tag:theconversation.com,2011:/us/topics/african-popular-culture-99444/articlesAfrican popular culture – The Conversation2024-01-18T15:30:58Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2209762024-01-18T15:30:58Z2024-01-18T15:30:58ZSoul Brothers: the story of a band that revolutionised South African music<p>Biographies of important South African musicians often fall into two categories: they either emerge from PhD or other university-based research, or are the fruit of dedicated digging by a fan or family member. The first kind benefit from institutional resources and support; the second from community knowledge of personal details that may be documented nowhere else. </p>
<p>Because of that very scarcity of a public record, the first kind might miss many parts of the story that can’t be checked in formal records and archives. The second risks being bent out of shape by hero-worship or fallible memory.</p>
<p>Sydney Fetsie Maluleke’s book <a href="https://www.google.co.za/books/edition/The_Life_and_Times/1qyXtQEACAAJ?hl=en">The Life and Times of the Soul Brothers</a> benefits from an author with a foot in each camp. Maluleke is a university-schooled researcher, but also an insider fan – he’s administered the band’s <a href="https://www.facebook.com/p/Soul-Brothers-100044409727019/">Facebook page</a> and comes from a family who, by his own account, were even more fanatical than he is about the legendary <a href="https://www.allmusic.com/artist/the-soul-brothers-mn0000044338#biography">band</a>. </p>
<p>So the book, recently revised and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vjMypAcv41g">relaunched</a> for its second edition, combines the strengths of both kinds of biography, and avoids most of their weaknesses.</p>
<h2>Who are the Soul Brothers?</h2>
<p>The <a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCVo6lHNFkz3h-aWIaR-pa-g">Soul Brothers</a>, formed in KwaZulu-Natal province in the mid-1970s by the late vocalist <a href="https://www.timeslive.co.za/sunday-times/opinion-and-analysis/2015-07-12-obituary-david-masondo-lead-singer-of-sowetos-legendary-soul-brothers/">David Masondo</a> and keyboardist <a href="https://iono.fm/e/1373266">Black Moses Ngwenya</a> (and still working as a band today, though with new players), was the outfit that shaped the sound of South African <a href="https://www.masterclass.com/articles/mbaqanga-music-guide">mbaqanga</a>. That’s the name of a popular genre blending traditional African vocal styles and lyrical tropes with transformed borrowings from western pop. It grew from a predominantly Zulu-speaking fanbase to dominate Black South African hit parades for more than a decade.</p>
<p>The band scored multiple gold and platinum hits, and although their most recent studio recording was more than a decade ago, Soul Brothers music still gets radio play and is popular at family and neighbourhood parties. Soul Brothers were innovators. They drew in members from across language groups, and multiple inspirations, at the very time the South African <a href="https://www.sahistory.org.za/article/history-apartheid-south-africa">apartheid</a> regime was entrenching separation and difference. </p>
<p>Incorporating Ngwenya’s soul keyboard into what had begun as Zulu close-harmony vocals and guitar work was as startling an innovation for mbaqanga as US musician <a href="https://raycharles.com">Ray Charles</a>’ introduction of electric piano had been for American rhythm and blues. </p>
<p>Tired of exploitation by big, white-run record labels, the Soul Brothers also established their own label and studio, making them part of South Africa’s first generation of modern Black music entrepreneurs too.</p>
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<p>Maluleke’s book takes us through all these developments. Though its subtitle describes the narrative as told “through the eyes of Black Moses”, he’s careful to source what he learns, label what is contested, and acknowledge that other interpretations are possible. </p>
<p>The book’s voice is resonantly human. Though chapters are organised thematically around the lives of various artists and the group’s stages of development, the story backtracks, repeats and comes at the same subject from different angles, just as people do when they speak. At points, I found myself hankering for more direct quotes from these insider voices and less paraphrase.</p>
<h2>A new edition</h2>
<p>The book’s first edition in 2017, Maluleke tells us, left out the setbacks and disputes from the tale, something for which Ngwenya himself gently rebuked the author. So in this second edition we learn also, for example, of the professionalism that permitted spellbinding and seamless ensemble performances onstage while, behind the scenes, the principals were literally not talking to one another because of disputes over leadership and power dynamics.</p>
<p>Maluleke and his family’s obsessive fandom, meanwhile, means there’s a priceless archive of press clippings, album covers and photographs to draw on. That provides nearly 40 pages of illustrative evidence to deepen the story. </p>
<p>Along the way, there are multiple bonuses not advertised on the cover: histories of associated musicians such as the veteran <a href="https://umsakazo.bandcamp.com/album/makgona-tsohle-reggi">Makgona Tsohle Band</a>, explanations of tradition, and descriptions of township community life more than half a century ago. Though the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/township-South-Africa">townships</a> – segregated and impoverished areas for black workers removed from the “white” cities – had been designed by apartheid, residents built their own rich networks of solidarity, self-help and shared culture. Music was one of its <a href="https://books.google.co.za/books/about/Soweto_Blues.html?id=_fwkCIKoTpgC&redir_esc=y">pillars</a>. </p>
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<p>For me, a big surprise was learning that the young Ngwenya – regarded today as South Africa’s finest mbaqanga keyboardist – was inspired back in the 1960s by watching the rehearsals of the band Durban Expressions, whose keyboardist became one of the country’s finest jazz players: the late <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/bheki-mseleku-south-african-jazz-pianist-932017.html">Bheki Mseleku</a>. </p>
<p>All those are strengths that could make the book a storehouse of inspiration for music scholars. Each one of its details and detours could inspire a study of its own.</p>
<h2>Some flaws</h2>
