This course will examine a number of cases (not limited to the syllabus) of 20th-century musical developments outside the hegemony of Euro-American aesthetics. Although each study is set in the same continent, no further connection between them should be assumed; indeed, a strictly anti-essentialism is necessary to appreciate the heterogeneity of the musics and the complexity of the interactions we will explore. The abyss Imperialism has created between us and the musicians we will be studying renders objective study both necessary and impossible, but with a fearless self-consciousness, a relentless (yet respectful!) critical bearing, open hearts and ears, we will endeavor to use this tension to propel our study forward to the possibility of a musical counter–hegemony. Beyond this background there will be limited discussion of extra–musical context. Theoretical models will proceed from discussions of the specific cases surveyed. A single text will serve as an overarching intellectual foundation but others may be admitted:

Agawu, Kofi. Representing African Music. Routledge, 2003.

Nigeria 

Adamu, Abdalla. “Transnational Influences and National Appropriations: The Influence of Hindi Film Music on Muslim Hausa Popular and Religious Music.” Conference on Music in the world of Islam. Assilah, 8-13 August, 2007. 

Omojola, Bode. Yoruba Music in the Twentieth Century. University of Rochester Press, 2012. 

Waterman, Christopher. “Our Tradition Is a Very Modern Tradition: Popular Music and the Construction of a 

Pan-Yoruban Identity.” Ethnomusicology, vol. 34, no. 3, 1990, pp. 367–379. 

Mali

Charry, Eric. Mande Music: Traditional and Modern Music of the Maninka and Mandinka of Western Africa. University of Chicago Press, 2000. 

Duran, Lucy. “Birds of Wasulu: Freedom of Expression and Expressions of Freedom in the Popular Music of Southern Mali.” British Journal of Ethnomusicology, Vol. 4, 1995, pp. 101-134. 

Mauritania & Western Sahara (SADR)

Guignard, Michel. Musique, Honneur et Plaisir au Sahara. 2nd ed., Geuthner, 2005. 

Lavoie, Matthew. “Mauritania and Western Sahara: Ways of the Moors.” The Rough Guide to World Music, Vol. 1: Africa and the Middle East edited by Broughton, Simon; Mark Ellingham & Jon Lusk. 3rd ed., The Rough Guides, 2006: 240-247. 

Class trip to Washington, DC for a performance by Noura mint Seymali