West- and Central Afrika

The regions of West Africa and Central Africa are located in sub-Saharan Africa and comprise around 25 countries on the continent. These regions are home to very diverse ethnic and linguistic communities and are enormously diverse in their musical practices. The countries are united by a historical development shaped by colonialism and postcolonial state structures, which has also influenced musical forms of expression at the national and local levels; this applies, for example, to the emergence of specific ethnic-national popular music styles in the 20th century, or the practice of Christian musical traditions. Research on musical traditions on the African continent is conducted at our institute with an awareness of the specific position of European researchers in the context of colonial structures that continue to have an impact today, and we acknowledge the resulting responsibility for researching African musical practices with approaches of engaged ethnomusicology.

At our institute, Assistant Professor Anja Brunner focuses on the music of southern Cameroon and urban Senegal. These topics are regularly covered in teaching. Sambla music from Burkina Faso is also regularly featured in workshops led by the Viennese master musician Mamadou Diabaté. A research project on archival material on Cameroonian popular music in the late 20th century by Anja Brunner is in the planning stage.

Other current research projects:

Under the direction of Prof. Dr. Gerhard Kubik, a team of researchers is currently investigating the historicity of African musical instruments within a project funded by the Austrian Science Fund (FWF). https://www.fwf.ac.at/forschungsradar/10.55776/PAT3180023

At the MMRC, Amos Asaré is currently researching fishing songs of the Duakor ethnic group in Cape Coast (Ghana), also funded by the Austrian Science Fund (FWF). https://musicandminorities.org/projekte/we-sing-to-live/