Engaging for Africa: Popular Songs by African Students in Yugoslavia

Sažetak

Shared positions on anti-colonialism, anti-racism, and international brotherhood marked the transnational ties between Yugoslavia and several African countries in the context of the Non-Aligned Movement. From the 1960s to the end of the 1980s, through exchange programs and scholarships, students from Africa studied in Yugoslavia and participated in its cultural and political life, also through varied musical experiences ranging from folklore groups to popular music bands. By examining some of their popular music productions, this article investigates how non-aligned alliances and political aspects of the presence of African students in Yugoslavia were reflected in the music they performed. Most songs, mainly covers and in a few cases new compositions, focused on love or light topics, but a few addressed anticolonialism and contemporary African politics or discussed African ways of life and aspirations. In Swahili and English, these pieces display multiple inspirations from various musical genres. They prompt questions about the singers’ communication aims and strategies, the tracks’ production, as well as issues of audience reception and understanding, influenced not only by the competence in the songs’ languages but also by the familiarity with the cultural references, political climate, and engagement with the singers’ creative expression.

Ključne riječi: African popular songs, Yugoslavia, non-alignment, anti-colonialism