Although Africa is often maligned in the Western media as a “dark” continent without hope or imagination, it is impossible to deny the resurgence of African arts and artists who are showing the positive, brighter and more promising face of their continent to the world. They are fast becoming the positive and optimistic features of the other Africa that is inevitably rising despite the chronic ‘Afro-pessimism’ of the media. Africa’s problems are exaggerated while its promising features are overlooked if not denied. However, contemporary Western artistic establishments and the global artistic industry have reached a point whereby they are reluctantly recognizing Africa’s impact and benefits to global culture.
There is virtually no place anywhere in the world where African arts- music, dance, theatre, literature and painting have not made their presence felt and even shined over and above local productions? There is no global metropolis where their international arts centers and galleries have not collected and displayed African arts. African arts are no more shunned as “backward” or “primitive” as they did in the colonial and post-colonial eras. More than in any field, Africa is making its present strongly felt in the arts, ancient as well as contemporary.
Famous African musicians have built huge fan bases in the West. They have quickly become the jewels on the crown of the global art industry. African writers are enjoying huge sales figures in the book markets and their books are read everywhere in the world except in Africa. African art is appreciated from London to Paris and from New York to Tokyo or, from Rome to London. African music has huge fans in the West as well as in the Arab world. Soon, African arts, and music in particular, are going to conquer even Asia or China as these places are inevitably going to become more open societies in their own ways and at their own tempo.
There is a glaring paradox here. While African arts and literature are sought and avidly consumed by the outside world, they still remain relatively ignored or unknown here in Africa. There are many reasons for this state of affairs; the main one being that the post-colonial generations of Africans have fallen captive to Western arts and literature at the same time that the latter have managed to command global attention with their huge arts industries and marketing savvy and distribution power.
Regarding the success of African artists in the Diaspora or in the West, one has to go back to the 17th century and after. The cultural impacts of black immigration to the West in general and to the United States in particular cannot be underestimated. In the last three hundred years or so, there had been waves after waves of African and black immigration to the US that have deeply impacted the political, economic and cultural features of the country.
Black immigration to the United States has at least two characteristics, starting from slavery to the present. The first feature is forced immigration and the second one is what we may call voluntary immigration. Any way you look at it, the present American “melting pot” is a conglomeration of black as well white Hispanic and even Asian constituents, each with their own distinctive cultures, traditions and aspirations.
Recent black immigrants from Africa and the islands of the Caribbean are sometimes classified as African Americans. However, these groups, especially first- and second-generation immigrants, often have cultural practices, histories, and languages that are distinct from those of African Americans born in the United States. For example, Caribbean natives may speak French, British English, or Spanish as their first language.
Emigrants from Africa may speak a European language other than English or any of a number of African languages as their first language. Caribbean and African immigrants often have little knowledge or experience of the distinctive history of race relations in the United States. Thus, Caribbean and African immigrants may or may not choose to identify with the African American community.
When we look at the issue of immigration from the cultural point of view, we realize that the “melting pot” has led to cultural fragmentation and alienation rather than to cultural assimilation or cohesion. All the racial and ethnic groups in the US tend to maintain their own identities while the media are paying lip service to the notion of melting pot that has become a kind official ideology.
From the racial and other perspectives, the US is still a racially defined and demarcated country despite three centuries of coexistence or living together by those groups. The state of subtle alienation and oppression of blacks in America, segregation or discrimination in cultural and other social endeavors is however covered up by the official version or definition of American cultural life. This has long become a public and political issue that continues to animate, divide or challenge ordinary people as well as intellectuals who debate the various points of views.
The official way in which American culture is portrayed says that, “The American people express their culture through traditions in food, clothing, recreation, and ceremonies; through the education system and institutions of learning, including museums and libraries; and through the arts, encompassing the visual, literary, and performing arts.”
This is of course true in the US as it is in other Western countries. However, this statement does not go into the heart of the matter, that is to say, the racial aspect of the interaction among various strands of American society. As a distinct racial group, African Americans occupy a distinct place a distinct identity different from other ethnic groups. According to the officially held point of view, “African Americans (American Blacks or Black Americans), racial group in the United States whose dominant ancestry is from sub-Saharan West Africa. Many African Americans also claim European, Native American, or Asian ancestors. A variety of names have been used for African Americans at various points in history.”
True, African Americans and black people from everywhere in the world have contributed a great deal to the development of American music, literature, sports, cinema and the arts in general. However the often hidden fact is that control over these institutions is wielded by the white elites and the art industry is entirely managed by the same elites while grassroots.
America, that is to say the United States, have long become a melting pot of various cultures, languages and traditions that have given the country the misleading accolade of, “the Land of opportunities” although the black immigrants from Africa, the Caribbean and other places are still largely caught in the infernal cycle of racial segregation, ethnic marginalization and anti-black prejudices. Although Africans and black people from any part of the world have made huge contribution to the present shape of the country their merits are rarely recognized as a result of media prejudice and monopoly ownership by rich white Americans.
The slogan of “Land of Opportunities” largely and mainly applies to the white majority that had emigrated from Europe and the English speaking world in general and have been successful in controlling and managing the huge government, economy, the media, society in general, pushing the other demographic components to the margins. The black population, including immigrants, is of course the most disadvantage ethnic group even if at one point a black man had become the president of the country, a fact that has changed little on the ground as far as racial, political, economic and cultural relations are concerned.
The huge contribution of African Americans to US culture is a fact that is not only indisputable but also well-established and widely acknowledged. According to Encarta encyclopedia “African American music has influenced musical tastes around the world. Africans introduced Americans to musical rhythms and instruments quite different from the musical traditions of Europeans or Native Americans. In some cases, African musical traditions have blended into American culture with little notice.”
When we look at the history of African American music and the contribution by black artists within it, we realize that “African Americans blended African musical forms with European century, the tradition of slave spirituals developed into gospel music, a religious song form which incorporated melodies and rhythms from popular music. Black church choirs around the country continue to sing both gospel and spirituals.”
What we described above is of course the tip of the iceberg on the subject of black artistic contribution to Western culture in general and American society in particular. Yet, the contribution of black’s people from Africa and elsewhere is not confined only to the area of culture. African Americans are reshaping the political contours and shape of America in the 21st century. Their influence is extending to other areas.
African Americans who are members of the more recent generation of immigrants are proving their mettle by taking the Western cultural establishments as the contexts within which they are not only surviving but also flourishing. Contemporary immigrants from Africa are taking the Western music and movie industries by storms.
Nigerians at home and in the Diaspora are leading the way and other Africans are following suit. Musicians, writers and filmmakers are shining in the Diaspora. This is due not because the fate of black people has improved worldwide but because the ongoing globalization process has pushed the boundaries of opportunities and made African and black arts in general not only enjoyable but also marketable. The future looks promising although the past was not an ideal time for immigrant cultures to flourish and enjoy worldwide acceptability. If African renaissance is a reality and not an illusion, it has already started with the renaissance of arts and culture not within Africa but in the global African Diaspora.
BY MULUGETA GUDETA
THE ETHIOPIAN HERALD THURSDAY 4 JULY 2024