<p>The book’s flaws, where they exist, emerge from the strains of producing a book on a shoestring budget. Maluleke, quoting Nigerian writer <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Chinua-Achebe">Chinua Achebe</a>, wrote it because he was determined the history of lions must not be written by the hunters alone. The book did have one editor: veteran broadcaster and popular music expert Max Mojapelo, whose encyclopaedic industry knowledge no doubt enriched the history. </p>
<p>But it needed another, more prosaic kind of editor as well: a copy editor. </p>
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<p>There are rather too many typographical errors and inconsistencies in, for example, the use of italics for song and album titles. Some date references are clearly unrevised from the 2017 edition. And there is no index; that makes the contents less accessible. </p>
<h2>Hugely important story</h2>
<p>Yet, if Maluleke had waited until more resources were available, he – and we – might still be waiting. A story hugely important for South African popular music history would have remained largely untold. He made the right choice. </p>
<p>Every music fan eager to understand how the “indestructible sound of Soweto” was born and shaped is in his debt.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/220976/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Gwen Ansell does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The book tells the inside story of how they changed the sound of urban pop.Gwen Ansell, Associate of the Gordon Institute for Business Science, University of PretoriaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1880992022-08-04T14:28:23Z2022-08-04T14:28:23ZBeyoncé has helped usher in a renaissance for African artists<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/477361/original/file-20220803-25-ysnjua.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Beyoncé on stage in South Africa in 2018. Her new album is called Renaissance.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for Global Citizen Festival: Mandela 100</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Beyoncé has <a href="https://www.npr.org/2022/07/29/1114328079/beyonce-releases-seventh-album-renaissance">released</a> her seventh solo studio album, titled <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/music/2022/jul/29/beyonce-renaissance-review-joyous-soundtrack-to-a-hot-girl-summer">Renaissance</a> (2022). The album, an event in global popular culture, is the first of a three-part project by the US artist. Her previous outing, the visual album Black is King (2020), collaborated with a host of <a href="https://www.teenvogue.com/story/meet-the-african-artists-and-creatives-behind-black-is-king">African artists</a>. Renaissance pays <a href="https://www.okayplayer.com/music/beyonce-renaissance-album-review.html">tribute</a> to black dance music and again <a href="https://www.iol.co.za/entertainment/music/local/3-african-artists-are-credited-as-contributors-on-beyonces-upcoming-album-renaissance-9c7de217-5236-49e4-8713-9142fede615e">features</a> African artists, including Nigerian singer-songwriter Tems, who is having a <a href="https://www.okayafrica.com/tems-beyonce-renaissance-nigeria/">global moment</a> of her own.</p>
<p>In history, the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/event/Renaissance">renaissance era</a> (from the 1400s) was characterised by the rebirth and renewal of culture and scholarship in Europe following a period of stagnation. Today, still, art – paintings, music, fashion – contributes to how people dress and behave, what they choose to post and talk about, and how they perceive themselves and society. </p>
<p>For the last three decades, Beyoncé has played a major role in shaping global popular culture. She has continuously empowered listeners and sparked debate, and her lyrics have often been quoted in discussions on societal issues. Her views on monogamy on the album <a href="https://www.beyonce.com/album/dangerously-in-love/songs/">Dangerously in Love</a> (2003), for example, offer a counter narrative to the patriarchal depiction of hypersexuality in black women.</p>
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<p>On <a href="https://www.beyonce.com/album/lemonade-visual-album/songs/">Lemonade</a> (2016), Beyoncé uses music genres beyond those expected of a black female artist. In the process she challenges the discrimination she faces. On <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt12607910/">Black is King</a> she reflects a renaissance of African art forms in a time when cultural norms dominated by western thinking are on the decline and Africa’s star is rising in popular culture.</p>
<p>In this article, I argue that throughout her career, Beyoncé has contributed to a renewal of various narratives in popular music and has in so doing engaged meaningfully with African culture and music.</p>
<h2>African collaborations</h2>
<p>Beyoncé has involved various African artists in her projects and many a time introduced them to international audiences. Before Black is King, these include poetry by Kenyan-born <a href="https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/warsan-shire">Warsan Shire</a> on <a href="https://www.beyonce.com/album/lemonade-visual-album/songs/">Lemonade</a>, a quote by Nigerian novelist <a href="https://www.chimamanda.com/about/">Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie</a> on <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IyuUWOnS9BY">Flawless</a> (2013) and choreography by <a href="https://face2faceafrica.com/article/mozambican-dance-group-tofo-tofo-influences-beyonc-s-choreography">Tofo Tofo</a> – the Mozambique-based dance group – in the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VBmMU_iwe6U">Run the World (Girls)</a> video. </p>
<p>Though not as prominently as on Black is King, Beyoncé has included African artists on Renaissance too, particularly on the song Move, which has an <a href="https://www.teenvogue.com/story/afrobeat-history">Afrobeats</a>-inspired style and features P2J (Nigeria) and GuiltyBeatz (Ghana) as producers, as well as Tems as a writer and performer.</p>
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<p>Tems (Temilade Openiyi), a versatile vocalist who also writes songs, rose to fame after being featured on <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m77FDcKg96Q">Essence</a> (2020) by Nigerian star vocalist WizKid. Her discography consists of music across different genres, including alternative R&B, neo-soul and Afropop. Her debut single Mr Rebel (2018) displays her R&B talents (as both a producer and vocalist), while her 2021 feature on Canadian rapper Drake’s <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pwtWYFUwenE">Fountains</a> shows her ability to convey emotions through her voice. </p>
