'Orality is my reality': the identity stakes of the oral creation in Libreville hip-hop practices

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Periodical article

Title:	'Orality is my reality': the identity stakes of the oral creation in Libreville hip-hop practices
Author:	Aterianus-Owanga, Alice
Year:	2015
Periodical:	Journal of African Cultural Studies (ISSN 1369-6815)
Volume:	27
Issue:	2
Pages:	146-158
Language:	English
Geographic term:	Gabon
Subjects:	popular music oral traditions
External link:	https://doi.org/10.1080/13696815.2014.987222
Abstract:	Based on an ethnographic study in Libreville, this presentation examines the political and identity issues contained in the inscription in the register of orality for Gabonese hip-hop artists, mainly in rap music and slam poetry. It describes the history of these two genres' appropriation in Libreville, then analyses how the claim for orality is deeply shaped for Gabonese youth with a dynamic of identity construction and of reafricanization, manifested in three different ways: the creation of a peer language (toli bangando), the use of a traditional Fang epic (mvet), and the staging of religious initiation societies. It finally discusses how this identity construction coincides with postcolonial issues and with connections with the black diaspora. Bibliogr., notes, ref., sum. [Journal abstract]