Throughout Kenya's history, patriotic music has created and fostered community, and continues to sensitise people's needs, hopes, aspirations, and fears. Patriotic music is often evident and popular, especially during national day celebrations. The Permanent Presidential Music Commission (PPMC), established in 1988 under the then government of President Daniel arap Moi, is the body responsible for selecting and presenting music for entertaining the presidency on these important days as well as during state functions, presidential tours, or on the president's return from international trips. Commentators have observed that the process of selecting the music to be performed for the president entails scrutiny of both the quality of the songs and the message they communicate to ensure that they conform to the social and political ideals of the government. The PPMC's process in deciding on what and whose music is to be selected can be read as a process of curation towards a political agenda, reinforcing government slogans and agendas. A search for literature on music censorship in Kenya disclosed a limited number of articles that either deal with the specific functions of government-appointed music bodies within national holiday celebrations performances, or that engage to varying degrees with the possibility of regarding the said performances as sites of resistance and subversion. The body of scholarly works on censorship within the context of performance and musicology in Kenya remains limited. Using choral music as the main genre, I show how the internal discourse of the songs analysed in this article palimpsestically call attention to the problematics of viewing political choral music as only songs of “praise” while remaining blind to the way in which music negotiates oppressive undercurrents.

It is not possible for professionals, including music teachers, to avoid interacting with and teaching children living with or affected by an autism spectrum disorder, because this condition is prevalent among young learners. Although previous studies have explored the effect of music and music therapy on children with autism, few have studied the practical instruction of teaching a musical instrument to these learners from the perspective of autism and its comorbidities. We used a qualitative research method, namely an action research model that incorporated observations, journal writing, and reflection. Twelve learners with autism spectrum disorder were given piano lessons, and during this process, adaptations of teaching methods and the materials were assessed. To help us achieve our objectives, we used the book My First Piano Adventure for the Young Learner as our guide. Our main findings were that incorporating physical exercises to improve fine and gross motor skills, using visual adaptations in instructions, and being sensitive to co-occurring conditions such as attention deficit disorder, anxiety or hypersensitivity to the environment enhanced the learning experience. This approach should fit in well with the modern paradigm in interventions that entail teaching children on the autism spectrum: teaching skills in a natural environment, integrated across domains, and bearing in mind the need to feel empathy for learners’ unique diversity.

Drumming is an important part of several African communal cultural traditions and is performed during initiation and ritual ceremonies because it is believed that the beat of the drum can evoke the ancestors. This article is based on ongoing ethnographic research into umxhentso traditional dances among the Xhosa people in the Eastern Cape and Western Cape Provinces of South Africa in the context of amagqirha ceremonies. These ceremonies include drumming, singing, and dancing to obtain spiritual, emotional, and physical blessings and healings from the ancestors. The amagqirha ceremonies are the core of the Xhosa traditions and the role of drumming in these ceremonies has not previously received scholarly attention. This study therefore seeks to bring to the fore the cultural implications of drumming during the amagqirha ceremonies and to better understand the deeper meaning of this indigenous cultural practice. Observation, interviews, and analysis of archival video and photographic material are employed to collect ethnographic data. The findings show that amagqirha ceremonies and rituals incorporate drumming, music, and dance not simply for entertainment but also for spiritual and religious purposes.

This paper interrogates the issue of deviance and moral panics associated with popular music production in Nigeria. Relying on qualitative and netnographic data, the paper explores contested perspectives on the music of Naira Marley, which is generally laden with censured themes of vulgarity, substance abuse, and loose sexuality. Naira Marley’s music has generated much moral controversy in Nigeria owing mainly to media criticisms, which follow from the bizarre subcultural lifestyles of his fans (i.e., the deviant Marlians) that imitate and idolise him. Although a few texts on Naira Marley exist, none focus on deviance and moral panics. Following debates on and around social reactions to popular music’s subcultural morality, we discuss the politics of nonconformity and anti-establishmentarian music production in Nigeria and contend that while the moral judgement of Marley’s music content is relative, its deviant mannerism is structurally functional. In other words, the music creates moral panics and advocates social change because its seemingly deviant themes resonate with economically disadvantaged Nigerians who patronise it as a form of escapism.

