For over a decade now, Bongo Fleva has been the dominant category of popular music in Tanzania, surpassing Muziki wa Dansi (dance music) and Taarab in terms of its presence in the media. Bongo Fleva has become deversified in the last years and at present includes elements of traditional music as well as popular dance music, both of African and Western origin (Raab 2006: 43 ff.). As a result, contemporary Bongo Fleva is stylistically complex. Ther lyrics of Bongo Fleva are specifically determined by 1) the use of Swahili youth language and slang expressions. 2) the representation of modern and young lifestyles, and 3) socio-critical contens with pedagocial and moralistic tendencies. The lyrics of Bongo Fleva are marked by youth discourse which is most important for the construction of youth identities. While Bongo Fleva text with dialogic structure seem to continue the older tradition of Muziki wa Dansi, the dramatic texts remind of the way folk narratives are told in Tanzania. As the dramatic Bongo Fleva texts make use of direct speech, often of several characters, and without introduction, it seems that traditional techniques of story-telling have an effect on Bongo Fleva rap lyrics. In this article a rap text of this kind, Mikasi (\"Sex\"), released in 2004 by Bongo Fleva artist Ngwair, will be analysed with regard to its form, content and function. As it conteain different roles and dialogues, it is suitable for the investigation of youths`talk. A special focus will be put on the self-portrayal of the youths in the dialogues of the song, and on the question how boasting and dissing is performed in a dialogic text.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:DRESDEN/oai:qucosa.de:bsz:15-qucosa-91170 |
| Date | 14 August 2012 |
| Creators | Reuster-Jahn, Uta |
| Contributors | Universität Hamburg, Asien-Afrika-Insitut, Universität Mainz, Institut für Ethnologie und Afrikanistik |
| Publisher | Universitätsbibliothek Leipzig |
| Source Sets | Hochschulschriftenserver (HSSS) der SLUB Dresden |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | doc-type:article |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | Swahili Forum 14 (2007), S. 225-244 |
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