<p>Tems’ name is on everyone’s lips following the release of the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RlOB3UALvrQ">trailer</a> for the Black Panther movie sequel set to her cover of Bob Marley’s No Woman, No Cry. She has contributed to the renewal of perceptions towards Afropop and commercial African music, and its popularisation across the globe through her unique style of music.</p>
<h2>Black is King</h2>
<blockquote>
<p>I believe that when Black people tell our own stories, we can shift the axis of the world and tell our REAL history of generational wealth and richness of soul that are not told in our history books. – Beyoncé</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Black is King, Beyoncé’s previous album, is a celebration of African traditions with a “modern twist”. In the visual album, she incorporates a Pan-African-inspired lens and integrates elements from several African countries. She partners with various African actors, directors, designers, choreographers and musicians, highlighting the continent’s diversity. </p>
<p>Viewers are exposed to African elements ranging from music genres like Afrobeats (Nigeria) and <a href="https://www.redbull.com/gb-en/bluffers-guide-to-gqom">gqom</a> (South Africa) to popular dance styles like the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dRzdtpT6jQQ">Network</a> (Ghana) and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iNz-DGCrUII">Kpakujemu</a> (Nigeria). There are also visuals of landscapes across the continent. </p>
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<p>Beyoncé must not mistakenly be credited with originating these elements, nor even popularising them. They existed and were appreciated by people long before she started filming. However, one cannot deny the instrumental role Beyoncé has played in bringing these elements to the forefront of global popular culture as a result of her platform as an international star. </p>
<p>Moreover, the visual album portrays a more accurate representation of the African continent and its diversity than other works that adopt an African label in global popular culture. Black is King has introduced a renaissance of Africa’s image in popular media and empowered many African and black people as they finally feel more represented in mainstream popular culture.</p>
<h2>Renaissance</h2>
<p>Beyoncé has once again incorporated an element of renewal on Renaissance. Through the 16 tracks on the album, she takes listeners on a journey with the stated intention of creating a safe space, free from judgement, perfectionism and overthinking. Listeners are exposed to music that channels the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2020/mar/13/studio-54-exhibition-brooklyn-museum">Studio 54</a> disco era of the 1970s with effortless transitions to more contemporary pop, R&B and house genres.</p>
<p>Early <a href="https://www.britannica.com/art/disco">disco</a> music was influenced by the funk, soul and jazz of the late 1960s, and combined these styles with technology such as synthesisers, multitrack recordings and drum machines. This created a lavish and decadent form of dance-orientated pop music characterised by a steady beat and vocals that are prominent, high and reverberated. The genre was at its peak between 1975 to early 1979, with artists such as <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/donna-summer-10th-death-anniversary-of-disco-legend/a-17334510">Donna Summer</a> and <a href="https://www.gloriagaynor.com/bio/">Gloria Gaynor</a> dominating the charts. </p>
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<p>On the appropriately titled Renaissance, Beyoncé has brought this style back to the forefront of pop culture, introducing many young listeners to it. From the outset of the lead single Break My Soul, listeners are exposed to the album’s pervasive dance-pop and house-inspired style. Beyoncé successfully integrates music genres including pop, electronic house, Afrobeats, trap and soul, to name a few, in combination with various disco influences. Through the lyrics on the album, an overarching sense of self-love and pride is portrayed. This resembles the music by one of South Africa’s and the continent’s most prominent pop artists, <a href="https://www.sahistory.org.za/people/brenda-nokuzola-fassie">Brenda Fassie</a> (1964-2004).</p>
<p>Throughout her career, Fassie, one of the queens of African pop, made disco and pop music that was influenced by her township roots. Her iconic music narrated the stories of black South Africans during the country’s <a href="https://www.sahistory.org.za/article/history-apartheid-south-africa">apartheid</a> era.</p>
<h2>Global stage</h2>
<p>When considering how popular music acts as a locus for social change within popular culture, it is evident that Beyoncé plays a key role in shaping parts of popular societal thought. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/its-beyonces-world-were-just-living-in-it-185603">It's Beyoncé's world. We're just living in it</a>
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<p>Throughout her career, her music has challenged and renewed various narratives within the popular music industry. </p>
<p>Her work serves as a platform for African artists on a global stage, using various music genres as a method to counter people’s perceptions of black female musicians. Her latest album continues to do this by introducing new listeners to a revival of disco with a contemporary flair.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/188099/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>James Chikomborero Paradza does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>With Renaissance, Beyoncé is again shaping pop culture, honouring black disco pioneers and Africa’s rise.James Chikomborero Paradza, Doctor of Music Candidate, University of PretoriaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1812982022-07-14T13:51:38Z2022-07-14T13:51:38Z100 years of pop music in Nigeria: what shaped four eras<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/474073/original/file-20220714-9528-riyftf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Nigerian musician Fela Kuti and his band in Harlem, New York, 1989.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Jack Vartoogian/Getty Images</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The global outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in the early months of 2020 shut down nearly all physical and social human activities. For musical practice this meant near death. Performing music is, after all, one of the oldest forms of social human engagement.</p>
<p>In Nigeria, the shutdown of concerts and public music performances was swift. Not even the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Nigerian-civil-war">Nigerian–Biafran War</a> of 1967 to 1970 could shut down all of Nigeria. In fact, popular music activities boomed in Lagos as bombs rained on Biafra. </p>
