When socialism collapsed in Tanzania, the government-controlled music industry gave way to a vibrant independent music scene. Alex Perullo explores the world of the bands, music distributors, ...managers, and clubs that attest to the lively and creative music industry in Dar es Salaam. Perullo examines the formation of the city's music economy, considering the means of musical production, distribution, protection, broadcasting, and performance. He exposes both legal and illegal strategies for creating business opportunities employed by entrepreneurs who battle government restrictions and give flight to their musical aspirations. This is a singular look at the complex music landscape in one of Africa's most dynamic cities.
Artists in eastern Africa use songs, poems, fiction, cartoons, and other artistic forms to explore their lived experiences and future possibilities. Through their art they can envision alternatives ...to their current experiences, contest social and political problems, and reveal the dangers of complacency. They can also grapple with regret at missed opportunities or develop a sense of longing for a future that could or should have been had different decisions been made. Through these processes of envisioning and challenging future trajectories, artists illuminate diverse human attitudes toward time, encompassing hopes, aspirations, fears, anger, resentment, and nostalgia. Recognizing the role that artists have in empathizing with and validating the experiences of others, this article provides a framework for comprehending artistic orientations to time that are often fluid, contested, and uneven. It reveals that individuals, including both creators and consumers of art, orient themselves toward different future possibilities as they negotiate their present circumstances and daily struggles. Thus, art serves as a medium through which individuals explore, challenge, critique, and imagine future possibilities, as well as deal with regret at unexplored past opportunities. This article introduces the NJAS special issue "Art and Imagined Futures in Eastern Africa", edited by Alex Perullo, Claudia Böhme, and Christina Woolner, and has not been peer-reviewed.
During the 1990s, the rise in popularity of hip-hop culture in Tanzania brought increased public scrutiny of urban youth due, in part, to preconceived notions of youth culture and rap music. In ...newspaper articles and public discourses, youth were quickly targeted and labeled hooligans (wahuni), and often associated with words such as violent, hostile, and disruptive. Youth used music to combat these stereotypes and project images of themselves as creative and empowered individuals in society. In this article, I examine the ways that youth use rap music to confront stereotypes of young people, and reach the broader listening public through politically and socially relevant lyrics. Using transcriptions of lyrics and interviews with artists, I argue that youth have turned a foreign musical form into a critical medium of social empowerment whereby they are able to create a sense of community among other urban youth, voice their ideas and opinions to a broad listening public, and alter conceptions of youth as hooligans.
During the 1990s, the rise in popularity of hip-hop culture in Tanzania brought increased public scrutiny of urban youth due, in part, to preconceived notions of youth culture and rap music. In ...newspaper articles and public discourses, youth were quickly targeted and labeled hooligans (wahuni), and often associated with words such as violent, hostile, and disruptive. Youth used music to combat these stereotypes and project images of themselves as creative and empowered individuals in society. In this article, I examine the ways that youth use rap music to confront stereotypes of young people, and reach the broader listening public through politically and socially relevant lyrics. Using transcriptions of lyrics and interviews with artists, I argue that youth have turned a foreign musical form into a critical medium of social empowerment whereby they are able to create a sense of community among other urban youth, voice their ideas and opinions to a broad listening public, and alter conceptions of youth as hooligans. PUBLICATION ABSTRACT
In many popular conceptions of aging in Africa, one is thought to attain more power, knowledge, and authority as one ages. This cultural belief, however, does not bear out in practice, particularly ...in urban areas where there is an increasing focus on possessiveness, self-responsibility, and youth-oriented cultural practices. In this article, I examine two issues that significantly impact the authority and status of elders in contemporary Tanzania: health and financial insecurity. In interviews and surveys with elder musicians in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, all of whom were considered to be highly regarded performers between 1951 and 1985, they mention a lack of financial security, problems with their physical health, and the loss of respect for their vision of popular music. Many lament the lack of access to adequate medical care, prescription drugs, and geriatric doctors who are knowledgeable about the types of illnesses that occur among the elderly. The lack of financial resources, such as pensions, further marginalize older adults who are often unable to attain basic necessities needed to live in an expensive and highly competitive East African city. While most elder musicians remain knowledge holders among other performers, inadequate healthcare and economic insecurity obstructs their ability to influence cultural, economic, and political processes in Tanzania.
The period from 1968 to 1985 is often regarded as one of the classic periods of Tanzanian popular music. A significant reason for the success of popular music in Tanzania during this time was the ...migration of over two hundred Congolese artists to Dar es Salaam. This migration, one of the largest artist-centered movements to take place on the African continent, brought a heightened sense of professionalism and credibility to Tanzania's music scene--specifically rumba. Here, Perullo elaborates the reason on why so many Congolese musicians decide to move to Tanzania, though Congolese music is popular in eastern and central Africa.
RIGHTS ALEX PERULLO
Framing the Global,
05/2014
Book Chapter
WHILE THE CONCEPT OF RIGHTS HAS A LONG HISTORY IN LEGAL AND cultural thought, it has increasingly become a focus of contemporary global processes and movements. In East Africa (Tanzania, Kenya, and ...Uganda), community organizations, religious institutions, and individuals regularly debate the tensions of justice and injustice occurring in society. There are frequent workshops, conferences, public speeches, and parliamentary sessions about the scope of rights in contemporary societies. Radio shows, musical events, and newspaper articles consistently feature explanations of and clarifications about rights-based issues. Rarely does a week pass without a public event organized by a nonprofit organization to educate
