Zimbabwean urban grooves and their subversive performance practices

Bibliographic Data

ID3623959
AuthorsIrikidzayi Manase (0000-0001-7720-4464, University of Venda, corresponding author)
Year2009
Volume35
Issue1
Pages56-67
Publication date2009-03-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueSocial Dynamics (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0253-3952 • E-ISSN: 1940-7874
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/02533950802666923
OpenAlexW2038104735
LanguageEN
Citations received16
References cited6

This paper examines the role played by popular culture in response to the effects of the unfolding social and political repression on the ordinary Zimbabwean after 2000. The arts is one sector where the Zimbabwean government fostered its repressive hegemony. An urban youth music genre called ‘urban grooves’ rose to prominence during the period under focus here and some of the artists colluded with the government in propagating an anti‐Western imperialism campaign. This paper evaluates the nature of the genre’s performance practices and its role in the government’s anti‐Western imperialism campaign. It also discusses the complexities associated with notions of complicity and resistance as urban grooves artists resisted both Western hegemony, as per the government’s campaign, and subverted the same government’s censorship of the urban youth’s and the general society’s imaginary and other freedoms. Keywords: Zimbabwean urban groovesanti‐Western cultural imperialismpopular culturecomplicitysubversion Acknowledgements I thank Wonderful Bere for giving me access to his recent work on Zimbabwean urban grooves and my nephew, urban grooves fan and assistant researcher, Tendai Mupanduki, for his insightful information and moral support, while I was carrying out this research. Notes 1. The ZANU‐PF campaign strategy during parliamentary and presidential elections since 2000 has been based on a rhetoric stressing the need to safeguard national sovereignty and ensuring that Zimbabwe will never be a colony again. This is based on the claim that the main opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), was being funded by the West. 2. Professor Jonathan Moyo was fired from his ministerial post in 2005 after being found guilty of spearheading a plot that sought to undermine the chances of Robert Mugabe being re‐elected as the leader of ZANU‐PF. 3. See Bere (Citation2008) and Thram (Citation2006) for an analysis of the effects of these media laws on the arts, the media and other social and political sectors in Zimbabwe. 4. Bere (Citation2008, p. 95) notes that a majority of the artists were below the age of 30 and hailed from various Zimbabwean cities. 5. See Bere (Citation2008, pp. 82–123) for a discussion on the history of urban grooves. 6. The city has proved to be a hotbed of political and civic opposition against the repressive ZANU‐PF government in Zimbabwe since 2000. 7. See www.itsbho.com for news on Zimbabwean urban grooves and icons, to view the lyrics or download some of the grooves. 8. See Mathuthu (Citation2006), Musavengana (Citation2006) and Showbiz Reporter (Citation2006) for an outline of the criticism levelled against urban grooves. 9. All translations of lyrics are the author’s own, and are translated from the Shona originals. 10. These jingles were aired every 15–30 minutes to extend the campaign for a movement back to the ‘historical values’ that the government prescribed for all ordinary Zimbabweans. Bere (Citation2008) and Thram (Citation2006) examine the nature and significance of such jingles in the media and the cultural sector as well as on Zimbabwe’s national identity in detail. 11. See Khosa and Katete’s (Citation2006) review of the 2006 national independence gala, where urban grooves artists, such as Otis Ngwabi, Knox and Sebede, performed. 12. See Mgandani (Citation2007) for a comprehensive report on this rivalry. 13. Bere (Citation2008, pp. 158–170) examines the characteristics of American blues and how they are incorporated into urban grooves created by some young Zimbabwean artists. 14. See ‘Badboy rapper Maskiri releases another shocker’ (Anon Citation2007) and ‘Urban grooves blacklisted by state radio’ (Nyamhangambiri Citation2007)

Complicity · Democracy · Hegemony · Media studies · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Rhetoric · Sociology · African studies and sociopolitical issues · Cinema and Media Studies · Gender Studies · Law · Music History and Culture

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