In this article I undertake a literary analysis of Petina Gappah’s short story entitled “The Mupandawana Dancing Champion” (2009) focusing on the author’s portrayal of the intersection between the dancing body and political power in post-2000 Zimbabwe’s crisis period. I draw from Michel Foucault’s notion of the docile body to discuss how the politically dominant appropriate and commodify the dancing body of the subordinate for political survival and financial benefit. I argue that Gappah ironically depicts the hypnotic place of kongonya dance among the populace, especially as performed by the pupils from Mupandawana growth point. I further contend that Gappah cynically depicts the transformation of M’dhara Vitalis’s dances from a social entertainment performance into a strictly business transaction. A reading of “The Mupandawana Dancing Champion” is, therefore, useful to appreciate how the ruling political elite appropriate enfeebled ordinary people’s dance and use its influence to maintain their grip on power and their monopoly on business opportunities.

In the light of critical race theory, the authors argue that by engaging in multicultural music through song, students gain cultural and historical understandings of minority groups which may break down barriers that propagate Eurocentrism in music education. In this paper we share our field experience using Zoom videoconferencing as a conduit to access and include music from Africa in initial teacher education (ITE) programmes in Australia. In their preparation to be culturally responsive, ITE students are required to participate in activities that foster understandings of other times, places, cultures, and contexts. Author One collaborated in March 2021 with Author Two, a tertiary music educator based in the United States, to teach Kenyan songs sharing about local culture, and music pedagogy to her third year Bachelor of Education (primary) generalist students in Australia. Employing narrative inquiry, we provide insights into the process of our collaboration and, through critical reflection, add insights into the context of music classroom practice. The findings show that Zoom is an effective videoconferencing platform in helping music educators collaborate to improve practice and increase students’ awareness of music and people from Africa. We recommend that music educators across education settings use technology to collaborate locally and internationally with other music educators and culture bearers to promote inclusive ways of teaching and learning music from Africa. As tertiary music educators, we call on all who teach and learn to respect, recognise, and embrace diverse musical arts in their teaching and learning environments.

The increasing performance and academic demands within the tertiary setting, in conjunction with perfectionistic behaviour and ruminative thinking, may contribute towards mental health difficulties among music students. The current study explored the relationship between perfectionism, rumination, mindfulness and mental health in music students. Using a cross-sectional survey design, 72 university music students participated in the study. According to their self-report mental health status, the participants were clustered into self-report mental health (n = 26) and no mental health (n = 46) groups. The results revealed that anxiety and depression were the most prominent mental health issues. Essential correlations between perfectionistic concerns and brooding rumination emerged in both groups; however, the participants from the no mental health group displayed significant inverse associations between perfectionism and mindfulness (Pursuit of Perfection and Non-judging of Inner Experiences; Concern over Mistakes and Non-judging of Inner Experiences) which were not evident among the participants from the self-report mental health group. Moreover, significantly higher scores of perfectionistic concerns, brooding and reflective rumination were found among participants from the self-report mental health group compared to those from the no mental health group. The results provide valuable insights into the mental health status of music students.

Some scholars have argued that ideas of coloured identities are in flux: being constantly made and re-made. This presentation explores how race can be used as an interpretive lens through which to understand and read the music of Stereo Zen, a funk-rock band based in Cape Town in the mid-2000s. In discussing how Stereo Zen construct and reconstruct their relationship with their coloured identity, this presentation aligns itself with scholars who argue that academic engagement with the construction of race is productive when race is seen as a “medium,” or a “method of interpretation.” As a regular guest artist appearing with the band, my position as scholar-musician has allowed me to gain unique perspectives on this music, and this presentation explores how the band repositions funk to a South African context through lyrical and musical imagery, as well as their critiques of colonial constructions of black musicality.

Dancehall music in Zimbabwe has become a very popular genre among urban youth. Since its emergence, this localised music genre has reconfigured urban public culture in complex ways. Drawing on popular musical forms (Zimdancehall), this article examines how urban youth use this musical genre to articulate and express their frustrations, grievances, and everyday existential struggles. This article critiques popular songs and lyrics of selected young Zimdancehall artists to show how their musical discourse can be viewed as alternative discursive spaces of counterhegemonic narratives and a critique of the excesses of the post-colonial state. I argue that Zimdancehall music has become a space where young people simultaneously articulate and navigate their existential frustrations and waithood. While marginalised from mainstream socio-economic and political processes, and detached from the corridors of power, young people use music to speak truth to power. They sing about their anxieties with the socio-economic and political injustices metaphorically and creatively. I assert that through music, young people have found a way of (in)directly addressing the political elites who are complicit in their everyday existential struggles. I argue that Zimdancehall lyrics should be read as ideological texts which articulate a specific type of being and becoming, epitomised by the politics of suffering and smiling.