Synopsis

Les Tetes Brulees play Bikutsi music, an ancient rhythm from the rain- forest region of western Cameroon. Bikutsi is the music of the Beti tribe, traditionally played on a "balafon" and danced by the women of the clan in a jerky, hypnotic fashion. But Les Tetes Brulees do not play traditional music. Even though their sound is based on the Bikutsi rhythm with swirling balafon style guitars and rough-edged vocals, the music is electric. Bikutsi Rock, carefully nurtured at the Chacal Bar, the band's headquarters in Yaounde, is unique to Les Tetes Brulees. By 1987, Les Tetes Brulees were stars in the Cameroon. Their first appearance on National TV created an absolute uproar. Used to seeing clean cut Makossa stars, the public went wild. By the summer of '87, the band was on tour in France, where the film director Claire Denis, who had just had a hit with her first film "Chocolat", asked the band if she could film them on tour for a full length feature. Media attention and public appreciation were enormous. The band returned in the summer of 1988 for their first European tour when Claire Denis made her film.