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“LAPIRO USED HIS ART AS A WEAPON TO WIN FREEDOM, FOSTER DEMOCRACY, DENOUNCE ABUSE, ADVANCE THE CAUSE OF THE POOR, DECRY INJUSTICE, LEND HIS VOICE TO THE VOICELESS AND DEFY THE TYRANT IN POWER TO RESIGN OR BE FORCED, BY THE WILL OF THE PEOPLE, TO ACCEPT AN OVERDUE CHANGE OF GUARD AT THE HELM OF STATE… LAPIRO HAD AN UNNERVING ABILITY NOT ONLY TO HIT THE RIGHT MUSICAL NOTES, BUT ALSO TO HIT THE RIGHT CORD, RIGHT AT THE HEART OF THE POLITICAL SYSTEM.” HERBERT BOH, WASHINGTON, D.C., USA “LAPIRO USED HIS MUSIC TO EXPOSE THE WEAKNESSES OF THE POLITICAL CLASS IN CAMEROON AND IN THE END, MADE THE ULTIMATE SACRIFICE FOR THE PEOPLE.” JACOB NGUNI, USA This book is the celebration of one man’s vendetta against a cancerous regime that thrives on the rape of democracy and human rights abuses. Lapiro de Mbanga, born Lambo Sandjo Pierre Roger on April 7, 1957 was a conduit for social change. He fought for change in his homeland and died fighting for change in Cameroon. Lapiro believed in the innate goodness of man but also had the conviction that absolute power corrupts absolutely. He was noted for contending that “power creates monsters.” His entire musical career was devoted to fighting the cause of the downtrodden in Cameroon. He composed satirical songs on the socio-economic dysphonia in his beleaguered country. In his songs, he articulated the daily travails of the man in the street and the government-orchestrated injustices he witnessed. As a songwriter, Lapiro de Mbanga distinguished himself from his peers through bravado, valiance and the courage to say overtly what many a Cameroonian musician would only mumble in the privacy of their homes. Lapiro’s anti-establishment music led to his arrest and imprisonment in September 2009 for three years. Released from prison on April 8, 2011 he was later given political asylum by the USA. On September 2, 2012 Lapiro relocated with some members of his family to Buffalo in New York where he died on March 16, 2014 after an illness. His revolutionary music and fighting spirit live on. DR. PETER WUTEH VAKUNTA is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Modern Languages at the University of Indianapolis in the United States of America. Langaa Research & Publishing Common Initiative Group P.O. Box 902 Mankon Bamenda North West Region Cameroon ...

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