DISCOnnections: Popular Music Audiences in Freetown, Sierra Leone

Contents

  ix Contents List of photos........................................................................................................xii List of maps .......................................................................................................... xii Abbreviations.......................................................................................................xiii Acknowledgements ............................................................................................. xiv 1 INTRODUCTION.................................................................................................. 1 Readjusting perspectives ............................................................................... 3 Chapter synopsis............................................................................................ 4 PART I THE MUSIC/SOCIETY NEXUS – SOME INTRODUCTORY REFLECTIONS AND OBSERVATIONS 2 INTRODUCING THE CITY AND ITS SOUNDS ......................................................... 9 Freetown sounds ............................................................................................ 9 Musical minds.............................................................................................. 17 3 MUSIC AND SOCIETY – A PRELIMINARY THEORETICAL OUTLINE..................... 20 A brief phenomenology of music ................................................................ 20 Musicking .................................................................................................... 22 Music/dance................................................................................................. 25 4 REVISITING METHODS OF SOCIO-SONIC INQUIRY ............................................ 32 (Re-)inquiring Africa’s socio-sonic fields................................................... 32 Networks and methods of inquiry in Freetown’s socio-sonic fields ........... 37 PART II FROM CLASS TO MASS – FREETOWN’S MUSIC AND SOCIETY IN HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE 5 INTRODUCTION................................................................................................ 45 6 EARLY DEVELOPMENTS – THE 19TH CENTURY ................................................. 49 First sounds and settlers............................................................................... 49 Cultural amalgamations and socio-musical stratifications.......................... 53 7 SOCIO-MUSICAL APPROXIMATIONS – 1900S TO 1930S.................................... 58 Harmonizing sounds .................................................................................... 58 Urban reactions............................................................................................ 59   x 8 THE HEYDAYS OF LOCAL POPULAR MUSIC – 1940S TO 1970S ......................... 64 Stars, recordings, and technological “democratizations” (1940s and 1950s)..................................................................................... 64 The generation of 1961 and the non-politics of pop music (1960s)............ 67 Principles of antinomy: The politics of decline and the golden years of popular music (1970s).......................................................................... 72 9 POPULAR MUSIC IN THE TIME OF DECAY – THE 1980S AND 1990S .................. 77 Economic breakdown, technological advancements, and world music (1980s) .......................................................................... 77 War (and) revival (1990s)............................................................................ 80 Erratic politics and a defiant music industry ............................................... 84 The AFRC coup’s contradictive effects ...................................................... 86 Too stubborn to surrender............................................................................ 88 10 POST-WAR BOOM AND POST-ELECTION DECLINE............................................. 95 A new beginning.......................................................................................... 95 Spirit of renewal........................................................................................... 96 Radio, recordings, and re-recordings........................................................... 97 Musicalizing protest, politicizing music.................................................... 100 The late “naughties”................................................................................... 103 11 CONCLUSION – BEYOND THE EPHEMERALITY OF STYLE................................ 108 PART III DISCONNECTIONS – SOCIAL DYNAMICS IN THE SPACES OF MUSIC 12 INTRODUCTION.............................................................................................. 115 13 (NIGHT)LIFE AT THE EDGE OF CHAOS ............................................................ 120 Dance floor complexities........................................................................... 120 Wayward audiences................................................................................... 122 14 THE SEASONALITY OF MUSIC......................................................................... 126 Rains, heats and breezes ............................................................................ 126 Seasons of dearth, seasons of plenty.......................................................... 128 Feasts and fastings ..................................................................................... 129 Season of migration to the clubs................................................................ 132 15 BUILDING, BINDING AND DIVIDING ............................................................... 136 Music’s building material.......................................................................... 136 A short typology of music events.............................................................. 138 The private, the social, and the public....................................................... 140 Music’s binding material ........................................................................... 144 xi 16 A TOPOGRAPHY OF FREETOWN’S SOCIAL IMAGINARY .................................. 150 Geographies of dreams .............................................................................. 150 Moving to the west .................................................................................... 151 A music venue census................................................................................ 154 At the crossroads........................................................................................ 159 A car park’s indices ................................................................................... 164 Subverting boundaries ............................................................................... 166 17 THE POLITICS OF PRICE, PRESTIGE AND CONSUMPTION................................. 171 Playgrounds for exposure .......................................................................... 171 The affluent poor ....................................................................................... 173 You pay, you pass...................................................................................... 177 Bottled prestige.......................................................................................... 180 Refilling the bottles.................................................................................... 185 18 THE KING AND HIS FOLLOWERS..................................................................... 188 Extravaganza.............................................................................................. 188 The show.................................................................................................... 192 Ritual in the making................................................................................... 196 What a difference a day makes.................................................................. 198 19 CONCLUSION – DIS/CONNECTIONS ................................................................ 203 PART IV TOPIA OF UTOPIAS 20 DREAMS VS. REALITY.................................................................................... 211 From the school of hard knocks................................................................. 211 Falling in love............................................................................................ 213 Topia of utopias ......................................................................................... 220 A thick layer of dreams.............................................................................. 225 References.......................................................................................................... 229 ...