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- Convenors:
-
Tom Simmert
(Gutenberg University Mainz)
Bakar Abdul-Rashid Jeduah (Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz)
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- Format:
- Panel
- Stream:
- New forms of collaboration in African arts
- Location:
- S40 (RW II)
- Sessions:
- Tuesday 1 October, -
Time zone: Europe/Berlin
Short Abstract:
The panel seeks to understand how novel ways of collaborative performance through digital audiovisual platforms are reconfiguring the presence of African popular cultural products within the global space.
Long Abstract:
In today's interconnected digital mediascape, African popular cultural products are experiencing a transformative reconfiguration of their global presence. This panel explores the hyper-dynamic world of digital audiovisual platforms with a focus on the profound impact of collaborative performance on the circulation of African music and film across the global stage. By centering on popular platforms such as TikTok and Instagram, our contributors examine the emergence of innovative and cross-cultural collaborations that are reshaping the narratives and reception of African creative expressions.
Employing an ever-expanding set of tools, users on these platforms have harnessed the power of collaborative performance as a means of engagement and expression. This collaborative ethos extends beyond geographical boundaries, bringing together individuals from diverse backgrounds to participate in acts of artistic synergy and significantly helping cultural products like music and film to attract new audiences. Contributors to this panel will investigate how collaborative performances such as dance, instrument playing, singing, acting, and lip-syncing, are redefining the relationship between artists, their audiences, cultural industries, and platform companies themselves.
Our panelists will address questions surrounding the role of digital audiovisual media and platforms in increasing access to African cultural content, fostering cultural exchange, and challenging traditional notions of authorship, ownership and representation. By scrutinizing these contemporary modes of creative interaction, we aim to shed light on the transformative potential of collaborative performance in shaping the future of African popular culture on the global stage.
Accepted papers:
Session 1 Tuesday 1 October, 2024, -Paper short abstract:
There has been a shift in the practice of African dance, which gained massive recognition within constituted global world culture. This study examines unconventional dance creations and how traditionally acclaimed notions of spatiotemporal limitations are obliterated within digital spaces.
Paper long abstract:
Deconstructing and navigating the trinities of time, space, and action, African dance experiences and practices in today's world have been redefined through technological interventions and digital connections. The obliteration of time and space, among many other advantages, has made African dances accessible to all and sundry without restrictions. More importantly, this connection has also created lucrative artistic spaces and healthy competitive relations through dance trends and challenges within digital spaces. Consequently, the question of source, authorship, or ownership of the African-generated movement or dance trend becomes secondary as the quest to participate or tap into the 'moments of dance fame' takes top priority. This study seeks to identify the unconventional platform of dance creation and viewership to examine how traditionally acclaimed notions of spatial and temporal limitations in dance are obliterated within digital spaces. It seeks to cross-examine the theoretical dimensions that can explain the new dance world culture, which has most recently destroyed dance's geographical boundaries and limitations across cultures. The study has, therefore, randomly selected African dance trends and challenges on TikTok and Instagram networks to appraise the interconnectedness and interplay between the trinities and how digital artists and audiences connect to create the most vibrant dance content and global experiences.
Paper short abstract:
It investigates the protagonism of Afro-diasporic pop on digital platforms, based on how the Afrobapho collective (Brazil), formed by young black non-binary people, explores TikTok and Instagram as spaces of existence by articulating music, audiovisual, pop-peripheral and Afro-diasporic repertoires.
