Playing fm 28 aug Page 1 Wednesday, August 28, 2002 1:38 PM Playing with Identities in Contemporary Music in Africa Editors Mai Palmberg Annemette Kirkegaard Published by Nordiska Afrikainstitutet, Uppsala 2002 in cooperation with The Sibelius Museum/Department of Musicology Åbo Akademi University, Finland Playing fm 28 aug Page 2 Wednesday, August 28, 2002 1:38 PM Indexing terms Cultural identity Music Popular culture Africa Cape Verde Ivory Coast Nigeria Senegal South Africa Tanzania Uganda Zimbabwe Cover photo: © Robert Lyons, 2001 Lágbájá, the Masked One, Nigerian musician of a new style and stage personality. Language checking: Elaine Almén Editorial assistance: Pia Hidenius @ the authors and Nordiska Afrikainstitutet, 2002 ISBN 91-7106-496-6 Printed in Sweden by Elanders Gotab, Stockholm 2002 Playing fm 28 aug Page 3 Wednesday, August 28, 2002 1:38 PM Contents Foreword ................................................................................................................... 5 Introduction by Annemette Kirkegaard ................................................................. 7 Christopher Waterman Big Man, Black President, Masked One Models of the Celebrity Self in Yoruba Popular Music in Nigeria ................... 19 Johannes Brusila “Modern Traditional” Music from Zimbabwe Virginia Mukwesha’s Mbira Record “Matare” .................................................. 35 Annemette Kirkegaard ”Tranzania” – A Cross-Over from Norwegian Techno to Tanzanian Taarab .............................................................................................. 46 John Collins The Generational Factor in Ghanaian Music Concert Parties, Highlife, Simpa, Kpanlogo, Gospel and Local Techno-Pop ........................................................................................... 60 Ndiouga Adrien Benga ”The Air of the City Makes Free” Urban Music from the 1950s to the 1990s in Senegal – Variété, Jazz, Mbalax, Rap ........................................................................................................... 75 Simon Akindes Playing It “Loud and Straight” Reggae, Zouglou, Mapouka and Youth Insubordination in Côte d’Ivoire ....................................................................................................... 86 David B. Coplan Sounds of the “Third Way” Zulu Maskanda, South African Popular Traditional Music ............................ 104 Mai Palmberg Expressing Cape Verde Morna, Funaná and National Identity ............................................................... 117 Sylvia Nannyonga-Tamusuza Gender, Ethnicity and Politics in Kadongo-Kamu Music of Uganda Analysing the Song Kayanda............................................................................... 134 Playing fm 28 aug Page 4 Wednesday, August 28, 2002 1:38 PM Jenks Z. Okwori From Mutant Voices to Rhythms of Resistance Music and Minority Identity among the Idoma and Ogoni in Contemporary Nigeria .................................................................................... 149 Siri Lange Multipartyism, Rivalry and Taarab in Dar es Salaam...................................... 165 Contributors ......................................................................................................... 181 Playing fm 28 aug Page 5 Wednesday, August 28, 2002 1:38 PM Foreword In 1995 the Nordic Africa Institute launched a research project on culture, “Cultural Images in and of Africa”, which functions as a complement to the studies on eco- nomic, political, and social problems and developments in Africa. Although culture can certainly be entertaining, the aim in including cultural stud- ies in the Institute’s research profile is not to convey the message that culture shows the bright side of Africa, but rather to highlight the important role of cultural aspects of development and change. One aim for the project “Cultural Images in and of Africa” is to analyse and in- crease awareness of the sources of the images of Africa in the Nordic countries. The publication of the anthology Encounter Images in the Meetings between Africa and Europe in 2001 was one outcome of this, as was the book in Swedish by the project coordinator, Mai Palmberg, on the images of Africa in Swedish schoolbooks (Afrika- bild för partnerskap. Afrika i de svenska skolböckerna, 2000). Another aim is to encourage studies of how culture and cultural creativity in Africa contribute to self-images, that is, to building identities, and expressing the agonies, visions and endeavours in society. In 2001 the project published a first book on these issues in the anthology edited by Maria Eriksson Baaz and Mai Palmberg entitled Same and Other. Negotiating African Identity in Cultural Production. The present book is the second publication on this theme, with