22 - Landscapes of diaspora

Summary

This chapter explores some of the routes that music has traveled through the peripheral geography, focusing especially on the sounds of the sacred, on what it means to sing one's self in Diaspora. World music has been shaped by the experiences of diasporic, Caribbean communities, and this was the case for many even before they arrived in the region. Accounts of musical performances and of the creation of body art on board ship during the middle passage illustrate the power of the expressive arts to shape experiences and to combat psychic and physical violence. Highlife and jùjú, are two West African genres that have been affected by musical styles emanating from the Caribbean. The Caribbean has transplanted its inhabitants across the globe and has also transplanted its musics and its festivals to new locations, implanting them in new contexts where ethnicity, nationality, and identity take on new meanings.