<p>The pandemic was a watershed moment and offers a compelling reason to trace the trajectory and evolution of popular music in Nigeria 100 years ago since the birth of the modern state. </p>
<p>In a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/18125980.2021.1958696">study</a> I surveyed the various political, economic and social events, trends and choices that characterised the 98 years between 1922 and 2020, giving consideration to how they shaped popular music practices and experiences in and of Nigeria.</p>
<p>Nigeria became a modern state in 1914 when British colonial powers <a href="https://www.cfr.org/blog/lord-lugard-created-nigeria-104-years-ago">amalgamated</a> the northern and southern protectorates into one unit. A <a href="https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLK327Yn1041LnQlDoL_D-eEQH-vH5MheP">music recording</a> in London in 1922 by Rev Josiah Ransome-Kuti (grandfather of music icon <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-art-provocateur-fela-kuti-who-used-sex-and-politics-to-confront-58599">Fela Kuti</a>) is regarded as the first formal effort at commercialising and “popularising” Nigerian music. </p>
<p>From that beginning, four periods emerged from the study: I called them the foggy years, the interactive-budding period, the liberal period and the mononationalist period.</p>
<h2>1922–1944: juju and palm-wine music</h2>
<p>For the first 22 years there was a foggy or unclear direction in the emergence of popular music practices in urban Nigeria. In this short time, two world wars and internal economic and sociopolitical tensions interfered with and delayed the growth of popular music. They limited social life among the youth, calling young men to enrol into the West African Frontier Force that fought for <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Frederick-Lugard#ref162502">Britain</a>.</p>
<p>These years witnessed early recordings by musician <a href="https://www.discogs.com/artist/1427104-Domingo-Justus">Domingo Justus</a> and political activist <a href="https://blackplaqueproject.com/biography/ladipo-solanke/">Ladipo Solanke</a>. The early recorded music was sung in the style of a hymn in a <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Yoruba">Yoruba</a> church, accompanied by plucked string instruments like the banjo.</p>
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<p>The arrival of the guitar was followed by the rise of the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/art/juju-music">Jùjú music</a> style in Lagos. Jùjú was basically a modern <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Yoruba-language">Yoruba-language</a> reinterpretation of its traditional, precolonial Àsìkò music with the principal instrument known as jùjú (the tambourine). It was led by such artists as Tunde King, whose song <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6eTISSYI5sA">Aronke Macaulay</a> was produced in 1937. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.britannica.com/art/palm-wine-music">Palm-wine music</a> emerged, expressing a combination of styles but mostly accompanied by guitars and banjos and performed at palm wine drinking bars in the emerging urban areas. It was championed by Israel Nwaoba, G.T. Ọnwụka and others. Also notable is the appearance of the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5AquQg1Ifqg">Ọnịcha Native Orchestra</a>, which combined only musical instruments of the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Igbo">Igbo people</a> while exploring various social themes and trends in their native singing style.</p>
<p>The church, the guitar and the tavern all influenced early popular music in Nigeria.</p>
<h2>1945–1969: highlife and civil war</h2>
<p>The next 24 years saw interaction and budding among Nigerians as a new sociopolitical order emerged from the ashes of the Second World War. A <a href="https://www.rescue.org/article/african-nations-struggle-independence">wave</a> of decolonisation and talk of independence spread throughout colonial Africa. There was increased participation of Nigerians in mainstream social and political affairs. </p>
<p>With this a new generation of musicians emerged who would – through extensive interactions across nations and personalities – forge a decolonised popular music culture. They moved from the colonial influences they had been subjected to from birth. </p>
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<p>It was at this time that Nigerian <a href="https://www.britannica.com/art/highlife-African-music">highlife</a> music and the highlife music of Ghana and other nations evolved. It spread along the West African coast, essentially from increased cultural interactions between Africa and the West. “High” was in the name because highlife was reserved for “highly” placed Africans resident in urban centres. </p>
<p>It mostly adopted simple Western tonality, chords and instruments (like guitars, brass horns and bands) to perform popular themes (like love, mourning and joy), either in local languages, <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-west-africas-pidgins-deserve-full-recognition-as-official-languages-101844">pidgin</a> or English. The marching bands of the colonial military formations were a major influence in the emergence of highlife. A few of the early notable exponents were <a href="https://www.allmusic.com/artist/bobby-benson-mn0002293410">Bobby Benson</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/victor-olaiya-stadium-hotel-highlife-and-nostalgia-136072">Victor Olaiya</a>, <a href="https://www.discogs.com/artist/680972-Steven-Amechi-His-Rhythm-Skies">Stephen Amaechi</a>, <a href="https://www.naxos.com/Bio/Person/Samuel_Akpabot/17615">Samuel Akpabot</a> and <a href="https://www.allmusic.com/artist/rex-lawson-mn0001209429/biography">Rex Lawson</a>.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/victor-olaiya-stadium-hotel-highlife-and-nostalgia-136072">Victor Olaiya: Stadium Hotel, Highlife, and nostalgia</a>
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</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>During this period, female artists joined the popular music industry for the first time, among them <a href="https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLh0navM_hhzN-q9hK8QQPO5DXqb-BvgTV">Foyeke Ajangila</a> and <a href="https://www.allmusic.com/artist/madam-comfort-omoge-mn0000230994/biography">Comfort Omoge</a>. And while US-influenced jazz and twist styles were introduced in Nigeria, Jùjú was also being championed. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Nigerian-civil-war">Nigerian–Biafran War</a> brought the era to an end by 1969.</p>
<h2>1970–1999: Afrobeat and oil</h2>
