Paper long abstract:

Various paradigms have been developed over the years to explain how media can contribute to development (Sparks, 2007). From a preference for participatory forms of communication, attention have been directed at the potential of new media technologies to contribute to development in Africa and increase citizen participation (e.g. De Beer, 2004; Melkote & Steeves, 2004; Eribo, 2004). However, due to various factors, including infrastructure and access, ‘older’ forms of media, such as radio and newspapers, remain important in African societies. These media are often very popular, both in the sense of style and content (‘popular media’) and in audience figures. One such example is the case of new tabloid newspapers in South Africa. Despite have been derided for similar reasons as tabloids elsewhere (sensationalism, sexual content, not being ‘objective’), these tabloids have enjoyed unprecedented success. But do they also contribute to the development of citizenship in a new democracy? Can they encourage reader participation in the process of mediation? Can their attention to the lived experience of their readers, which includes struggling with the lingering effects of ‘underdevelopment’ under apartheid, also contribute to political action, or do they construct their readers as apolitical consumers? This paper will explore these questions by drawing on focus group interviews conducted with tabloid readers in various parts of South Africa during 2007.

References:

De Beer, A.S. 2004. The Internet in Africa: Leapfrogging to a Global Future. In: Okigbo, C.C. & F.Eribo (eds.) <em>Development and Communication in Africa.</em> Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield. Pp 157 - 164

Eribo, F. 2004. African Development and Innovation of Communication. In: Okigbo, C.C. & F.Eribo (eds.) <em>Development and Communication in Africa.</em> Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield. Pp. 175-186.

Melkote, S.R. & H. L. Steeves. 2004. Information and Communication Technologies for Rural Development. In: Okigbo, C.C. & F.Eribo (eds.) <em>Development and Communication in Africa.</em> Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield. Pp. 165-174.

Sparks, Colin. 2007. <em>Globalization, Development and the Mass Media.</em> London: Sage

Paper long abstract:

In Luanda, the capital of Angola, we can find an unusual musical expression. Since the mid 1990s, Kuduru (<em>stiff bottom</em> in Kimbundu language) is the most popular music-style in the <em>musseques</em>, Luandas suburbs. Imported to Lisbon through the Angolan migrants, we find several lines of transformation and the competition between <em>Kuduru Luandense</em> and <em>Kuduru Lisboeta</em> in terms of the better and more <em>authentic</em> style.

Combined with a set of defined dance movements, this music style, which is the only pure electronic music in Africa (except south-african <em>Kwaito</em>), is distributed primarily through informal markets and first of all in virtual mediascapes like Youtube and MySpace.

Kuduru and its sub style <em>Tarraxinha</em> are urban music-styles based on relentlessly fast minimalist rhythm, electronic beats with loops and samples, that are able to express the fractious energies and desires of a generation is starting to unfold after three decades of civil war. MCs are rapping to the dull thudding and broken beats of the defective equipment. Thus, in terms of dance and style we find similarities to Hip Hop, but music and idea are not related to that. Rapping is in Calao, the language of the city Luanda, a combination of Portuguese and Kimbundu. We find references to national heroes like Agostinho Neto and popular music styles since the 1950s. But also appropriations of popular culture, by using mobile ring-tones like Crazy Frog to create new loops and samples are part of the business.

In my paper I will enter the discussion of the development of Kuduru and its significance in the urban setting of Luanda and Lisbon, on which we don’t find any scientific analysis, yet. I will contrast it with other art- and music-scenes in that city, regarding the different ways of appropriation and (re)making of a cultural life. With my example, I will analyse the role of virtual spaces for African youth culture and urbanity, and it's increasing significance in the communication between homeland and diaspora in the 21st century.

Paper long abstract:

Author: Laryea Korku

School children in Ghana march to the classrooms to different songs to start the day. As children we lustily sang the songs and eagerly and enthusiastically marched to the beat of the drum at school and also during Independence Day celebrations on 6th March. School children today go through the same motions without a clue of the significance of what is sung; because the songs are taught by our teachers or parents devoid of the historical and social context. As an adult however, I have had the opportunity to reflect on some of these songs again and have come to appreciate their historical significance especially through studies done in African Oral Literature and the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade. The paper will focus on three popular ‘marching’ songs sung at childhood; each significant in its own way and taken from pre-colonial, colonial and post-colonial Ghana. The first is a Ga song which talks about the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade; the second, also in Ga is about a war the Gas engaged in and the third, an English one, was composed in the mid-1970s. There are translations to the Ga songs.