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- Convenors:
-
Liz Gunner
(University of Johannesburg)
Anna Schwenck (University of Siegen)
Send message to Convenors
- Chair:
-
Bongiwe Nondumiso Gumede
(University of Johannesburg)
- Discussant:
-
Benjamin Chemouni
(Université Catholique de Louvain (UCLouvain))
- Format:
- Panel
- Streams:
- Arts and Culture (x) Futures (y)
- Location:
- Philosophikum, S85
- Sessions:
- Friday 2 June, -
Time zone: Europe/Berlin
Short Abstract:
In which ways do political songs engage with future imaginaries of well-being and new imagined audiences? Political songs weave together dreams and demands of what is to come, while simultaneously beckoning to a history which remains open to debate and reinterpretation in line with new imaginaries.
Long Abstract:
The panel will explore the many ways in which political song from the continent engages with future imaginaries of well-being, new techniques and new imagined audiences. The political songs may weave together dreams and demands of what is to come, attempting to forge a future, while at the same time beckoning to a history which remains open to debate and re-interpretation in line with new imaginaries. Papers may engage with questions of composition, circulation and genre; struggles over the ownership of songs; songs that challenge accepted versions of the world, or of the state; songs that seek to revive a past and/or suggest a radically new future. In some cases, an unresolved future may seek inspiration from past songs and heroes that inspire a second struggle for a just tomorrow. Questions of audience, flow, musicality and impact may also be addressed. Songs are considered not only as popular music artefacts but as essential windows on people's imaginaries, aspiration and political struggle. Papers interrogating worldview, ideas, and politics through songs are especially welcome.
Accepted papers:
Session 1 Friday 2 June, 2023, -Benjamin Chemouni (Université Catholique de Louvain (UCLouvain)) Assumpta Mugiraneza (IRIBA Center for Multimedia Heritage)
Paper short abstract:
The paper reflects on the continuities and discontinuities produced by the genocidal episode in the world of Rwandan songs to explore people’s perceptions immediately after mass violence.
Paper long abstract:
Songs offer a precious window on the political and social transformations of Rwanda during the civil war and the genocide. The paper reflects on the continuities and discontinuities produced by the genocidal episode in the world of Rwandan songs to explore people’s perceptions immediately after mass violence. The paper fist analyses the song landscape as it existed prior to the war before moving on to an examination of the impact of the outbreak of the conflict in 1990. It shows that the politically volatile context in the early 1990s resulted in an unprecedented dynamism in the Rwandan music scene. The paper then focuses on the effects of the genocide on musical creativity and, conversely, on the role of music for people to navigate the immediate post-genocide era. In particular, we profile two emblematic singers who composed before and after the catastrophe. This biography-centered methodology allows us both to trace in detail the influence of the genocide on artistic interests and to grasp the ways in which the genocidal experience affected people. The paper shows that, before an official normalization of the memory had a chance to emerge, and in a context of disbelief at a horror that was inaccessible to the intellect, songs helped people to negotiate the transition between paralysis of shock and the beginning of a process of mourning. Artistic expression was also central to make sense of the annihilation of the social contract produced by the genocide. At the same time, songs reveal the ambiguity of forgiveness and reconciliation for many Rwandans despite the exhortation of the new, post-genocide government to embrace them.
Irikidzayi Manase (University of the Free State)
Paper short abstract:
The paper employs Afrofuturist concepts to analyses the songs, “Njema”, “Ijipita”, and “Area 51” available on the Zimbabwean dancehall musician, Winky D's 2019 album titled Njema and argues that he draws on futurism to expose the existing bleakness and invites imaginings of alternative worlds.
Paper long abstract:
The paper will analyse the songs, “Njema”, “Ijipita”, and “Area 51” by the Zimbabwean dancehall musician, Winky D, available on the 2019 album, Njema, to determine how they treat the realities in the post-Mugabe and Second Republic era that was established after the 2017 military coup d’etat, in relation to the past and the ruling elite’s purveyed political discourses of ‘a new dawn’. The analysis, which also considers the album cover, the artist’s sense of fashion and images of his performances, draws on a combination of Afrofuturist, African science-fiction and fantasy concepts such as the non-liner senses of time, revisioning of history, plural senses of spirituality, complex notions on identities, interactions with technology, imaginings of alternative worlds, and futurist sonic narration and musical performances (Adrienne Crew 2011; Tegan Bristow 2012; Elizabeth Hamilton 2017; Sofia Samatar 2017; Cezara Nicola 2020; Peggy Peattie 2022). The paper will argue that Winky D’s Njema, uses Afrofuturist aesthetics to expose the bleak conditions characterising the early years of the Second Republic, from a reggae and Zimdancehall music genre’s focus on social conscientisation and resistance against domination, and then uses these futurist aesthetics to transgressively transport the audience to or invite them to start imagining about alternative worlds defined by freedom, excellence in scientific and cultural production, connectedness with matters global-magical-and real, and economic opportunities that enable ordinary people to enjoy fulfilling lives.
