“Cultural Pan-Africanism” revives the dream of a united Africa
Yemi Alade, the prolific Nigerian songstress famous for her hit song ‘Johnny’ is currently in Kenya recording a song and music video with Sauti Sol, considered by many Kenya’s top musical act. This is on the tail of a very well received Swahili remix of her hit song ‘Na Gode’, which Yemi delivered flawlessly despite not speaking a word of Swahili prior to releasing the track. Cross continental collaborations like this have risen in popularity in recent years, aided by corporate sponsorship of artist collaborations, most notable Coca Cola’s ‘Coke Studio’ television show. The novel mix of languages, music styles and dance techniques is beginning to generate a strong sense of a unified yet diverse African arts scene that has not existed since the artistic ferment that followed the heady post-independence days.
The collaborations are not confined to the music or the performing arts, visual artists are starting to showcase their work in galleries beyond their regional boarders spurred by the global increase in interest in African art and the proliferation of exhibition spaces. The literary scene is also evolving rapidly towards considering the continent as an addressable market with books by Nigerian literary giants like Chimamamda Ngozi-Adichie and Taye Selasi leading the charge. Nigeria is home to perhaps the most glaring example of Africans producing and consuming content generated on the continent: Nollywood. The famously (not to say infamously) prolific Nigerian movie industry has grown to become a significant part of Africa’s largest economy while creating content that is ravenously consumed by Africans across the continent and beyond. In their stories and images, the industry is simultaneously projecting and constructing a clear, if limited, vision of African society to Africa and the world.
On a continent where citizens have long existed in internal isolation due to a severe lack of intra-country transportation infrastructure and visa policies that make it difficult for African to traverse the continent, the new sense of connectedness created by the intra-African media production industry is more than just a breath of fresh air. It is a resurrection of the ideals of unity in diversity that underpinned the initial push for the continents pan-African future. That first wave failed, crashing upon the wave-breaks of economic decline, cold war geopolitics, civil strife and poor leadership.
In many ways, the approach of the first pan-Africanist wave was flawed from the get-go, ensconced as it was in the high minded ideals of a privileged and educated elite. In the face of the immediate concerns of desperately poor and historically marginalized populations, the pursuit of greater political integration at the continental level came to seem like a luxury that most countries could not afford. In dead, some leaders such as Kwame Nkuruma lost their mandates partially as a result of their pursuit of pan-Africanist goals at the expense of domestic political concerns.
This second wave which I will tentatively dub ‘cultural pan-Africanism’ not only comes at a dramatically different time in African and global geo-political history, it also directly addresses major flaws in the first movement. It is no longer the preserve of an intellectual elite but rather is a bottom up movement that is supported as much by what is often considered low brow video programing from Nollywood, as by the literary and art scenes. In both cases, the consumption of cross continental content has emerged organically as a result of a desire for locally relevant continent. The rapid growth of these creative industries reveals the extent of public support that it enjoys as it helps the far flung corners Africa meet known get each other.
The export of media to other African countries would have been all but impossible without to the dramatic growth of digital technologies on the continent lead by the proliferation of mobile telephony and specifically mobile internet, all of which have dropped the cost of making and distributing media continent by many orders of magnitude. Coupled with increasingly affordable intra-African travel as local airlines increase the continental routes they serve, these developments have simultaneously cultivated African’s desire to engage with their brothers and sisters from across the continent and provided the means by which to fulfil that desire. These integrating trends will continue to feed off each other to bolster the political and business case for a more vibrant and inter-connected African cultural scene.
It is not surprising that Yemi Alade’s forth coming album is called ‘Mama Africa’, and it seems almost poetic that she should be in the country collaborating with a group that just released an Album called ‘Live and die in Africa’. These artist are touching upon a sense of connectedness that they, more than anyone else, would be best placed to sense and help cultivate. I am excited to see this wave of cultural Pan-Africanism sweep across the continent. As it does, I hope we remember to turn to our artists and say ‘Na Gode!’
