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AEGIS European Conference on African Studies
11 - 14 July 2007
African Studies Centre, Leiden, The Netherlands
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From Jazz to Bongo Fleva. Music as a Political Weapon in Tanzania, 1945-2005.
| Panel |
20. Popular culture and politics - alternative channels of expression
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| Paper ID | 437 |
| Author(s) |
Suriano, Maria
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| Paper |
No paper submitted
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| Abstract | Popular culture in Tanzania has been inextricably linked to socio-political issues for a long time. In the 1950s, the years of ‘high nationalism’, many musicians mobilised the masses through their songs and performances, assigning a political meaning to old dance traditions (such as ngoma) whose role had been previously social, and politicising ‘new’ genres (namely jazz, or muziki wa dansi). During British colonialism, music was an instrument to create and constitute change, and undermine the existing social and political order.
In urban spaces, such as Dar es Salaam and Mwanza, youths symbolically appropriated two elements of white power: jazz music and western clothes, which allowed them to express new personal and social identities, and even political grievances, while remaining well within the sphere of ‘respectability’. Jazz and fashion were also utilised as a tool for forging a modern cultural identity (Shain, 2002: 84), and were the place where generational tension could arise. There is evidence of this in the local press in Swahili. One of the aims of this paper is to investigate how and when popular culture became politically manipulated, and if similar patterns were at work in Mwanza as they were in Dar es Salaam.
The Ministry of Culture and Youth - established by Julius K. Nyerere in 1962 - conceived literature and arts as a means of educating the masses, and music became a political tool of communication used by the state leaders to spread their messages and further their interests. This paper argues that, after independence, music became a mobilising factor for political continuity.
More recently, after liberalisation, youths have acquired a new means of conveying their aspirations and ideals, i.e. Bongo Fleva music. This genre has been heralded as a ‘synthesis’ for the emerging generation in East Africa, allowing youths some agency. Through their songs, clothes and mannerism, young artists express their transnational identities and affirm their local grievances. But artists’ interaction with politicians is often characterised by their affiliation with the ruling party, the Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM). During the last CCM electoral campaign (2005), the predicted next President, Jakaya Kikwete, was accompanied by some rappers and singers, who invited people to vote for him in the name of the achievements made by the country under the leadership of Nyerere, Mwinyi, and Mkapa.
Based on fieldwork conducted in Tanzania between 2004 and 2005, my paper will seek to explore the relation between music and politics starting from after the Second World War up to the present.
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