- Subproject 1: Mainz
Political Messages in Congolese Music of the Mobutu Era – Congolese Archive Holdings at African Music Archives (AMA)
This Subproject examines how Congolese artists hid political criticism in their love songs in the 1970s and 1980s. These songs are not only expressions of love, but also of resistance and criticism, reflecting social and political issues. By digitizing and analyzing these works, we aim to raise awareness of these hidden voices and place them in current social contexts. Our research uses a combination of archival work, participant observation, interviews and linguistic analysis. Based on this, we want to decode the political messages in Congolese music of the 1970s and 1980s and make them visible again.
Archival work: Text preparation of songs from the Congolese music collection at the archive as a basis for analysis
Participant observation: Analysis of live performances by musicians for the current (re)production of Congolese music
Interviews: Conducting sociolinguistic interviews to contextualize song lyrics and the messages contained within them through conversations with artists
Linguistic analysis: Decoding hidden counter-hegemonic messages in the texts
Team Mainz
- JGU, UB Mainz, AMA
Michael Restorff
Librarian
- Université de Kinshasa
Prof. Dr. Léon Tsambu
Expert adviser
- Université Cheikh Anta Diop, Dakar
Prof. Dr. Ibrahima Wane
Expert adviser
- JGU, UB Mainz, AMA
Student assistants:
