Les Cabarets Francophones, an annual festival he started in Yaoundé, in 2005, aimed at young audiences. The festival includes writing and singing contests and film projections, giving those who cannot afford to broaden their horizons through travel or education their fair share of culture. Elwood hopes that Les Cabarets Francophones will “go some way towards helping people understand one another better." An aim the committed wordsmith also pursues in his songwriting. And the good news is that a third Donny Elwood album is planned for 2007.