Abstract

In a number of African countries, the musical open letter has emerged as a new genre of popular music since 2000, in the context of democratization and a certain postdemocratization disillusionment. Through those letters, young urban musicians publicly and directly address political leaders, protesting against a lack of accountability, and demanding a fair dialogue about the representation of voters' interests. This explains why many musical open letters appear in the context of elections or their aftermath. In their open letters, rappers speak out in plain language and often defy etiquette rules, in contrast to more traditional, veiled forms of musically expressed criticism. The risk of repression is balanced against an increase in reputation with audiences. The article presents some twenty African musical open letters, focusing on case studies from Tanzania and Nigeria. It reveals that a central characteristic of the musical open letter is the parrhesiastic attitude of the musicians; however, we caution against essentializing the effects of the genre.

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