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Flashmag November 2020 www.flashmag.net
Reggae had just hit very hard, giving African music a new strength and resonance. In the line of pioneering American musicians, who claimed their identity with their music, these currents shook Paris and gave me sociological leads on this movement ".
More than the scoop, it is the urgency of this effervescent scene and this affirmation of identity through music that Bill Akwa Bétotè seeks, at the time, to document. A work that reveals all its flavor and its historical dimension today.
"The system was not the same as it is today, where excessive communication has devalued our work," continues the photographer. "On the one hand, digital photography has changed the thinking of people, who take pictures instead of enjoying the moment, looking at monuments or concerts. Professionally, the market has deteriorated, moved in the wrong direction. People think photos are free, they no longer realize the value of our work ”.
However, big Bill, his cap screwed on his head, didn’t lost faith in his profession. And time has undoubtedly revealed the value of his images. A passion that he strove to transmit, through workshops and master classes. He preached that “Beyond the technique, photographers can bring their experience, their vision, their talent, and share their work. It is a social and cultural pedagogy ".
Bill Akwa Bétotè said that photography for him did not stop with the visual objective, but above all with something more abstract, this link between beings, the meeting between him and others, in a kind of cultural exchange. whose memorial essence was to mark the generations, freezing the moment to create a memory. Intermediary between the public and the stage, he said that his privileged position allowed him to transmit his emotions, and to read those of others, in an environment of sounds that always create a new world. Farewell to the artist
The most recent exhibition of photos by Bill Akwa Bétotè was in April 2019 entitled, Paris-London, Music Migrations (1962-1989).
Sources: Retro: Le Paris Music by Bill Akwa Bétotè - PUBLISHED MAY 18, 2015 - JEAN BERRY | PORTRAIT - www.africultures.com
Late Cameroonian guitarist Vincent Nguini then in France playing with Manu Dibango