Musicking In Namibia
Musicking has been an important form of political, cultural, and self-expression throughout Namibian history, with roots in traditional culture, the Christian church, and anti-apartheid protest music, and global influences from hip-hop to reggae. To learn more about the history of Namibian music, click here:
What is musicking?
We often think of music as a noun that refers to a recording or an event. However, Christopher Small, in his 1998 book Musicking: The Meanings of Performing and Listening, argued that we should see it as a process, writing that “to music is to take part, in any capacity, in a musical performance, whether by performing, by listening, by rehearsing, or practicing, by providing the material for performance (what is called composing), or by dancing.”
Small’s definition not only reimagines music itself as an active, ongoing process, but one that includes listeners, composers, and others as participants. This definition is useful for understanding the work that Namibian musicians do outside of performing, including rehearsal, production, management, and education, as part of the process of musicking. We can further expand Small’s definition to include not only the activities undertaken by musicians themselves, but the actions of audiences, organizers, producers, and other community members, which make the act of making music possible.
This project seeks to address some of those challenges through research and advocacy. I interviewed 34 members of the Namibian music industry, including musicians, arts administrators working for the Ministry of Education, Innovation, Youth, Sports, Arts, and Culture (MEIYSAC) as well as NGOs like the Franco Namibian Culture Centre (FNCC) and Youth Orchestras of Namibia (YONA), educators working in public and private schools from primary to university levels, choir directors, and producers. This project is rooted in their personal experiences and perspectives, backed up by rigorous research bringing together academic sources and non-academic sources like newspaper articles. A full list of references can be accessed here:
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