Paper short abstract:

This presentation is about an observational study of the significant number of parties with African music, rhythms and musicians in Lisbon. It intends to understand how and where they occur and who attends them and why. It will bring the perceptions of the musicians and the attenders.

Paper long abstract:

There is a relatively significant and consistent number of African parties that take place in Lisbon, which musicians are mainly African or African descendants, offering either more traditional concerts or contemporary parties with African rhythms, like "afrobeat". Along those events, the African music - "labeled" due to its identifiable musical structures and for including traditional African musical instruments, such as kora, mbila or balafon - finds a notable popularity, and is being passionately consumed by young public. However, it is not to consider that neither the parties are novelty in Lisbon, nor the incorporation of traditional African instruments. Nevertheless, I found it interesting to comprehend who attends those parties and why, since there is a majority of non-African participants, like native residents of the city, European tourists and African descendants, who seem to find in those parties a place to rediscover their origins. Concomitantly with the eclectic public, it seems that those parties are conquering new geographical spaces, outside the African resident demographical zones. Therefore, the phenomenon can be perceived as a modern way of "decolonization" of Lisbon, a city that tended to circumscribe the African culture to determined spaces and publics, segregating musical styles that today can be combined with no difficulty or strangeness. This investigation, that is not yet initiated, intends to be mainly ethnographic, through the context description of the events. I would also like to understand what moves this public and which perceptions do the musicians have about this popularity, by interviewing both sides and presenting the results at the Congress.