Tatek Abebe (Norwegian University of Science and Technology, NTNU)
Paper short abstract:
In this paper, I explore how dissident music crafted to express, promote and assert multiple rights enable us to understand the present political moment in the Oromia region, Ethiopia, as well as how musicians perform and transform the future through protest music.
Paper long abstract:
The Oromo youth revolution which, in 2018, led to the implosion of the regime that ruled Ethiopia for nearly three decades was spearheaded by protest music that are crafted to express, promote and assert multiple rights: the right to political representation, the right to culture and identity, and the right to space/city - Addis Ababa - which serves competing economic and geopolitical purposes. In this paper, I discuss how singers use multi-modal, multi-layered and multi-referential songs and music videos to highlight questions of identity, eviction and development-induced displacement in a political environment where dissenting voices are curtailed. Songs and music videos about the precaritization of life, displacement and dispossession demonstrate Oromo traditions of calling out social injustices in subtle, often poetic ways. Their mobilization also suggests their significance in resisting systemic exclusions, raising questions about the right to the city, urban revitalization, and equitable futures. Studying what I call 'miktivism' - music activism - reveals the embeddedness of the oral and auditory as modes of cultural expression, but also how young musicians deploy it as playful, revolutionary practices to highlight intersecting socio-economic, political/ideological, and epistemic injustices. In so far as miktivism is a subversive aesthetics of dissent, it can create political soundscapes that are in excess of the performers, musicians and songwriters, permeating spaces that are not easily controlled by the state. I reflect on how we might understand the present political moment through the work of young musicians who also imagine, perform and transform the future through protest music.
Anna Schwenck (University of Siegen)
Paper short abstract:
The paper discusses the widespread notion that not much has changed in ZA since 1994. Organized abandonment characterizes a socio-political situation against the backdrop of which also musical and music-based calls for a continuation of the struggle for freedom take place.
Paper long abstract:
South Africa’s 1994 transition to democracy is internationally marketed as a symbol of peace and reconciliation. However, as South African political scientist Karl von Holdt convincingly argues, the democratic constitution legally ratifies the outcome of centuries of racialized violence during colonial and Apartheid reigns. Numerous musicians—who might not necessarily understand themselves as political spokespeople—find themselves propelled to take a stance, because they share with many fellow inhabitants in the notion that way too little has changed since 1994. Can we understand their music productions as struggle songs? And how do they build on and give relevance to an archive of songs that emerged during and guided the protests against the racist system of Apartheid? The paper builds on Ruth Wilson Gilmore’s notion of organized abandonment (as an alternative to the conceptual challenges posed by the notion of structural violence) to grasp the politico-economic situation in which calls for a continuation of the struggle against racialized oppression take place and (musical) calls for, if needed violent, counter-actions appear justified.
Nina ter Laan (University of Cologne)
Paper short abstract:
This paper explores anticolonial songs from the Rif (northern Morocco) and their incorporation into contemporary protest songs. I analyze how anticolonial sentiments are evoked through music, conveying current feelings of oppression, while expressing hope for the future of the region.
Paper long abstract:
This paper explores anticolonial songs from the Rif (northern Morocco) and their incorporation into contemporary protest songs, circulating between Morocco and the Riffian diaspora in Europe. The Rif is a distinct Amazigh (Berber) region, which has been subject to violence at various levels. From chemical warfare by the Spanish colonial invaders to severe state repression and violent rebellions after independence, to massive migration to Europe. During the Rif War (1921-26), clashes occurred between the Spanish colonizers and Riffian tribes. During this period, numerous anticolonial sung poems were created, called 'izran.' This oral tradition is a rich source of historiography from the perspective of the colonized, recounting the various events that took place on the battlefields and beyond. Later, these songs have been appropriated in adapted arrangements by a variety of artists to voice pressing socio-political concerns of the region in the postcolonial period. This paper focuses on one anticolonial song called 'Dhar Obarran' (Mountain of Obarran), a site where during a major battle in 1921, the Berber tribes defeated the Spanish army. I examine the song's content, form, and origins and trace its course across contemporary reworkings and their circulation between Morocco and Europe (particularly the Netherlands). Drawing on theories of 'soundscape' (Feld 1982; Hirschkind 2006) and 'empires as aural formations' (Radano & Olaniyan 2016), I analyze how anticolonial sensibilities are evoked through music to convey current feelings of oppression and struggle, as well as to express hope for the future of the region of the Rif.