Heroes, gunpowder, cassettes & tape recorders : production, distribution & transmission of hunters' musical tradition in Mali, West Africa

My doctoral thesis is the culmination of years of research on Mande hunters and their music in libraries, national archives, and intensive fieldwork of 18 months among hunters in Mali. I employed the methodology of participant observation through apprenticeship, as a student of Solomane Konate, one of the most prominent hunters' musicians, a skilful hunter, knowledgeable healer, and gifted diviner, with whom I learned how to play and experience hunters' music and performance. I travelled and participated in hunters' ceremonies and public events, followed him to recording sessions and documented recording practices and events, and learned the behavioural code and worldview of the hunters. The primary aim was to document the evolution of a commercial Malian music industry, based on an ethnographic account of the contexts, social organization, aesthetics and symbolism of the hunters' musical tradition in Mali. Here, I explore themes of apprenticeship, hunters' performance, hunters' music, hunters' music industry, hunters' radio programmes, and finally , the popularity of hunters' music, through inquiry and discourse. I discuss the impact of the record industry and cassette recordings of hunters' music on the tradition itself, and on contemporary forms of Mali an music. I show why this tradition is popular among hunters and non-hunters, and consider what it is that hunters are voicing that speaks so fully to contemporary needs and memories of Malian society. My approach is essentially phenomenological. Although I contextualise theoretically the field data, my interpretations are kept to a minimum, in favour of my consultants' own interpretations and explanations of their lifeworld. By including the voices of performers and their experiences as musicians and as members of the hunters' associations along with the experiences of music producers and radio presenters, I explore issues of continuity and change, ideology, and style as a medium for publicly presenting and negotiating hunters' and ultimately Malian identity.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

Zimbabwean Mbira Music on an International Stage: Chartwell Dutiro's Life in Music

This volume is a collaborative venture between musicians and academics, which builds an account of the mbira, the most important of Zimbabwe's traditional instruments. It celebrates Chartwell Dutiro's musicianship, exploring his musical development and the collaborations he has been involved with, while at the same time discovering his personal, political and religious perspectives