In the homeland of Roger Mill and in places where Nepomnyashchy is remembered
Yaoundé (French: Yaoundé [ja.unde]) is the capital of Cameroon and the administrative center of the Central Region and the Mfoundi Department. Almost the entire capital is comprised of neighborhoods located along its main thoroughfare—Kennedy Avenue—as well as on the hills adjacent to it.
It was in Cameroon’s capital that the great Cameroonian soccer player and star striker of the national team at the 1990 World Cup in Italy was born. At that time, the Cameroonian national team, under the leadership of Russian coach Valery Nepomnyashchy, became the first African country to reach the quarterfinals of the World Cup. It was only in the quarterfinals in Naples that the Cameroonians, after a fierce battle in extra time, lost to the English national team 2–3, even though they had been leading 2–1 with just 8 minutes remaining in regulation time; however, Gary Lineker then scored two goals from penalty kicks in the 83rd and 105th minutes. In memory of this achievement under Nepomnyashchy’s leadership, Valery Street and the “Nepo” bar were established in Yaoundé.
Valery Nepomniachtchi is already 82 years old, while Roger Milla, who was nicknamed “The Old Sorcerer” or “The Old Lion,” is 74.
And a few more words about Cameroon’s capital, where the draughts tournament is being held as part of the World Cup.
By the way, Roger Milla used to perform the Makossa dance after every goal he scored. Makossa is an entire genre of African culture.
Makossa, which according to some sources means “twisting” and according to others means “(I) dance” in the Duala language[4], originated from a Duala dance called kossa. Emmanuel Nell Ayum began using the “kossa kossa” refrain in his songs with his band “Los Calvinos.” The style began to take shape in the 1950s, although the first recordings did not appear until a decade later. There were artists such as Eboa Lotin, François Missé Ngoh, and, especially, Manu Dibango, who popularized makossa worldwide with his song “Soul Makossa” in 1972. It is the most sampled African song in history to date
And also:
The capital’s name derives from the ethnonym “Yaoundé” (a Bantu group)—the people inhabiting the city’s surrounding areas
Yaoundé has a population of over 1.8 million people. The city is home to members of the Bamileke (about a quarter of the city’s residents), Fulani (about 10%), as well as Fang, Duala, and Fulbe ethnic groups. The official languages are English and French, and a number of African dialects (mainly of the Bantu group) are widely spoken. Half of the capital’s religious residents are Catholic; the rest are followers of Islam and local traditional beliefs.
Places to visit:
The Blackitude Museum is a private museum founded in 2000 by Queen Nana Agnes after she received key pieces of the collection from her father, who was the ruler of the West Region in Cameroon (Grass Field). The rest of the collection was assembled through donations and purchases.
These prehistoric stone artifacts were collected in 2009, 2010, 2011, and 2012 during fieldwork in western Cameroon. Some of them, such as scrapers and arrowheads, are replicas of original stone tools collected in archaeological laboratories in Portugal by curator Apollinaire Kaji in 2012.
And now for checkers. One of the stages of the World Cup is taking place in Cameroon’s capital.
