Event Title
Session 2B: Metal in Africa
Location
Kennedy Union, Room 331
Start Date
6-11-2014 11:15 AM
End Date
6-11-2014 1:00 PM
Description
Metal in Africa: Emerging Perspectives
Considering the breadth and diversity of ethno/linguistic/expressive culture in Africa, the prospect of speaking about metal across the continent becomes a problematic endeavor at best. However, in light of the durability and similarity of tropes about Africa that continue to live outside the continent, it can be a productive exercise to examine the instances of metal communities, performances and acts that struggle and thrive in various African locales.
Metal’s global reach, yet characteristically distinct ethos, provides for a set of complex case studies against the backdrop of by now familiar themes in African musicology: debates over tradition and modernity, the intersections of race and class, and the tension between globalization and industrialization. The papers in this panel address these topics, while allowing the emergence of the individual and their relationship to these contemporary dynamics. More specifically, what is their ability to use the expressive culture of metal to more distinctly formulate a modern subjectivity and make sense of their world?
To this end, Edward Banchs’s cross cultural studies in Kenya, Botswana and South Africa explores how metal negotiates the African terrains of tradition and modernity. He asks if the inclusion of African traditional culture, language and instruments represent a typical metal ethic of defiance, or rather a way for the listener to connect to a real or imagined Africa. As well, how close to novelty does this inclusion risk?
Roy Doron interrogates the notion of metal as belonging to the white and working class. His work on the Angolan metal scene posits the idea that metal in Africa transcends ideas of race, class and nationalism. Instead, he looks at the indexical relationship of metal to people’s access and connectivity to global communication networks, and more specifically, to the people who only marginally benefit from the continuing growth of these networks in Africa.
Finally, Dennis Rathnaw will discuss the overarching implications of the panel’s work, and ask questions about the nature of metal’s place in Africa considering the complicated history of witchcraft, transgression and the pressure to adhere to social mores, and the reliance on big-man, zero-sum economies. From where in Africa are the next metal scenes coming?
Edward Banchs: "Sub-Saharan Thunder: The Sounds of Africa’s Heavy Metal"
The collisions of tradition and modernity are at the crossroads of debate in various metal communities throughout Africa. Expectations abound, the infusion of African tradition in the continent’s rock and heavy metal community is most likely driving an interest towards this forgotten land. But what are African rock and metal bands doing to include tradition in their music? Fearful of being noted as a novelty, many acts throughout Africa are very reticent to infuse tradition into their music. As accommodating as heavy metal is to such infusions, many omit tradition out of respect for their influences, or more so to make a bold statement in their communities, one of rejection, or defiance of their cultural upbringing. But yet others feel the inclusion is imperative and the only way the world will ever know that African metal bands exist. Many also feel the infusion of tradition would also allow for a broader interpretation of rock and metal in their own communities. Using first hand interviews conducted on the ground in various African countries, I would discuss just how far bands in Africa have gone to include or avoid cultural infusions in Botswana, Kenya and South Africa, and how some have embraced the use of tradition through instrumentation and even language. The presentation will address these questions: Can heavy metal music be a connection to African culture for audiences both, inside and outside of Africa? Is language perhaps a way into the culture of African metal musicians, and if so, how is African language being used in the continent’s metal communities? And at to what extent is culture and tradition influencing the sound of African metal?
Roy Doron: "The Final Frontier: Heavy Metal in Africa"
Much like the scene itself, the study of metal in Africa is in its infancy. Building on the theory of metal’s globalization, I argue that metal does indeed have a receptive audience in Africa; one that appropriates the genre in the context of local political, social and economic realities. Though metal’s popular image is overwhelmingly white and working class, the music has transcended race, class and nationalism like no other musical genre. By tracing the growth of Africa’s varied metal cultures we can see that rapid economic growth allows people to “plug in” to the scene. In fact, the existence of metal acts as a measure of a country’s connectivity to global communication networks. At the same time, that growth creates a class of people who are only marginally benefiting from that growth and gravitate towards the aggression of the music. In places like Angola, Botswana and South Africa, that aggression created unique metal cultures that reflect the political realities in those countries.
