Popular Music and Identity Formation among Kenyan Youth
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Date
2016
Authors
Wanjala, Henry
Kebaya, Charles
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Taylor \& Francis
Abstract
The role of music in the formation and shaping of identity cannot be gainsaid
since music represents an important cultural sphere where identities are
affirmed, challenged, torn apart and reconstructed. Many young people use
music and musicians that they admire to distinguish themselves from their
peers. Thus, the choice of music among the youth often serves as an important
marker of the character and nature of identity under construction. Music is
meant to be fun, to brighten life, but the development and expression of musical
taste can also be a serious statement about one’s identity. Pop music as a genre
has had the greatest appeal and impact to the majority of the youth in Kenya.
The influence of the medium and its artists on overall identity development is
pervasive, complex, and far-reaching in its cultural significance. Grounded in
both a historical analysis and a theoretical framework of identity, we interrogate
how contemporary pop music shapes and influences identities among Kenyan
youth. Using purposively selected contemporary popular music in Kenya, the
article provides a textual exegesis of how music uses resources of history,
language, and culture in the construction and performance of certain identities.
To this end, the study analyses the strategic position of identity and the possibility
of connecting it with conceptions of time, discourse, and history. This study
provides new insights into how music – as a medium in which identities are
constructed, performed, and contested – can be utilised meaningfully in shaping
worldviews among Kenyan youth.
Description
Article
Keywords
identity, popular music, youth, performance
Citation
Wanjala, H., & Kebaya, C. (2016). Popular music and identity formation among Kenyan youth. Muziki, 13(2), 20-35.