Abstract

Dancehall music in Zimbabwe has become a very popular genre among urban youth. Since its emergence, this localised music genre has reconfigured urban public culture in complex ways. Drawing on popular musical forms (Zimdancehall), this article examines how urban youth use this musical genre to articulate and express their frustrations, grievances, and everyday existential struggles. This article critiques popular songs and lyrics of selected young Zimdancehall artists to show how their musical discourse can be viewed as alternative discursive spaces of counterhegemonic narratives and a critique of the excesses of the post-colonial state. I argue that Zimdancehall music has become a space where young people simultaneously articulate and navigate their existential frustrations and waithood. While marginalised from mainstream socio-economic and political processes, and detached from the corridors of power, young people use music to speak truth to power. They sing about their anxieties with the socio-economic and political injustices metaphorically and creatively. I assert that through music, young people have found a way of (in)directly addressing the political elites who are complicit in their everyday existential struggles. I argue that Zimdancehall lyrics should be read as ideological texts which articulate a specific type of being and becoming, epitomised by the politics of suffering and smiling.

摘要

津巴布韦的舞厅音乐已成为都市青年中非常流行的一种音乐类型。自出现以来，这种本土化的音乐流派以复杂的方式重新配置了城市公共文化。本文借鉴流行音乐形式 (Zimdancehall)，探讨城市青年如何使用这种音乐类型来表达和表达他们的挫折、不满和日常的生存斗争。本文批评了选定的年轻 Zimdancehall 艺术家的流行歌曲和歌词，以展示他们的音乐话语如何被视为反霸权叙事的替代话语空间和对后殖民国家过度行为的批评。我认为 Zimdancehall 音乐已经成为一个空间，年轻人可以在这里同时表达和应对他们存在的挫折和等待。虽然被主流社会经济和政治进程边缘化，并脱离权力走廊，但年轻人使用音乐向权力说真话。他们以隐喻和创造性的方式歌唱他们对社会经济和政治不公正的焦虑。我断言，通过音乐，年轻人找到了一种（间接地）直接与政治精英对话的方式，他们参与了他们日常的生存斗争。我认为 Zimdancehall 的歌词应该被解读为意识形态文本，它阐明了一种特定类型的存在和成为，以苦难和微笑的政治为代表。我断言，通过音乐，年轻人找到了一种（间接地）直接与政治精英对话的方式，他们参与了他们日常的生存斗争。我认为 Zimdancehall 的歌词应该被解读为意识形态文本，它阐明了一种特定类型的存在和成为，以苦难和微笑的政治为代表。我断言，通过音乐，年轻人找到了一种（间接地）直接与政治精英对话的方式，他们参与了他们日常的生存斗争。我认为 Zimdancehall 的歌词应该被解读为意识形态文本，它阐明了一种特定类型的存在和成为，以苦难和微笑的政治为代表。