The urbanisation of African music: some theoretical observations

Abstract

Interest in the processes of change involved in the transformation of rural African recreational music into popular music under urban conditions has grown substantially over the past decade (see Nettl 1978; Mukuna 1980). This interest has largely focused on two complementary problem areas: what such change can tell us about the principles and dynamics of musical development, and what processes of musical change may reveal about human behaviour (see Rycroft 1977, pp. 216–17) and the role of musical expression in social reorganisation. If the study of the urban music of modern Africa is to advance our knowledge in these areas, we must formulate ‘a conceptual framework in which changes and retentions of musical style and context can be understood within a synthesis of social and cultural change’ (Szwed 1970, p. 220). The results of my research into the past three centuries of urban musical change among black South Africans have suggested some tentative steps toward constructing such a framework (see Coplan 1980A).