Paper long abstract:
This proposal aims to examine the reconfigurations of pop culture in the Global South based on Afro-diasporic protagonism in intersection with gender dissidence, fostered by the new dynamics of audiovisual consumption and circulation on digital networks. The study shows how the process of decolonisation of knowledge and digital media has not only enabled the global presence of Afro-diasporic popular culture, but has also accentuated the transcultural and decolonial power of pop. Based on this understanding, we examined how the Afrobapho collective, made up of young black and non-binary people from the suburbs of Salvador, Bahia (Brazil), has explored TikTok and Instagram as spaces for visibility and celebration of their existence through innovative artistic collaborations that combine music, audiovisuals and performances in a symbiosis of local, traditional and global repertoires. We're interested in examining how these youth groups have created black affective communities based on processes of transculturation of global pop. Afrobapho articulates global aesthetic references, related to Afrofuturism, voguing and the US Ballroom scene, with elements of Afro-Brazilian peripheral pop music, such as pagode from Bahia and funk from Rio de Janeiro, and the traditions that marked the resistance of enslaved peoples in the Americas, such as Capoeira and Candomblé. In theoretical-methodological terms, this study explores Afro-diasporic knowledge from black Brazilian authors, such as Lélia Gonzalez and the concept of "amefricanidade” (amefricanity), and Leda Maria Martins and the notions of "encruzilhadas" (crossed paths) and spiral temporality.
Paper short abstract:
This research examines how collaborative endeavors of Nigerian musicians promote inter-cultural connections and how digital platforms has globalised Nigerian music and musicians. It specifically focuses on Burna Boy as a case study.
Paper long abstract:
The intersection of digital platforms and the collaborative efforts between Nigerian artists and non-Nigerian musicians has transformed the music landscape, fostering intercultural connections and promoting diversity. While there is growing interest in researching how digital platforms facilitate such endeavours and enhance global access to music, there is still a need to explore the impact of these collaborations on cultural exchange. This research aims to fill the void by examining how collaborations involving Nigerian Burna Boy and non-Nigerian artists have become a catalyst for promoting intercultural connections and how digital platforms democratize access to his music in the digital era. His collaborations with non-Nigerian artists like Beyonce, an American artist, Stormyz, a British rapper, Sam Smith, Jorja Smith, a British highlight his ability to connect with artists from different genres and countries. Their shared artistic expressions expose diverse audiences to a fusion of styles, facilitating a deeper understanding of cultural nuances. Digital platforms like Dropbox, SoundCloud, and collaborative tools such as Splice enable seamless file sharing and real-time collaboration on musical projects, breaking down geographical barriers and fostering global collaboration among musicians. Digital platforms facilitate music collaborations by providing a virtual space for artists to connect, share ideas, and collaborate remotely. Features like playlists and algorithm-driven recommendations help connect artists from different cultural backgrounds, exposing their music to new audiences and fostering more collaborative opportunities. By exploring the impact of these collaborations and the role of digital platforms, intercultural connections across music industries can further be promoted and enhanced.
Paper short abstract:
This study is motivated by a specific social media moment where a collaborative effort provoked conversation on social media around sampling and African musical innovation. Drawing on Burna Boy’s “On the Low” and Arya Starr’s “Sability,” i interrogate the effect of sampling on Afrobeats genre.
Paper long abstract:
This study is motivated by the ways in which a specific social media moment where a collaborative effort provoked conversation on social media around sampling and African musical innovation. The success of Burna Boy’s “Last Last” which sampled Toni Braxton’s “He wasn’t Man Enough for Me” generated discussion around distribution of royalties and the nature of musical adaptation possible within Afrobeats as a genre. Partly, it has been claimed that the success of Afrobeats has a lot to do with its nodding to other musical forms within and beyond Africa. While Burna Boys’ “Last Last” demonstrates a cultural exchange that is inter-continental, this paper explores Afrobeats songs that manifest intra-continental forms of cultural exchange and the social media debates framing their reception as popular songs. Drawing on Burna Boy’s “On the Low” and Arya Starr’s “Sability” as well as social media debates by audiences across cultural divides on the selected songs, this paper explores intra-African sampling and interpolation, and their effect on the resilience of Afrobeats as a musical genre. In addition, the paper interrogates the question of originality within adaptation. The study will take a media ethnography approach which will be supplemented by a close reading of the selected songs. Karin Barber’s concept of “entextualization” and McLeod and Dicola’s ideas on digital sampling will be used to examine how sampling serves to reinvent musical forms and sustain Afrobeats as a genre.