WHOSE MUSIC AND DANCE TRADITION? THE KENYA MUSIC FESTIVAL FOUNDATION AND ITS AUTHORITIES

Résumé

WHOSE MUSIC AND DANCE TRADITION? THE KENYA MUSIC FESTIVAL FOUNDATION AND ITS AUTHORITIES

DE QUEM É A TRADIÇÃO DE MÚSICA E DANÇA? A FUNDAÇÃO DO FESTIVAL DE MÚSICA QUENIANA E SUAS ATORIDADES.

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ABSTRACT: Kenya is a multi-ethnic Nation with a variety of music, dance and performing traditions. It is of utmost importance for the governmental instances to consider this diversity while demonstrating unity in the country’s identity. The Kenya Music Festival Foundation fulfills this role by presenting cultural diversity in this unique event. The paper will address the main actors of this complex festival, showing that different authorities are able to present and support safeguarding of traditional music, but are also responsible for changes and for new goals of the musical repertoire itself. Having been started in 1927 as entertainment for White settlers, the festival has grown over time to exhibit a unique blend of Kenyan culture. The festival exhibits Western Classical music, Kenyan (and broader African) music and dance, instrumental music and elocution. This paper focuses on music with Kenyan and by extension African origin, with a view of showing how the institution has been responsible for conserving the music as well as exemplifying dynamics of the same, through the concept of festival that draws material from traditional contexts, appropriates them into a model befitting aspirations of the festival, and develop it over time. To achieve this, the presentation reviewed videos of performances over the years. More so, review of the classes of music that have been performed over time, where an assessment of motivation for the changes in the classes were assessed. This paper conjectures that certain authorities are responsible for the dynamics of this unique event. A discussion on the players and how they influence the festival was an essential part of this paper that helped in determining the success story of this unique festival, which lately has been described as the largest cultural event in Africa.

Key woards: Kenya; Kenya Music Festival; Traditional Music; Western Music

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RESUMO: O Quênia é uma nação multiétnica com uma grande variedade de tradições musicais, performáticas e de dança. Para as instâncias governamentais, é de primordial importância considerar esta diversidade ao demostrar a unidade identitária do país. A Kenya Music Festival Foundation cumpre essa função apresentando a diversidade cultural do Quênia neste evento singular. O presente artigo investiga os principais atores deste complexo festival, mostrando que diferentes autoridades envolvidas não só promovem a salvaguarda da música tradicional, como também provocam nela importantes mudanças em seu repertório. Iniciado em 1927 como forma de entretenimento dos colonizadores britânicos, o festival hoje se tornou um dos maiores expoentes da cultura musical do Quênia, exibindo música clássica ocidental, músicas e danças africanas, bem como música instrumental e oratória. O presente artigo visa demonstrar como essa instituição foi capaz de conservar e desenvolver a música tradicional do país em questão.

Palavras-chave: Quênia; Festival de Música do Quênia; Música Tradicional; Música Ocidental.