Sunday May 4, 2014

Africa’s Transformative Narrative Part 1: Music, Art and Culture

Over the past one decade, Africa as an entity on the global stage has transformed a lot. The continent has had things working for it in various areas and things falling apart in other disciplines. Generally though, Africa has been experiencing positive transformative change. Being the second largest continent in the world with a total of 54 countries that hold a tenth of the total world population with close to one thousand indigenous languages and a substantive variance of cultures, it is a mystery how currently Africa is almost speaking in one language with the same message – that of positive transformation across social, economic and political spheres.

This process of beneficial change and developmental progression has led to what is being referred to currently as Africa’s transformative narrative. And so it would be very interesting to dive in deep into this pool of information, stories and statistics that form the narrative.

In the last seven years, African music, art and culture has gained traction though not hegemonic presence in the world stage as being appealing and of quality in its own way. The world has grown to embrace cultural relativism more and though not yet fully, the misconceptions about Africa and Africans as a society assumed to be in the darkest areas and stages of development have been refuted with a number of factors that have made the world pay more attention. Tourism still serves as one of the most vital tools in exposing the exquisite, serene and beautiful side of Africa though over the past few years the internet has played this role better. 

Through remote connectivity it is possible to be seated in one part of the Europe and zoom into Bulawayo for example to view how things are there. Musically, African musicians are working hard on the global stage to achieve the competence and quality that their colleagues from the developed world have. Performers like Fela Kuti, Youssou N’dour, Ali ‘Farka’ Toure and Angelique Kidjo became iconic symbols in the 1980s and 1990s, establishing the world music genre. The success and achievements of this generation of artists has birthed a new breed of African artists who are young, hip and flashy just like their American counterparts for example.

These artists shuttle between Africa and the developed world performing all over Europe and the U.S.A for example pushing the brand that is the new kind of African music on the world stage. There is also a substantial number of Afropolitan artists and cultural practitioners who are tirelessly exposing Africa to the world and the world to Africa. There has also been a re-engineering of the original African sound from the initial perceived tribal sensation with percussions to a more modern and funky and poppy kind of music that is palatable to quite a large spread among the varieties of music consumers in the world. Nigeria has emerged as the continent’s music powerhouse with its dominance in the continental stage and more specifically with a vibrant and well furnished pop culture that has drawn attention from not only other competitive African music sub-scenes, but from the world.

The sound of contemporary African music has been described by many industry analysts as Afro-pop. This sound borrows heavily from mainstream western pop culture though it blends this perfectly with indigenous African sounds.  This sound defines the contemporary transformed African  artist as being modern and urban.

In an article titled African Music Grows to Its Own Beat written for thisisafricaonline.com by Jake Bright in June 2013, the writer notes that some world music experts believe that the Nigerian music industry could emerge as the continent’s new face to the world and a pillar of global pop culture. The music publication Billboard announced its expansion into Africa in 2013 and Nigerian hits are now available on Amazon and iTunes. Today, recording studios, managers, producers, professional music videos and digital distribution platforms are developing rapidly from hubs in Accra, Lagos and Nairobi. Another development worth mention is the inclusion of African musicians in international music awards either under a new special category or as nominees who battle it out squarely with other established musicians from Europe, America and Asia. Artists like Dbanj, Wizkid, Samini, Ice Prince, Davido, 2face, Kemang Wa Lehulere and groups like Lady Blacksmith Mambazo, Camp Mulla, Les Nubians, Radio and Weasel have either won or been nominated for grand music awards like MTV and BET on a global level.

Though Nigeria and South Africa have dominated a higher ratio of the number of African artists who get global recognition most of the time, other countries like Kenya and Uganda have recently injected a bit of competition with the coming up of groups like self declared African Super-Nerdy Electronic group Just A Band, Afro-pop group Sauti Sol and individuals like Baloji from D.R.C who are also churning out tunes that have exploded on the continental stage.

The success of African artists while at home and on the global stage has been made possible by the coming up of digital distribution platforms like Spinlet and Iroko that have been part of a digital revolution that have swept through music and filmmaking in the continent. The narrative of transformation in the continent’s music scene exposes a great deal of healthy competition and integration among artists and other practitioners through platforms like Coke Studio Africa that bring together African musicians like never before in a bid to bridge gaps in capacity differences in separate country music scenes.

Music aside, there has also been a great deal of developments on the cultural scene where Africans and people of African origin have brought great pride and joy to the continent through sports and film for example. African sportsmen continue to command a great deal of attention in the world’s top leagues and there has also been an emergence of individuals from underperforming countries who have made it to some of the world’s best leagues because of their talent and consistent quality delivery. The stories of McDonald Mariga who plays for Serie A club Inter Milan and his younger brother Victor Wanyama who plays as a center back for premier league club Southampton have inspired many upcoming players in Kenya, an underperforming team in the continent’s soccer competitions and is currently ranked 106 by FIFA in global standings.

Soccer lovers all over the world know how much trouble it means when players like Samuel Eto’o, Didier Drogba, Yaya and Kolo Toure are playing against your team. These players have become some of the most recognized personalities in the African continent due to their philanthropy and quality delivery on the pitch unlike the past where only politicians were well-known. The success of these sportsmen and athletes  has not been stopped by the numerous instances of racial profiling that attacks them either while on the pitch, track or through media statements.

Lupita Nyongo. Her fast rise to fame and glory in Hollywood  speaks a lot about the possibilities of Africans' dominating world stages and the acceptance of the dark African image for its beauty.

With Lupita Nyongo winning the continent’s first Oscar in this year’s academy awards, the whole world is now paying closer attention to the performance arts in Africa more than ever before. Lupita’s win contributes significantly to the narrative of this transforming continent coming just five years after the world witnessed the inauguration of the U.S.A’s first black president Barrack Obama who is also of African origin and by extension Kenyan origin just like Lupita. And in Finland, the story of Jani Toviola who is also of Kenyan descent and became Finland’s first black Member of Parliament in 2013 is equally inspiring.

The narrative of Africa’s transformation in the arts and culture scene has been phenomenal as it has been unexpected. The selling point of most of these achievers like Lupita Nyongo, Barrack Obama, Mi Casa, Just A Band and Dbanj for example seems to be the brilliance and uniqueness in the manner with which they execute their roles and goals. And as the internet propels further transformation in the arts and culture scene, it is only safe to say that the African continent is headed for nothing less than domination or equal treatment on the world stage.