Lecture by Markus Verne, Assistant Professor, Department of Anthropology
University of Bayreuth

“Heavy Metal in Madagascar: An ‘Existential’ Approach to the Study of Popular Music”

Abstract: Thinking of music in Africa, most still have an image dominated by rather traditional African styles or “Africanized” versions of western sounds. Accounting for the striking role of rock and metal music in a foreign setting, the central aim of this lecture is to rethink the meaning and relevance of popular music in Africa. Based on the interpretation of ethnographic data on rock and metal music in Madagascar’s capital city, my research strives for the establishment of an “existential” approach to popular music in Africa that is clearly based on aesthetic experience. Combining theoretical reflections from anthropology, philosophy, musical aesthetics (both of “high” and of popular music) and the ethnomusicology of Africa, the project aims at substantially contributing to cutting-edge debates not only on popular music in Africa, but also on the role of popular culture in anthropology and, subsequently, on the nature of culture more generally.

Bio: Markus Verne is Assistant Professor in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Bayreuth, Germany. His current research areas are anthropology and aesthetics; anthropology of popular music; music in Africa; theory and history of anthropology; “existential anthropology”; anthropology of consumption, especially in contexts of lack and scarcity. His regional focuses are Madagascar / Indian Ocean and Niger / West Africa.

Wednesday, October 12, 2011
1:00-3:00pm
B544 Schoenberg Music Building

Open to the public and free of charge
Parking in Lot 2 — $11 (Hilgard and Westholme)
Information: (310) 825-5947                       

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The Nazir Ali Jairazbhoy Colloquium Series presents a variety of lectures focusing on research and other issues important in the field of ethnomusicology.