Paper short abstract:

Using examples from my work as a composer and researcher a case study for the creation of experimental music based on African concepts, I will propose artistic and curricular innovations in new music, also discussing the meaning this work takes on in relation to discourses of decolonization.

Paper long abstract:

In this paper, I will use my own work as a composer, improvisor, and researcher as a case study for the creation of experimental music based on African music traditions, focusing on three examples: my development of experimental intercultural collaboration as an approach for collective work in compositional innovation; the Suite for Burkina Electric and Orchestra as an example of intercultural composition and performance; and improvisation through cross-adaptive data processing, a research project in its beginning stages, as an example of how African cultural experiences can serve as a foundational concepts for a technological experiment.

Based on these examples, as well as on references to African music pedagogies and ethnomathematics, I will propose possibilities for innovations in academic music curricula and approaches for composition and ensemble interplay based on aesthetic and cognitive considerations. I will contextualize this through a discussion of the meaning these pursuits take on in the current sociopolitical climate with its postcolonial and identity-oriented discourses.