O Jazz Cosmopolitanism in Accra Projeto : entrevista com Steven Feld

Abstract

In this interview, Steven Feld, an anthropologist, filmmaker, musician, and sound artist, discusses his multimedia project on “Jazz Cosmopolitanism” in Ghana. From 2004, Feld started to study acoustemology—one’s sonic way of knowing and being in the world—from the standpoint of avant-garde jazz musicians and visual artists in Accra. He worked as a producer and as a sound engineer, before performing as a musician with the Accra Trane Station band in Africa, Europe and the United States. In the following years, he produced CDs and documentary movies featuring musicians such as the drummer Ghanaba (formerly Guy Warren), the country’s leading experimentalist. In this interview, Steven Feld discusses his encounter with these musicians and visual artists and how their readings of the Black Atlantic came into dialogue. At the same time, his discussion of his artistic collaborations, and excerpts of his recording and video projects, reveal creative ways of addressing the history of race in music and the sensory memories of the slave trade in coastal Ghana.