De-Territorializing Lyrical Performances via Digital Culture

Abstract

African oral cultures are richly endowed with varieties of lyrical performances. However, over time contact with other civilizational currents has made it possible for African oral traditions to absorb influences from foreign cultures. In the context of postcolonial modernity, for instance, African oral performances seem to be undergoing remarkable transformation due to the impact of global cultural flows via digital communication technology. Ubiquitous electronic media devices are everywhere rejuvenating or even entirely changing the form, content and quality of traditional oral performances that have been until now presumed to have withered away. Technological mediation has created a new cultural situation in which younger generations of African artists and performers have now been dipping their hands into the traditional repertoire to draw from its wealth of age-old heritage of lyrical performances for the purpose of creative experimentation. As it is, traditional elements are effectively blended with other modern trends in popular performances. Consequently, a reinvigorated hybrid culture that is neither completely traditional nor entirely modern has now been created specifically for the consumption of youths that have all alone been alienated from pristine African oral traditions. In the process, African oral performances are now susceptible to cultural appropriation through de-territorializing impulses of global media flows. This paper therefore explores the transformation of different modes of African lyrical performances under the influence of digital culture.