MUS301H1

African Popular Music

A survey of popular music in Sub-Saharan Africa from the 1920s to today. Students will listen to and think critically about a range of musical genres in their historical and social contexts. Case studies include Ghanaian highlife, Congolese rumba, Ethiopian jazz, South African kwaito, and Nigerian afrobeat(s). In our exploration of popular genres, we will engage topics of colonialism, nationalism, ethnicity, aesthetics, commodification, and appropriation, among others. No prior background in music is required.