The contagious sound of Congo-Zaire's distinctive popular dance music has made it a kind of 'musica franca' of sub-Saharan Africa. Despite the music's influence outside of its country of origin, virtually no research has been done to explore the history, production and meaning of the musical style. In addition to being a privileged feature of Congo-Kinshasa's cultural landscape, this 'musique moderne' also constitutes a valuable source of information of the way that 'modernity' is ordered and understood in an African context. 'Modernity', I want to argue, is driven by 'tradition', and 'audition' pulls 'modernity' back into its sphere of utility, resulting in a never-ending, forever-changing, cultural and political spiral. 'Modernism', on the other hand, as a stance or 'way of being' in the world, is used as a means of gaining mastery over the paradoxes and pleasures of 'modernity's' condition. Findings are based on fourteen months of intensive fieldwork (1995--1996) in Brazzaville (Peoples' Republic of Congo) and Kinshasa (Democratic Republic of Congo). I conducted research on three basic units of study relative to Congolese popular dance music: the music industry, the musical style and the audience. By comparing information from these three domains of knowledge, I have attempted to show not only how music in Kinshasa is performed, but how it is produced and understood. The 'modern' idiom through which music expresses itself is interesting in itself, but it also highlights the importance of culture and history to the study of popular culture and politics.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:QMM.35649 |
| Date | January 1998 |
| Creators | White, Bob Whitman. |
| Contributors | Galaty, John G. (advisor) |
| Publisher | McGill University |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Coverage | Doctor of Philosophy (Department of Anthropology.) |
| Rights | All items in eScholarship@McGill are protected by copyright with all rights reserved unless otherwise indicated. |
| Relation | alephsysno: 001641772, proquestno: NQ44627, Theses scanned by UMI/ProQuest. |
Page generated in 0.0016 seconds