Dennis M. Rathnaw: Panel Respondent
Session 2B: Metal in Africa
Kennedy Union, Room 331
Metal in Africa: Emerging Perspectives
Considering the breadth and diversity of ethno/linguistic/expressive culture in Africa, the prospect of speaking about metal across the continent becomes a problematic endeavor at best. However, in light of the durability and similarity of tropes about Africa that continue to live outside the continent, it can be a productive exercise to examine the instances of metal communities, performances and acts that struggle and thrive in various African locales.
Metal’s global reach, yet characteristically distinct ethos, provides for a set of complex case studies against the backdrop of by now familiar themes in African musicology: debates over tradition and modernity, the intersections of race and class, and the tension between globalization and industrialization. The papers in this panel address these topics, while allowing the emergence of the individual and their relationship to these contemporary dynamics. More specifically, what is their ability to use the expressive culture of metal to more distinctly formulate a modern subjectivity and make sense of their world?
To this end, Edward Banchs’s cross cultural studies in Kenya, Botswana and South Africa explores how metal negotiates the African terrains of tradition and modernity. He asks if the inclusion of African traditional culture, language and instruments represent a typical metal ethic of defiance, or rather a way for the listener to connect to a real or imagined Africa. As well, how close to novelty does this inclusion risk?
Roy Doron interrogates the notion of metal as belonging to the white and working class. His work on the Angolan metal scene posits the idea that metal in Africa transcends ideas of race, class and nationalism. Instead, he looks at the indexical relationship of metal to people’s access and connectivity to global communication networks, and more specifically, to the people who only marginally benefit from the continuing growth of these networks in Africa.
Finally, Dennis Rathnaw will discuss the overarching implications of the panel’s work, and ask questions about the nature of metal’s place in Africa considering the complicated history of witchcraft, transgression and the pressure to adhere to social mores, and the reliance on big-man, zero-sum economies. From where in Africa are the next metal scenes coming?
Edward Banchs: "Sub-Saharan Thunder: The Sounds of Africa’s Heavy Metal"
The collisions of tradition and modernity are at the crossroads of debate in various metal communities throughout Africa. Expectations abound, the infusion of African tradition in the continent’s rock and heavy metal community is most likely driving an interest towards this forgotten land. But what are African rock and metal bands doing to include tradition in their music? Fearful of being noted as a novelty, many acts throughout Africa are very reticent to infuse tradition into their music. As accommodating as heavy metal is to such infusions, many omit tradition out of respect for their influences, or more so to make a bold statement in their communities, one of rejection, or defiance of their cultural upbringing. But yet others feel the inclusion is imperative and the only way the world will ever know that African metal bands exist. Many also feel the infusion of tradition would also allow for a broader interpretation of rock and metal in their own communities. Using first hand interviews conducted on the ground in various African countries, I would discuss just how far bands in Africa have gone to include or avoid cultural infusions in Botswana, Kenya and South Africa, and how some have embraced the use of tradition through instrumentation and even language. The presentation will address these questions: Can heavy metal music be a connection to African culture for audiences both, inside and outside of Africa? Is language perhaps a way into the culture of African metal musicians, and if so, how is African language being used in the continent’s metal communities? And at to what extent is culture and tradition influencing the sound of African metal?
Roy Doron: "The Final Frontier: Heavy Metal in Africa"
Much like the scene itself, the study of metal in Africa is in its infancy. Building on the theory of metal’s globalization, I argue that metal does indeed have a receptive audience in Africa; one that appropriates the genre in the context of local political, social and economic realities. Though metal’s popular image is overwhelmingly white and working class, the music has transcended race, class and nationalism like no other musical genre. By tracing the growth of Africa’s varied metal cultures we can see that rapid economic growth allows people to “plug in” to the scene. In fact, the existence of metal acts as a measure of a country’s connectivity to global communication networks. At the same time, that growth creates a class of people who are only marginally benefiting from that growth and gravitate towards the aggression of the music. In places like Angola, Botswana and South Africa, that aggression created unique metal cultures that reflect the political realities in those countries.
Dennis M. Rathnaw: Panel Respondent