The stories behind the work

Cameroon — Heritage

The Pig and the Tortoise: A Kom Folktale

A friendship between the Pig and the Tortoise slowly unravels through deceit — and explains, in Kom oral tradition, why the pig is still found digging the earth today. Told fireside in Kom language, subtitled, the way it was always meant to be heard.

Cameroon — Heritage

The Traveler: A Kom Folktale

Narrated by Nawain Irene Nasah of BotangRecords' Storytelling Division, this tale follows a traveler struggling to gather what he needs before a long journey — and the challenges that unravel once he sets out anyway. Told entirely in Kom language.

Minnesota — Youth Engagement

Passing the Torch: Kids Discover the Instruments

At a monthly BotangRecords gathering, a group of bright-eyed African American kids meet the instruments of the ancestral past for the first time — drums, flute, shakers, gongs — turning an evening into a musical journey and a quiet handoff of heritage to the next generation.

Minnesota — Language

Kids Learn the Kom Dialect

Greetings, introductions, counting, and more — a session built around the basics of the Kom mother tongue, taught directly to kids. Language connects a people to its roots, and few things are more at risk of fading in the diaspora. A small session with a large stake: safeguarding a cultural treasure one word at a time.

Our origin story

National — How It Began

“WoynKom America”: The First Collaboration

Before BotangRecords had a name for what it would become, it had a task: bring together Kom artists scattered across the United States to produce a single theme song for the Afo-A-Kom USA convention in Atlanta. Months of coordinating professionals across states, around day jobs and distance, produced what remains, to this day, the only collaborative recording ever made by Kom artists in America. Opening on a modified Njang beat and a call for blessing on the Kom diaspora, “WoynKom America” carries the Afo-A-Kom USA mission in its own chorus — “igniting a passion for Kom Culture and stimulating Rural Development” — and calls on every son and daughter of Kom, at home or abroad, to contribute to the homeland's growth. BotangRecords donated the finished song to Afo-A-Kom USA outright, for the organization to own and host on its own channel — not a BotangRecords credit, a gift to the community it was made for. A remix followed in early 2026, featuring a smaller ensemble of the original artists.

An early milestone

Minnesota & Cameroon — Artist Support

The Guitar Contest: Turning Talent Into Equipment

In January 2024, BotangRecords offered two professional solo guitars, valued at $200 each, to young Cameroonian artists who lacked the equipment to pursue their talent. In two weeks, 34 heartfelt applications arrived. Lindou Yann, Gracious Ngah, and Tambua Evaristus were ranked first, second, and third and received guitars from BotangRecords. A week after the initial announcement, a fourth winner joined the group: Grace Manzoic, ranked fourth, received her own guitar and an offer to be produced by John Iray, the music producer and engineer who served as the contest's main judge. Winners can be followed on Instagram: @lindou_yann, @graciousngah, @etambua, and @jacksongrace874.

Cameroon — Royal History

Abei Aboh: The Compound That Broke the Rule

Every Fon of Kom since 1865 traces his roots to Abei Aboh — yet this one compound, alone in a matrilineal kingdom, passes power from father to son. Sparked by a question from community member Bobe Mubang two years ago, this conversation with Dr. PK Yong — recorded in Minnesota, conducted entirely in Itaghikom, illustrated with rare images from Aboh, Belo — traces the compound's founding by Ayeah Kuoh and four generations of the lineage that followed. A piece of living history, captured before it fades from memory.

Cameroon — Memory & Migration

Pyramids, Memory, and the Stone Arc at Mentang

Also known as: “Pyramid Documentary”

A visit to the Chacchoben Maya ruins in Quintana Roo, Mexico became the starting point for a much longer journey — and a forgotten fact along the way: Sudan holds more pyramids than Egypt. That discovery pulled the thread back home, to a childhood memory of the Stone Arc at Mentang, in Fundong, Cameroon, where oral history says German colonizers built and buried a bottle containing a map. A personal essay connecting continents, colonial memory, and the question of whose history gets remembered.

Cameroon — Governance & Tradition

Voices on Kom Governance and Tradition

Three esteemed elites sit down to unpack Kom Kingdom's traditional institutions — the governance structures and values that have shaped the Kom people for generations. A conversation meant to open dialogue, not close it: questions, reflections, and even critiques are invited as part of an ongoing effort to document and celebrate African tradition.

Minnesota — Traditional Institutions

Njong Kom in Minnesota

Recorded Sunday, October 27, 2024, at the seat of Njong Ichisini of Minnesota in Saint Michael, this piece explores Njong Kom — the military wing of the Kwifoyn, known as Manjong elsewhere in Cameroon's Northwest Region — as practiced by the diaspora community, right in BotangRecords' own home city. Proof that Kom traditional institutions aren't just remembered here; they're actively convened.

Cameroon — History & Succession · Audio

The Migration of the Kom People

How the Kom people migrated to their current homeland, and how they came to adopt their distinctive matrilineal succession system — drawn from Afo-A-Kom USA's Virtual Meeting House discussions. Dedicated to the Komnamites, the Kom youth, as a starting point for the deeper conversations many of them are already asking for.

Minnesota — Community & Identity

Why Cameroonians Call Minnesota Home

Two community leaders, John Yufanyi (JJ) and Eyong Louis Mbuen (DJ Ligal), gather in Saint Michael to answer a question rarely asked directly: what draws Cameroonian immigrants to Minnesota, and what keeps them here? Their answer points to culture. Minnesota's Cameroonian population has grown from an estimated 1,400 in 2016 to roughly 3,600 by 2022 — confirmed U.S. Census Bureau figures — with community estimates now placing it above 5,000.