The Sonic Politics of Gabon’s Ntcham 

As a music genre born from successive crises and widening access to new technologies, ‘ntcham’ manifests the attempts at escape, survival and diversion of Gabonese youth, as well as the challenges and anxieties surrounding the ongoing transition since the coup d’état of 30 August 2023.

Over the past six years, Gabon’s ntcham genre has dominated the musical scene of Libreville and the Gabonese diaspora, becoming pervasive across bars, nightclubs, street vendor stalls, and mobile phones. Marked by a unique meld of 808 bass lines, BPM (beats per minute) ranging between 110 and 123, claps, flutes, whistles, and exhilarating toplines—as well as humorous and sometimes crude lyrics imbued with the slang of the Libreville ndoss (street bandits)—ntcham has nailed the formula for musical success. Fueled by a booming Gabonese streaming industry, ntcham artists continue to shatter records, attracting millions of hits previously reserved for international celebrities.

Ntcham meanwhile provides a poignant mirror and entry point to understanding the sociopolitical transformations underway in Gabon since 2018, punctuated by the seminal coup d’état that brought transitional president, Brigadier General Brice Clotaire Oligui Nguema, to power in August 2023. Born out of a multisectoral crisis following the re-election of former president, Ali Bongo in August 2016—which extended the long-standing Bongo dynasty in a controversial election marked by irregularities—the genre has evolved to become both the soundtrack of and witness to the Gabonese youth’s attempts at escape, diversion, and hustling. Through its irony, stark crudeness, and gimmicks mirroring urban realities, ntcham embodies the moral and sociopolitical shifts occurring among young Gabonese under the ongoing transition...