“Genre Collisions, Culture Collisions” explores cross-cultural composition, cultural appropriation, and post-colonialism in music, through theoretical research, creative practice and musical analysis. I critically assess how various types of cross-cultural borrowing can affect notions of cultural influence and appropriation. The specific focus of the creative work and musical analysis is the fusion of Anglo- American pop music with both traditional and popular music from Africa, particularly from South Africa and West Africa. The result of the research is one hour of recorded music presented as an album, Flight Cycle, accompanied by the thesis. The primary field of research is cross-cultural composition. Contained within that field are the sub-fields of post-racial identity in music and cultural appropriation. The fields of post-colonialism, critical race theory and ethnomusicology are also integral to the study. Some key reference points have been the work of Kofi Agawu and Austin Emielu in the field of ethnomusicology; Edward Said, Robert Young and Ghassan Hage in the field of postcolonialism; and Jim Chapman and Susan Fast in the field of cultural appropriation. The study responds to the following core questions: How do power relations between artists and cultures inform notions of cultural appropriation in music? What are the distinctions and where are the boundaries between cultural appropriation and ethically sound forms of cross-cultural exchange and influence? Do composition and production techniques change the nature and ethics of crosscultural borrowing? If so, in what way? The theoretical studies have led to a greater understanding of my creative processes and a greater awareness of the need for ethical reflection when approaching the music of non-Anglo-American cultures. In turn, my practice, in terms of the exploration of elements found in African music and their fusion with musical elements from my own background in Western pop and rock styles, has helped me to better understand the concepts of cultural influence and appropriation, and labels attached to musical styles relating to ethnicity and culture. The study concludes that not all crosscultural borrowing or influence should be considered cultural appropriation. Factors including intra-ethnic influence and crossovers between class and race mean that a nuanced approach is needed to gain an understanding of the ethics cross-cultural composition