<p>The liberal period marked the most diverse and expansive moment of popular music practices in Nigeria so far. After the war, regional popular music styles and practices came to the fore. And new influences came with imports of foreign popular music such as pop (<a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Michael-Jackson">Michael Jackson</a>), rock (<a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/the-Beatles">Beatles</a>), marabi (<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-legacy-of-iconic-singer-miriam-makeba-and-her-art-of-activism-178230">Miriam Makeba</a>) and others. </p>
<p>As influences mixed, new Afro-based music genres rose. Most celebrated of these was Afrobeat (<a href="https://theconversation.com/nigerian-icon-fela-is-long-overdue-for-the-rock-and-roll-hall-of-fame-156870">Fela Kuti</a>). Afrobeat is a fusion of rich African polyrhythms and Afro-American forms like jazz and reggae. It was influenced by local political struggles and the US <a href="https://www.britannica.com/event/American-civil-rights-movement">civil rights</a> movement. </p>
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<p>But there was also Afro-reggae (<a href="https://www.allmusic.com/artist/sonny-okosun-mn0000039654/biography">Sonny Okosun</a>), Afro-jùjú (<a href="https://www.allmusic.com/artist/sir-shina-peters-mn0001204638">Shina Peters</a>) and Afro-pop (<a href="https://www.discogs.com/artist/1312414-Theadora-Ifudu">Dora Ifudu</a>). There was increased participation of women in the industry (<a href="https://www.theafricareport.com/199004/nigeria-for-onyeka-onwenu-it-aint-over-till-the-slim-lady-sings/">Onyeka Onwenu</a>, <a href="https://www.allmusic.com/artist/queen-salawa-abeni-mn0001010176">Salawa Abeni</a> and others).</p>
<p>Middle class income grew as a result of the first oil boom in Nigeria. Added to this was the rise of pentecostal Christianity among young people as well as the rise of sophisticated Lagos nightclubs. The likes of <a href="https://thenativemag.com/shuffle-ronnies-way-feel-rap-laid-foundation-nigeria-rap/">Ron Ekundayo</a> and <a href="https://www.thisdaylive.com/index.php/2021/06/20/floods-of-tributes-for-benson-idonije-at-85/">Benson Idonije</a> would foreground the explosion of Nigerian deejays from the 2000s. In this period popular music styles were often adapted to gospel themes. </p>
<h2>2000–2022: Naija hip hop and Afrobeats</h2>
<p>With the start of a new century came a seismic shift from a diverse to a singular focus in Nigerian popular music. The new government of <a href="https://theconversation.com/obasanjo-from-a-nigerian-village-to-the-pinnacle-of-power-on-the-continent-179862">Olusegun Obasanjo</a> decided to pursue a local content policy. This meant that local music was foregrounded in media and broadcast. This would help form the “Naija hip hop” scene. </p>
<p>Naija hip hop is a profusion of US/global hip hop, Afrobeat, highlife and other Nigerian/African styles mediated through computer-aided technology. It boasts local rhythms, languages and dance styles. A remarkable feature of the Naija hip hop movement is its branching out into <a href="https://theconversation.com/from-nigeria-to-the-world-afrobeats-is-having-a-global-moment-179910">Afrobeats</a> – an interlinked fusion of various Afro-based genres that has given Nigeria the greatest global fame and acceptance since its emergence as a modern nation-state in 1914.</p>
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<p>Just a few of the notable artists of this period include <a href="http://www.afrobios.com/-Plantashun+Boiz">Plantashun Boiz</a>, <a href="https://www.allmusic.com/artist/lagbaja-mn0000125482/biography">Lagbaja</a>, 2Face Idibia/<a href="https://www.instagram.com/official2baba/?hl=en">2Baba</a>, <a href="https://www.instagram.com/2niteflavour/?hl=en">Flavour</a>, <a href="https://www.instagram.com/asaofficial/?hl=en">Aṣa</a>, <a href="https://www.allmusic.com/artist/davido-mn0003057150/biography">Davido</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/who-is-nigerian-music-star-wizkid-and-why-is-he-taking-over-the-world-179775">Wizkid</a>, <a href="https://www.instagram.com/temsbaby/?hl=en">Tems</a> and <a href="https://www.instagram.com/burnaboygram/">Burna Boy</a>.</p>
<p>I characterise this period as mononationalist because of the one-dimensional focus on a particular nationalist musical movement (Naija hip hop) that has dominated.</p>
<h2>Today</h2>
<p>The global COVID-19 pandemic’s shutdown of public life boosted online music structures and opportunities while helping to contain the unchecked powers of music pirates. This allowed many more talented and younger artists to emerge independently. But COVID-19 brought heavy economic losses to artists and music industry workers. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/from-nigeria-to-the-world-afrobeats-is-having-a-global-moment-179910">From Nigeria to the world: Afrobeats is having a global moment</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>In 2022, the Naija hip hop phenomenon, whose child is Afrobeats, is surging on with hit songs tearing competitively into the global soundscape. As Nigeria marks a century of popular music practices and experiences, it appears that the mononationalist era may last for a full generation (three decades) or more before another episode emerges.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/181298/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Chijioke Ngobili does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Nigerian popular music - Afrobeats - is storming the world’s stages. But it’s just the latest stage in a vibrant century of recorded music in the country.Chijioke Ngobili, Lecturer in Music, University of NigeriaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1588552021-04-20T14:36:25Z2021-04-20T14:36:25ZThe history of protest songs in Tunisia and their link to popular culture<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/395492/original/file-20210416-21-1nj4ws6.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">AnnHirna/Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Music genres such as rap have become the primary artistic means for expressing the discontent and aspirations of a new generation of activists in Tunisia. But the heritage of protest songs from decades before is still held in the collective memory of young leftists. </p>
<p>From the mid-1970s and throughout the 1980s, during the regime of <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Habib-Bourguiba">Habib Bourguiba</a>, the protest song in Tunisia developed as a countercultural music scene. This is a period characterised by economic instability and waves of protest and political contestation. </p>