a concentration on music. The Nordic Africa Institute wishes to thank the co-sponsors of the conference in Åbo, the Sibelius Museum/Department of Musicology and the Centre for Continu- ing Education at Åbo Academy University for their decisive input into the prepara- tion and organisation of the conference, from which the chapters in this book have been selected. We particularly wish to thank professor Pirkko Moisala, curator Johannes Brusila, programme officer Eva Costiander-Huldén, and assistant Henrik Leino. The African presence at the conference was impressive. Perhaps this is not sur- prising, given the pivotal role of music in African societies. But it is noteworthy, giv- en the fact that research into this and other fields of the humanities, is suffering greatly in the crisis for higher education and research in Africa, and many African researchers in cultural studies have joined the diaspora. We wish to thank the Division of Culture and Media of the Department of Democracy and Social Development in the Swedish International Development Co- operation Agency (Sida) for contributing additional funds to make it possible to strengthen the African presence at the Conference. Uppsala, April 2002 Lennart Wohlgemuth Director 5 Playing fm 28 aug Page 6 Wednesday, August 28, 2002 1:38 PM Playing fm 28 aug Page 7 Wednesday, August 28, 2002 1:38 PM Introduction Annemette Kirkegaard I believe that it is often the case that the musical practices and the musicians that we study are more sophisticated than the theories we apply to them, and, further, that African popular music can itself be engaged as embodied theory, as illuminating thought-in-action, rather than mere empirical grist for the metropolitan mills of academia. (Waterman, in this volume) This statement by Chris Waterman in many ways mirrors the difficulties of theoris- ing music, and an attitude like this could possibly deter some students and scholars from venturing into academic contact with African musics. Nevertheless, it is very clear that thoughts about the music, its roots and its meanings are there all around us, and it would be highly annoying if researchers did not try their hand at the debate. In November 2000 a conference was held in Åbo (Turku) in Finland dealing with the role of music in modern Africa—and the agenda directly asked for the way in which identities were played with in contemporary musical cultures both in and out- side Africa. Many different issues were touched upon during the three days of meeting, and a general and fruitful discussion over the topics of the conference took place in the halls and lobbies of the Sibelius Museum: itself so rich in connotation and imagina- tions over a specifically Finnish tone in musical work as for instance expressed in Jean Sibelius’ national-romantic symphonic poem, Finlandia from 1899. The conference was arranged in cooperation between the Nordic Africa Institute, the Department for Musicology/Sibelius Museum and the Centre for Continuing Education, both of the latter situated at Åbo Akademi University in Finland. It was proposed within the project “Cultural Images in and of Africa” of the Nordic Afri- can Institute, and the idea to hold a conference had emerged out of several meetings and seminars within its framework. The Åbo conference initially aimed at stimulating the interest in and enhancing the knowledge of African contemporary music in a societal context, and it further wanted to reflect on and bring out the discussions and views held by African scholars and musicians themselves. The articles in this book represent a choice of the many papers presented, and even if very different in style and content, they all reflect the overall theme of identity and music of the conference. Some years ago one of the authors in this book, John Collins, in a Danish pro- duced video describing African cross rhythms, proposed that African music was to become the music of the 21st century. According to Collins this was partly due to the high musical quality, and the notion that the complexity often experienced in drum orchestras and larger types of ensembles represented the right music to match 7 Playing fm 28 aug Page 8 Wednesday, August 28, 2002 1:38 PM Annemette Kirkegaard the philosophical, emotional and cultural demands of the citizens of the global cul- ture of the next millennium.1 But it was also—I think—a statement, which tried to pay respect to the immense importance African music has played in the global imag- ination and the role of black culture in the actual historical development of music not least in the cross-Atlantic exchange, which has so deeply affected all the popular musics in the world.2 The idea that African music could become a global asset is oddly enough also continued by a