Suchergebnisse

THis work examines the development of bikutsi from traditional song form to media, moral and cultural issue — a site of contestation between local media officials and an increasingly more internationally influenced and liberalized media. I analyze the experience of bikutsi as mediated by politics and external and internal views and consumption. As the Cameroonian media undergoes a process of democratization highly influenced by foreign media, local musicians and video artists become actors in a conflicted and uncertain environment. On the one hand are issues of nation-building and cultural development in the face of dominant foreign media, and on the other, the multitude of images, sounds and forms of popular culture people attach themselves to in their daily imaginings.

Durant la première décennie du XXIe siècle, les congrégations chrétiennes pentecôtistes représentent une importante force culturelle en Haïti et dans sa diaspora. Ceux qui s'identifient comme «Pannkotis» (pentecôtistes) comprennent une variété remarquable d'églises allant des «armées célestes» jusqu'à celles construites sur la base des congrégations américaines traditionnelles. Tandis qu'ils sont en proie à des difficultés socio-économiques, les croyants pentecôtistes louent et adorent Dieu avec exubérance, disposent d'un arsenal «d'armes» musicales pour assurer leur survie, défendre leur espace spirituel, et articuler leur identité et espérance religieuse. Considérant l'interaction de leur position et leur foi, je crois que la pratique musicale dont il est question ici représente pour les deux groupes distincts une épée à double tranchant. Elle pénètre les obstacles spirituels nuisibles et attaque un ennemi commun satanique, mais crée également des murs sociaux et religieux séparant les deux groupes. C'est justement ce côté paradoxal de la musique pentecôtiste – son habileté à unir spirituellement et à diviser socialement – qui est l'objet de ma réflexion.

[Abstract] This paper reports the results of the morphological analysis of a corpus of names of singers and bands ascribed to alternative musical trends. The analysis evinces that language is a suitable instrument to convey their desire for self-assertment and their rejection of stablished commercialism; therefore, it is used to break away from the norm, and also from what is foreseeable or even politically correct. In morphological terms, this innovation through trangression is reflected in inflectional and derivational deviation (Red Sparrowes, Unsane), as well as in the productive use of word formation devices (The Boredoms, Funkadelic, VNA). Moreover, the fragile correspondence between an orthographic word, a phonological word and a lexeme is constantly challenged by a creative use of graphemes and punctuation, and semantically anomalous word combinations (P:ano, Sixtringcanvas). The study concludes that this domain of human interaction illustrates the invaluable capacity of language to adjust itself to the users' needs and provides further evidence on the importance of usage vs. prescription in language development.

They fight death and all its elementsWhile smilingO how I suffer from the long nightsWitnessing those motherless diversEvery time a month passes by, another followsUntil the eyes grow old.Murshid bin Sa'd al-Bithali.Oh, how lucky are the richWho no longer cross the ocean as me.And again:If I was rich and a merchantI would never have endeavoredBut I'm weak and all I haveIs my cane.Fahad Rashid Boorsely

This essay explores the significance of art in political and social
change by way of evidence from the Swahili coast of East Africa. Analysis
of two musical genres, ngoma and dansi (typically glossed as "traditional
dance" and "urban jazz"), exposes common aesthetic principles of
innovation, inventive appropriation, competitive opposition, linguistic
indirection, and intertextuality. Historical analysis further reveals
that both genres have served as effective modes of political action in
Swahili communities. I use this data to question prevailing assumptions
about Swahili cosmopolitanism, challenge traditional/modern binarisms,
and theorize the relationship between art and society.