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The popularity of country music in rural sub Saharan Africa

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Re: The popularity of country music in rural sub Saharan Africa

#41

Post by onepointsixC »

thaumasiotes wrote: post #36
onepointsixC wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>But I suspect that overseas they are more likely to view country music through the same lens as "America", having no specific concept of "despicable Southerners". I think you're going to find that the rest of the world is going to have much more commonality in social cultural viewpoints of the American South than with California.

But that doesn't matter if they can't tell the difference between California and the South in the first place. Another commenter in this thread mentions the popularity of country music in France, which would appear to be more on the California end of things.

Depends on what part of France. I'm sure French farmers will find quite a bit in common with American farmers. I'd be surprised if country music is popular among Parisians.

Re: The popularity of country music in rural sub Saharan Africa

#42

Post by Thorentis »

yawboakye wrote: post #39

American country music buff here. Until recently Ghanaian music was mostly about the lyrics—it was impossible to make music that didn’t have great lyrics about love, life, work, religion, you name it. Music was a great instructor in traditional values. For lovers of the old music American country music fits right in since it’s probably the only(?) music export from the US that doesn't glorify crime, debauchery, all t…

A fantastic observation, and a sad indictment on modern American culture.

Re: The popularity of country music in rural sub Saharan Africa

#43

Post by samatman »

corrral wrote: post #30
betwixthewires wrote: post #9

A lot of people don't really know it, but American country music is the most commercially successful music genre worldwide and is popular in places such as southeast Asia, Mongolia, sub Saharan Africa, even India and Latin america. Europeans and city dwelling Americans love to shit on it but the world loves it, probably because it's easy to relate to lyrically and uses pleasant melodies and simple to follow rhythms.…

Do they imitate it in their own music? When I go looking for American influence in foreign pop music, most of what I find is usually hip-hop. Almost never country.

I think 'adapt' might be a better word, but absolutely they do.

I agree it's not as easy to find, I have a Thai country CD from the early Naughts in storage somewhere, I bet if you went with the right searches on your streaming source of choice you'd turn it up.

Re: The popularity of country music in rural sub Saharan Africa

#44

Post by guelo »

exolymph wrote: post #29
guelo wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> American country music is the most commercially successful music genre worldwide Sorry I'm very skeptical about this claim. According to the recording industry's annual report Pop music continues to dominate and Country is not in the top 10 https://www.ifpi.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/IFPI-Engagin... (page 15) Also, as a city dweller, why do people like you constantly attack us about everything? That feeling of…

I upvoted you because I'm also skeptical about the object-level claim, but this is a little dramatic: > Also, as a city dweller, why do people like you constantly attack us about everything? That feeling of persecution is destroying us. Rural people can easily levy the same accusation in return.

Why is my comment more dramatic than saying city dwellers "love to shit on it"?

Re: The popularity of country music in rural sub Saharan Africa

#45

Post by argiopetech »

rayiner wrote: post #11
yardie wrote: post #6

Because country music is also black music. And there have been Black, country musicians as long as country music has existed. But you wouldn’t know them because of the racist history of Nashville music industry.

But we’re talking about Africans, a culturally distinct group of people.

Hundreds of culturally distinct groups, I'm sure.

Edit: a quick search suggests as many as 3000. Either way, it's many distinct groups.

Re: The popularity of country music in rural sub Saharan Africa

#46

Post by dendrite9 »

lelandfe wrote: post #40
dendrite9 wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was introduced to this music in 2009 or so and it's been a consistent part of my musical diet since then. I remember reading the blog post about Music from Saharan Cellphones and the method of getting the songs. I found this relevant comment on the Sahel Sounds post from 2010: "In the effort of cultural exchange, I traded for a few Townes Van Zandt albums; we’ll see if they’ve survived next time I’m back in Kidal."…

https://sahelsoundscompilations.bandcamp.com/ Sahel's Bandcamp is full of such compilations! Including the recently released "Music from Saharan WhatsApp" https://sahelsoundscompilations.bandcamp.com/album/music-fro... These little vignettes into music communities brings me a lot of joy.

I just saw that! I wish I hadn't missed those sessions.

I recently wrote about finding music communities through the internet in 2000 or so. One of the fascinating views into completely foreign places was through the punk music found by Tam89 records.

https://tam89records.bandcamp.com/ https://www.maximumrocknroll.com/blast-from-the-past-luk-haa...

Re: The popularity of country music in rural sub Saharan Africa

#47

Post by corrral »

samatman wrote: post #43
corrral wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do they imitate it in their own music? When I go looking for American influence in foreign pop music, most of what I find is usually hip-hop. Almost never country.

I think 'adapt' might be a better word, but absolutely they do. I agree it's not as easy to find, I have a Thai country CD from the early Naughts in storage somewhere, I bet if you went with the right searches on your streaming source of choice you'd turn it up.

That's awesome. Again, I wasn't trying to be a dick (I drew a downvote at one point, for some reason, so I guess I was somehow?) it just seems that every time I've listened to a popular foreign radio station from Africa or the Pacific or Asia, the non-English stuff I've heard has either been plainly in some kind of "pop" category, or, even more often, hip-hop, never country, so I found it surprising that an overwhelming love of country music, abroad, hadn't already become evident to me.

Re: The popularity of country music in rural sub Saharan Africa

#48

Post by RajT88 »

thaumasiotes wrote: post #28
RajT88 wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The one that really threw me is that American country music is very popular in France. I have never been, so naturally I am sure my view of the place and the people is skewed.

It is my understanding that the American country music industry employs much more specialization of labor (e.g. performers / lyricists / composers are all different people) than other American genres, so I generally expect the quality to be higher. My sister and I both love country music. My dad is very vocal about how much he hates it, but his reasons have nothing to do with the quality of the music - they are purel…

The South is as much a region as a set of attitudes.

There are certainly rural parts of California which are Southern in that sense, just like Ohio is very Southern in that sense.

You will find proud Southerners less than 100 miles from Chicago in fact. That includes (light, but perceptible) southern accents.

Re: The popularity of country music in rural sub Saharan Africa

#49

Post by stickfigure »

Jerrrry wrote: post #35
exolymph wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

All of the above. Country is heavily influenced by African American gospel and blues, but also the hillbilly roots you described. It's a fusion genre and that's beautiful.

But the "stolen without attribution" claim paints it negatively for little reason. African Americans contributed; nothing was "stolen," as romantic of an idea to the chronically-oppressed may oppose.

I pick banjo and I've never heard anyone claim the banjo was "stolen". Especially not in this thread.

Re: The popularity of country music in rural sub Saharan Africa

#50

Post by rayiner »

argiopetech wrote: post #45
rayiner wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But we’re talking about Africans, a culturally distinct group of people.

Hundreds of culturally distinct groups, I'm sure. Edit: a quick search suggests as many as 3000. Either way, it's many distinct groups.

Of course, you’re right.
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