Skip to main content

Nationalists, Cosmopolitans, and Popular Music in Zimbabwe

Hailed as a national hero and musical revolutionary, Thomas Mapfumo, along with other Zimbabwean artists, burst onto the music scene in the 1980s with a unique style that combined electric guitar with indigenous Shona music and instruments. The development of this music from its roots in the early Rhodesian era to the present and the ways this and other styles articulated with Zimbabwean nationalism is the focus of Thomas Turino’s new study. Turino examines the emergence of cosmopolitan culture among the black middle class and how this gave rise to a variety of urban-popular styles modeled on influences ranging from the Mills Brothers to Elvis. He also shows how cosmopolitanism gave rise to the nationalist movement itself, explaining the combination of "foreign" and indigenous elements that so often define nationalist art and cultural projects. The first book-length look at the role of music in African nationalism, Turino’s work delves deeper than most books about popular music and challenges the reader to think about the lives and struggles of the people behind the surface appeal of world music.

352 pages | 13 halftones, 2 musical examples | 6 x 9 | © 2000

Chicago Studies in Ethnomusicology

African Studies

Anthropology: Cultural and Social Anthropology

Music: Ethnomusicology

Sociology: Sociology of Arts--Leisure, Sports

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments
Part One - Critical Foundations
Introduction
1. Social Identities and Indigenous Musical Practices
Part Two - Colonialism and the Rise of Urban Popular Music
2. Indigenous Music and Dance in Mbare Township, 1930-1960
3. The Settler-State and Indigenous Music during the Federation Years
4. The African Middle Class: Concerts, Cultural Discourse, and All That Jazz
Part Three - Musical Nationalism
5. Music, Emotion, and Cultural Nationalism, 1958-1963
6. Musical Nationalism and Chimurenga Songs of the 1970s
Part Four - Guitar Bands and Cosmopolitan Youth Culture
7. On the Margins of Nationalism: Acoustic Guitarists and Guitar Bands of the 1960s
8. Stars of the Seventies: The Rise of Indigenous-Based Guitar Bands
Part Five - Globalization Begins at Home
9. Nationalism, Cosmopolitanism, and Popular Music after 1980
Notes
Reference and Bibliography
Discography
Index

Awards

Society for Ethnomusicology: Alan Merriam Award
Won

Be the first to know

Get the latest updates on new releases, special offers, and media highlights when you subscribe to our email lists!

Sign up here for updates about the Press