Politics of Authenticity

This thesis contends that the colonial and postcolonial anthropological and ethnomusicological disciplines promoted “African rhythm” and, by extension, the “African drum” as the ultimate canon of study in Africanist ethnomusicology and as the defining parameters of authenticity in African music, thus ultimately undermining the authenticness of African popular music. The direct implications of these pursuits are linked with ideas and expectations that posit African music as wholly rhythmic and different, perhaps “exotic” in some ways, creating and sustaining exaggerated notions of difference that assume that we must have influenced them when they sound like us. Everything other than the “African drums” becomes “foreign” in these essentialist pursuits. Terms like hybridity and syncretism then become useful to highlight what is different in order to credit such to Western influences. This thesis deals primarily with the implications of these ideas and situates them within the broader discourse of the usage of terms like acculturation, appropriation, hybridity, and syncretism in the study of African popular music. This thesis argues that these terms are burdened with racial and ethnic connotations that often suggest a colonizer-colonized relationship, perpetuating ideologies that sustain Western hegemony. It highlights their use as identity markers and for categorization purposes and traces their underlying political nuances, which often serve Western interests. Thus, this thesis (1) renounces the positioning of the “African” drum as a marker of authenticity in African music; (2) demystifies ideas that assume that Africans are incapable of other musical sensibilities beyond rhythmic imaginations; and (3) denounces the claim that the use of “Western” musical instruments in African popular music blurs its authenticity. This thesis’s overarching goals are to recontextualize hybridity and syncretism to celebrate African popular music’s viability and emphasize individual musicians’ role in it; promote the ingenuity, novelty, and creativity of African musicians; and reposition African popular music as authentically and indigenously African.