<p>The protest song was the product of the cultural work of Tunisian leftist parties and organisations, which were particularly active in the student movement and influential among grassroot unionists. </p>
<p>Why was such a popular art form important for the cultural work of the Tunisian left? In <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13530194.2021.1885845">my research</a> I argue that leftist activists found in popular culture – and in songs in particular – a powerful tool. It could raise awareness among young people, galvanise activists and spread socialist revolutionary ideas. These songs become a link in the longer chain of resistant cultural practices in the country.</p>
<h2>Art and politics</h2>
<p>In Tunisia, the protest song is called <em>al-ughniya al-multazima</em> in Arabic, or <em>chanson engagée</em> in French. Both literally mean “committed song” and put an emphasis on the political and social aim of this genre. Art, in this case music and poetry, was a vehicle to convey a message. </p>
<p>In the 1970s and 1980s protest song groups formed and artists were increasingly visible. Among the pioneers of this genre there were the songwriter <a href="https://www.marocafrik.com/english/Death-of-the-famous-Tunisian-composer-and-performer-of-the-60-s-and-80-s-Hedi-Guella_a989.html">Hédi Guella</a> and the group Imazighen. They performed on university campuses and at unionist venues, animating political gatherings and events. They exhibited in cultural centres and some participated in important cultural festivals. Their songs were rarely broadcast on TV or radio, but tape recordings circulated widely among activists and students. </p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Al-Bahth al-Musiqi performing the song Ilayka Fi Beyrut.</span></figcaption>
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<p>The songs were mostly typical of the Arabic musical tradition, created on instruments such as the <a href="https://www.arabinstruments.com/the-oud-instrument">oud</a>, the <a href="http://www.mideastweb.org/culture/ney.htm">nay</a> and the <a href="https://salamuzik.com/blogs/news/all-about-darbuka-instrument">darbuka</a>.</p>
<p>Their political and cultural framework distinguishes these songs from previous popular chants of protest (for example against colonialism) as well as from patriotic songs (praising the nationalist regime). </p>
<h2>A new popular culture</h2>
<p>The 1970s and 1980s protest songs were expression of a counterculture that was at odds with the ideology propagated by the regime of Bourguiba, who died in 1987. </p>
<p>Bourguiba had come to power in 1956 as the leader of the nationalist movement against French colonialism. Educated, middle-class and rather Western-oriented, he promoted a modernist and reformist ideology. In the last two decades of his regime, he was losing consensus among the population at large and among the new cultural and intellectual elite. </p>
<p>The Tunisian radical left was increasingly influenced by <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/mar/16/onward-march-maoism-julia-lovell">Maoism</a> and <a href="https://www.encyclopedia.com/humanities/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/arab-nationalism">Arab Nationalism</a>. They recognised that a connection with the working class would be impossible without an appreciation of the Arab-Muslim identity of the Tunisian people. </p>
<p>The left engaged in cultural work for the creation of a new national-popular culture. This needed to be rooted in the people’s culture but also be an expression of a progressive and socialist ideology. Marxist theorists such as <a href="https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803095903245">Antonio Gramsci</a> had become influential. His ideas on cultural work, <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/hegemony">hegemony</a> (the dominance of one group over another) and common sense had penetrated the Arab intellectual world. </p>
<p>Songs were one of the most efficient tools for implementing this project. They were easy to propagate with the new and cheap technology of audio cassette. Concerts were organised on a small budget, attracting hundreds of people.</p>
<h2>The oasis and the mine</h2>
<p>Among the many interpreters of the protest song in Tunisia, two popular singing groups stand out.</p>
<p>Al-Bahth al-Musiqi (The Musical Research Group) hailed from the southern Mediterranean city of Gabes, which lies beside an oasis and has, since the 1970s, hosted a massive chemical industry complex. Awlad al-Manajim (The Children of the Mines) were from Moulares, a village near Gafsa, situated in a phosphate mining basin. </p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Awlad al-Manajim performing the song Ya Damus.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Both groups, still active in Tunisia today, were born from places where industrialisation and the exploitation of natural resources deeply transformed the once rural environment. This industry would ultimately impoverish and harm the resident population. </p>
<p>The members of al-Bahth al-Musiqi were university students active in the student movement. The members of Awlad al-Manajim were workers who supported the workers’ struggles in their hometown. </p>
<p>Both groups were cherished by leftist activists and unionists for their performances and for the strong revolutionary message of their songs. </p>
<p>Both groups created a popular yet revolutionary cultural product. To do so they drew from modern Arabic poetry, for example singing poems by <a href="https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/mahmoud-darwish">Mahmoud Darwish</a> supporting the Palestinian people. But in particular they drew on themes and styles typical of Tunisian folklore and vernacular poetry. They responded in an original manner to the need to create a new, popular, socialist culture for the masses. </p>
<p>They took inspiration from other Arab experiences. Composer and singer <a href="https://www.marcelkhalife.com">Marcel Khalife</a> (Lebanon), experimental musical group <a href="https://www.moroccoworldnews.com/2014/03/126067/nass-el-ghiwane-story-of-a-moroccan-legend/">Nass el-Ghiwane</a> (Morocco) and especially the duo of musician <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1080/03064228508533890">Sheikh Imam</a> and vernacular poet <a href="https://theculturetrip.com/africa/egypt/articles/ahmed-fouad-negm-the-revolutionary-egyptian-poet-of-the-people/">Ahmed Fouad Negm</a> (Egypt). This musical production represented a new, revolutionary and genuinely popular culture.</p>
