This contribution calls attention to Malian masquerades that reinterpret narrative material drawn from the epic of Bamana Segu through puppets and masks. After providing a general overview of African ...puppetry, the essay zooms in specifically on the Malian village of Kirango, located on the bank of the Niger River about 35 kilometers northeast of the city of Ségou. The inhabitants of this village (Bamana farmers and Bozo fishermen) celebrate masquerades in which puppets and masks are made to dance by puppeteers whose performance is accompanied by drum-mers and singers. In this context, no difference is made between puppets and masks: both are called sogo (‘animal’), because many of them represent animals such as the hippopotamus, the crocodile, various types of fish (Bozo), antelopes and the buffalo (Bamana). The essay then introduces two characters from the epic of Bamana Segu, Faaro (water spirit and creator god) and Biton (Mamari Coulibaly, a historical Bamana king who, according to a widespread legend, acquired power with the help of Faaro); and it goes on to discuss Faaro’s role in Bozo and Bamana masquerades and explain how a 2009 Bozo performance recreated the legend of Faaro and Biton. The final sections of the essay reflect on the masquerades’ significance with respect to collective memory and cultural identity as well as their possible evolution in the future.
In chapter two she deals with such terms as 'folklore', 'authenticity' and tradition'. Since the 1920s when regional traditions were 'invented' and the 'folklorization' of danzas was promoted by ...cultural institutions, this has lead to the definition of a regional repertoire of 'indigenous' or 'authentic' danzas, on the one hand, and 'mestizo' danzas on the other. Apart from gaining social recognition and prestige, the dancers are shaping society by opposing certain dominant views of women and of ethnic/racial identity. ...I would very much have liked to see the moving images, but the video has to be ordered separately from the USA, and somehow that seems a lot of trouble. Even though the social reality in this African country is quite different, the theoretical analysis of (ritual) dances in an historical perspective within a framework of ethnicity/race contained in Shaping Society through Dance will be a much-appreciated source of inspiration.
The second section looks more closely at individual artists and their musical and social impact, and the third section provides case studies of salsa's impact in different parts of the world (the ...salsa diaspora). Some of the ways that socialist policy has affected Cuban music performance since 1959 has been described by Robin Moore, in chapter 3: 'Salsa and Socialism: Dance Music in Cuba, 1959-99'. From 'local meaning' - authentic (or ethnic) salsa, as part of the identity of Latin Americans and a means of protest - through migration and transnational diaspora, to 'global markets': a commercial product, sold through record shops, magazines, radio programs, clubs, and festivals worldwide.
Voices of the Magi: Enchanted Journeys in Southeast Brazil Otter, Elisabeth den
European Review of Latin American and Caribbean Studies / Revista Europea de Estudios Latinoamericanos y del Caribe,
10/2003, Volume:
75, Issue:
75
Book Review, Journal Article
Peer reviewed
Open access
(In their attire and behaviour they much resemble the 'auquis' old men that are part of dance groups that I encountered during my research in the Callejon de Huaylas, Peru.) The book is structured ...along the stages of the enchanted journey. Under difficult circumstances, economic as well as social, the folia is a way of creating the social harmony that is needed to keep people together, or, as Reily (p. 183) puts it, 'The folia, particularly within the urban context, provides a framework for organizing independent nuclear families into a larger interfamilial network of relatives and friends, bound to one another by patterns of reciprocal exchange across households and by a diffuse sense of collective solidarity'. The first one was Thomas Turino's Moving Away from Silence: Music of the Peruvian Altiplano and the Experience of Urban Migration, 1993 (reviewed in Latin American Music Review, vol.15, number 2, 1994, pp. 256-260).
Music and Revolution. Cultural Change in Socialist Cuba Otter, Elisabeth den
European Review of Latin American and Caribbean Studies / Revista Europea de Estudios Latinoamericanos y del Caribe,
04/2008, Volume:
84, Issue:
84
Book Review, Journal Article
Peer reviewed
Open access
The book begins with a chronological overview of cultural changes within Cuba since 1959, followed by a series of case studies concerning particular individuals, groups, and music genres, and ends ...with the transformation of Cuban socialism since the collapse of the Soviet Union. Research institutes dedicated to musical study were created, such as the Institute of Ethnology and Folklore, which specialized in Afro-Cuban traditions. Because of its appeal to tourists and its ability to generate hard currency, dance music has prevailed over other forms in recent years. Afro-Cuban rhythms were elaborated and there were influences from Yoruba sacred repertoire. Since the reorientation of Cuba's economy toward tourism and foreign investment in the 1990s, the study and performance of Afro-Cuban music has flourished.
