GLOBALISATION
The concept of globalisation as the move
towards an integrating global village is in real sense
re-globalisation if the continental drifts billions of
years ago are thought of as de-globalisation (fracturing
of the structure of an otherwise unified globe) and if
we uphold as serious the compartmentalisation of a human
society that is only separated by distance that is possible
to conquer especially in the era of technology.
The Columbus incursions and the exploration
of ‘other’ worlds by men from the Centre set
the agenda for re-globalisation. Trade; Religious activity;
Exploration; Colonialism advanced this process. The post
war period with the loose union of global states through
the United Nations served to accelerate this re-globalisation
(the Centre will however maintain the term globalisation
to suit contemporary speak).
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With globalisation the polarisation
of the globe into the Centre and the other was instrumental
to the coinage of the term World beat/World music, which
essentially referred to Non-Western music. This is a categorisation
that was meant to handle the problematic of the heterogeneity
of musical traditions from the Non-Western hemisphere.
The earlier processes of globalisation
(in particular Slave trade) had taken African music to new
lands where it was restructured into new genres like Jazz,
Reggae and Rap that emerged later on. In the Caribbean the
Afro Cuban sound was a globule of what became African contribution
to world music with an impact that has hardly been matched
to this day. In this diverse world that is imagined as a
village through the media, the evolution of African popular
music into new forms of music with broader traditions such
as the replacement of locally made instruments with synthesisers
has been a consequence of this process.
It is not uncommon to find musicians whose
tradition has been playing the Xylophone replacing it with
the Glockenspiel. The fact that Globalisation offers credible
alternatives is in itself a plausible route for deconstructing
existing binaries in global relations. Globalisation occurs
with a double edge for African popular music and in many
instances has provided better options for the industry though
purists contend its agenda. It is in this section that this
reality is discussed.
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