<p>Hence, al-Bahth al-Musiqi produced songs like <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QvWgFucwOhI&list=PLYR2xnkzhGPuboyeNkH9WkUtO2X7FWrFA&index=24"><em>Hela Hela Ya Matar</em></a> (Come Down O Rain), <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fjRgTkKDqkg&list=PLYR2xnkzhGPuboyeNkH9WkUtO2X7FWrFA&index=23&t=10s"><em>Nekhlat Wad el-Bey</em></a> (The Palm Tree of Wad El Bey) or <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oV9nccC9Gmk&list=PLYR2xnkzhGPuboyeNkH9WkUtO2X7FWrFA&index=21"><em>Bsisa</em></a> (a traditional southern dish). These juxtapose rural imagery with national symbolism and revolutionary slogans. </p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Al-Bahth al-Musiqi performing the song Bsisa.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Similarly, Awlad al-Manajim’s repertoire includes local songs about the harshness of life in the mining region, like <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hQDXgclMGvg&t=58s"><em>Ya Damus</em></a> (The Tunnel), and songs calling for workers’ solidarity and Arab unity against imperialism, like <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L_m1bSpHxz0"><em>Nashid el-Sha'b</em></a> (The Hymn of the People).</p>
<h2>A heritage of resistance</h2>
<p>The popular protest song scene in Tunisia declined with the rise of the <a href="https://theconversation.com/ben-ali-the-tunisian-autocrat-who-laid-the-foundations-for-his-demise-124786">Ben Ali dictatorship</a> in the 1990s. But it never disappeared. After the 2011 revolution forced Ben Ali from power, some of the old singing groups reunited and claimed their space in the newly democratised cultural scene. </p>
<p>In Tunisia today, protest music takes many forms, from rap to electro. However, the old protest songs are still chanted at political gatherings, commemorations and festivals. </p>
<p>Despite being scarcely documented and studied, the Tunisian protest song of the 1970s and 1980s is an integral part of a resistant collective memory. It is loaded with emotional and political meaning for a generation of political activists and unionists. </p>
<p>The study of this experience may offer a new perspective on Tunisia’s cultural and political life under authoritarianism. It sheds light on the continuing and constant presence of dissent and revolutionary culture in the country – one that paved the way for the events that, in 2011, eventually overthrew dictatorship.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/158855/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Alessia Carnevale does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The 1970s and 1980s saw a new genre of popular protest - its spirit would be felt even in 2011 when protests toppled a dictator.Alessia Carnevale, PhD candidate, Sapienza University of RomeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1516832021-02-08T13:15:47Z2021-02-08T13:15:47ZDissecting stories about garbage in popular culture. Why they matter<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/381676/original/file-20210201-13-172woj2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Portrait of waste recycler Liberia Mapesmoawe in South Africa.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Jonathan Torgovnik/Getty Images</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Rubbish has become an integral part of everyday life. Think about it. How many things did you throw away today? And this week? In the last year? </p>
<p>Some study rubbish <a href="https://theconversation.com/medical-waste-offers-insights-into-south-africas-use-of-pharmaceuticals-130419">directly</a> – seeing it as contemporary <a href="https://news.arizona.edu/story/william-l-rathje-1945-2012">archaeological evidence</a> for society. But how people talk about rubbish through media platforms also deserves attention. This is because it’s increasingly relevant to the task of solving the environmental problems facing humanity. </p>
<p>A range of environmental issues have been capturing attention in the media recently. Many of these are linked quite directly with consumer culture, for example, campaigns to ban <a href="https://earth.org/data_visualization/the-anti-plastic-straw-phenomenon/">plastic straws</a> and concern with how the <a href="https://science.sciencemag.org/content/369/6509/1314">COVID-19 pandemic</a> has caused <a href="https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2020/06/ppe-masks-gloves-coronavirus-ocean-pollution/">new forms</a> of littering of single-use masks and gloves.</p>
<p>In my new <a href="https://www.sunypress.edu/p-6937-garbage-in-popular-culture.aspx">book</a> <em>Garbage in Popular Culture</em> I explore three key ways in which garbage narratives come into pop culture. The first is linked to activism, the second to hedonism and luxury, and the third to anxieties about the environment.</p>
<h2>Activism</h2>
<p>The first theme that I explore is activism around environmental issues related to waste.</p>
<p>The aphorism “reduce, reuse, recycle” is well known. Some individuals – notably the more well off – put much effort into reducing waste. For example, New York social media heroine, <a href="https://www.instagram.com/trashisfortossers/">Lauren Singer</a>, known as “Zero Trash Girl”, made a media project and career out of living her consumer lifestyle in such a way as to not produce any trash. She <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/this-woman-hasnt-produced-any-trash-in-three-years/a-18922713">famously</a> produced only a glass jar’s worth in four years. </p>
<p>Others create fine art out of rubbish. South African street artist <a href="https://www.r1r1r1.net">r1</a> spearheaded the creation of collaborative public installation called <em><a href="https://www.brandsouthafrica.com/people-culture/arts-culture/ithemba-tower-troyeville">iThemba Tower</a></em>, which wrapped a defunct communications tower in Johannesburg with plastic bottles, filled with messages to the future. His re-use of rubbish turned it into a medium of communication. </p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Artist r1 created a tower of plastic waste with messages of hope.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Recycling gets a lot of attention. But it is a classed, and often gendered, occupation. Consider the labour of a cooperative of <a href="https://swachcoop.com">women recyclers</a> based in Pune, India, and the self-organising work of the <a href="https://www.facebook.com/africanreclaimers/">African Reclaimers Organisation</a> in Brixton, Johannesburg. </p>
<h2>Hedonism</h2>
<p>The second theme I explore is how hedonistic consumption by wealthy consumers is a key source of rubbish. Media coverage of the post-party landscapes of two entertainments festivals – <a href="https://www.glastonburyfestivals.co.uk">Glastonbury Festival</a> in the UK and <a href="https://www.afrikaburn.com">Afrika Burn</a> in South Africa – reveals two quite different attitudes towards the moral responsibilities linked to trash. </p>
<p>Glastonbury, although trying to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/music/2019/jul/05/glastonbury-festival-huge-improvement-in-clean-up-operation">change</a> this, used to be known for the appalling litter-scapes left behind by revellers. Afrika Burn attempts to inculcate a culture of radical <a href="https://www.afrikaburn.com/binnekringblog/how-to-manage-your-camp-waste">responsibility</a> for party-goers to move their trash off site. </p>
<p>In relation to tourism, media narratives about trash on beaches on <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-43312464">tropical islands</a> reveal how a clinical and persistent removal of trash is necessary to maintain the advertised fantasy of an idyll untouched by waste. </p>
<p>Together, these studies show how, most often, it is the poor who are expected to live uncomplainingly alongside garbage, while the rich expect it to be cleaned away for them.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/381694/original/file-20210201-17-1waft2v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A woman concentrates as she works on a brightly coloured giraffe curio, constructed in layers of plastic." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/381694/original/file-20210201-17-1waft2v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/381694/original/file-20210201-17-1waft2v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=352&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/381694/original/file-20210201-17-1waft2v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=352&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/381694/original/file-20210201-17-1waft2v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=352&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/381694/original/file-20210201-17-1waft2v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=442&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/381694/original/file-20210201-17-1waft2v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=442&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/381694/original/file-20210201-17-1waft2v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=442&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Helen Kamau washes a toy animal made from recycled flip-flops in Nairobi, Kenya.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">SIMON MAINA/AFP via Getty Image</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Angst</h2>
<p>Media narratives about massive environmental disasters lead us into the realm of collective existential angst, the third theme in the book. The age of the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/science/Anthropocene-Epoch">Anthropocene</a>, that is, the epoch in which human activity has radically altered the make up of the planet and climate, has seen the devastation of natural environments through fossil-fuel based waste: specifically, oil and plastic. </p>
<p>A recent incident in <a href="https://theconversation.com/mauritius-must-protect-vulnerable-coastal-communities-from-the-effects-of-the-oil-spill-145411">Mauritius</a> highlighted the devastation caused by oil spills. The largest <a href="https://www.britannica.com/event/Deepwater-Horizon-oil-spill">spill</a> ever at Deepwater Horizon became the subject of many film and TV narratives. These allow us to consider how it’s impact was publicly processed in different ways.</p>
<p>In many visual narratives of huge oil spills and so-called “<a href="https://stories.visualeyed.com/garbage-island/">plastic islands</a>” the scale of the devastation that the human race has created is presented as unfathomable, almost beyond representation. Instead of offering a coherent place from which we can consider and act, this “new” sublime is a terrifying edge that we ourselves have created. We know that there might be no coming back from the abyss of climate change and a planet now carrying more man-made <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-020-3010-5">substances</a> than biological life. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/374861/original/file-20201214-21-1pm2hsp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A book cover for 'Garbage in Popular Culture' that features a photograph of a sculpture of a bird, made from colourful plastic waste, taken in an urban setting." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/374861/original/file-20201214-21-1pm2hsp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/374861/original/file-20201214-21-1pm2hsp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=955&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/374861/original/file-20201214-21-1pm2hsp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=955&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/374861/original/file-20201214-21-1pm2hsp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=955&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/374861/original/file-20201214-21-1pm2hsp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1200&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/374861/original/file-20201214-21-1pm2hsp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1200&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/374861/original/file-20201214-21-1pm2hsp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1200&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="attribution"><span class="source">SUNY Press</span></span>
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<p>This creates significant <a href="https://time.com/5735388/climate-change-eco-anxiety/">collective distress</a> about our future and that of our planet.</p>
<p>Rubbish is the most public of all objects. Media narratives can invite us to respond to it with with hope or it can lead us towards being paralysed by dismay. </p>
<p>Media discourses and communicative forms have the potential to contribute positively to new shared ideas (and perhaps behaviours) about rubbish. </p>
<p><em>The new <a href="https://www.sunypress.edu/p-6937-garbage-in-popular-culture.aspx">book</a> Garbage in Popular Culture: Consumption and the Aesthetics of Waste is available from SUNY Press.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/151683/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mehita Iqani receives funding from the South African National Research Foundation. </span></em></p>From oil disasters in Mauritius to street artists in South Africa, the story of rubbish in the media helps shape popular culture and environmental change.Mehita Iqani, Professor in Media Studies, University of the WitwatersrandLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.