Music as a Marker for Globalization

A Case-Study in Listening Habits Across East Africa

Authors: Julien Pallière, Lea Bibeau-Guimont, Julien Greschner, Fred Malecki
Date: March 2019

Abstract: Results from a three-month field study on listening habits across various demographics in East Africa. The goal of the project is to investigate trends in demographics between individuals and their listening habits. The project more largely attempts to approach musical listening habits as a marker of globalization. Conducting 31 in-depth interviews across rural and urban Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda, we collected and analysed data regarding demographic attributes of each interview participant (age, gender, connectivity, location, etc.). Despite a small sample size, strong trends were observed across all participants: age and internet access were the most prominent variables. Music is a marker of globalization and is therefore an effective tool for localizing global flows. This research was conducted in the context of an undergraduate field semester at McGill University.

Globalism, a contested term, refers to the processes by which geographically disparate areas become interconnected. Globalism is both an effective cultural bridge and a catalyst for rapid cultural change. In regions experiencing heavy traffic and development (due to forces like industrialization, modernization, political change, capital flows, etc.), local cultures collide and form new, hybrid cultures.

Changes in local culture are often measured in terms of the flow of capital, population, migration, and real estate development. It is argued that urbanization has a homogenizing effect; i.e. that cultural diversity is reduced. While we do not endorse this view, we iterate concerns about the erasure of local knowledge forms. In East Africa, landscapes have visibly changed under colonial and developmental projects, diverse language groups have diminished under nation-building projects, and human activity has threatened biodiversity. It is only natural that musical practices be considered as well. We also believe that it is important to consider the degree to which local communities participate in local changes, and what methods are most effective in the perpetuation and conservation of local practices.

The goal of this research is to document the effects of globalization through the investigation of music. We propose that music practices, expressions of individual and communal identities, can serve as a marker for cultural changes. Surveying the prominence of musical styles (on a spectrum from locally-oriented to internationally-influenced) in an area has the potential to reflect its cultural change. Exploring features of a location and its people has the potential to provide insight into aspects which affect a location’s rate, type, and source of cultural change. Through the investigation of music, we are able to root discussion of global flows in their concrete manifestations in local communities. Ideally, our research will enhance our understanding of globalization while also highlighting the individual identities of affected communities

The research was conducted as part of a semester undergraduate project facilitated by the Africa Field Study Semester (AFSS) at McGill. As such, it is wholly conceived of, and undertaken by, four undergraduate students with interdisciplinary backgrounds (ecology, anthropology, GIS, and music). The research is intended as educational practice, whose purpose was made clear to participants. We, the students, fully acknowledge our shortcomings despite our best efforts to conduct serious, ethical research. We hope that this research will serve as a launchpad for our future research efforts.

Research Question

What are the factors that impact the type of music that people listen to in East Africa?

Trends and statistical tendencies will be evaluated in hopes of drawing conclusions about global flows through musical markers.

Objectives

1. To identify variables that affect the type of music people listen to in East Africa.
2. To determine whether these variables are indicators of cultural homogenization in East Africa.

We hypothesize that there are identifiable trends in a person’s listening habits which are approximable through demographic data: location, access to technology, affiliation with music, and other identifiers.

Methodology

Informal interviews were conducted across 31 individuals. The 1-on-1, interviews were conducted as mostly-structured discussions, generally with the help of a translator. Each discussion consisted of questions regarding simple demographic identifiants of each individual. The interview questionnaire can be found in Appendix I.

The interviews were conducted across 3 months, 3 countries, 1 country per month. Beginning with Kenya, interview sites included: Nairobi, Maji Moto, Mt. Kenya, Lake Naivasha, and Maasai Mara. Uganda: Kibale, Jinja, Kakamega, Lake Nabugabo. Tanzania: Ngongongare, Amani, Bagamoyo, Stone Town. (See travel path in Appendix I.)

While the topic of music is a subject that can be studied in all or most sites, there are notable logistic considerations. Time and access were among our biggest concerns. Other concerns included translation artefacts (most interviews are conducted through a translator), unwillingness to yield sensitive information, and lack of access to music. With the assumption that music exists as a ubiquitous practice, our investigation extends to all individuals. Besides the condition that interview participants not be tourists, we therefore placed no constraints on interview participants. The same questions and topics were covered for all individuals, which allows us to accumulate an equal number of variables across the different respondents. We were able to find interview subjects at all visited sites.

Ethics

We have identified four possible ethical dimensions to our project. First, we have to frame our question in a way that will not introduce ethnographic biasing from our western culture. This could influence the responses that the interviewees will give us. In order to address this possible bias, we are framing our questions in a way that leaves room for open responses as opposed to forcing categorical responses. We will also avoid sharing our personal preferences before completing the interviews and remaining neutral to any answer the interviewees will give us.

Second, another ethical dimension to our project that we have identified is the possible feeling of intrusion or invasion of privacy that our interviewees could feel when we ask our questions. In order to address this concern, we are planning on disclaiming to all the participants of our study that they do not have to answer questions if they do not feel comfortable. Moreover, we will also attempt to start the interview with a casual amicable conversation that is not linked to the research project in the hope of making the person more comfortable.

Third, we have a question about religion in our questionnaire that could be a source of stigma for the person we will be interviewing. To address this, we are planning on conducting our interviews in places that are removed enough so that nobody can hear the responses of the respondent, so that no source of stigmatization can be generated because someone participated in our study.

Fourth, the last ethical dimension that we have identified about our study is that some respondent could interpret our questions on access to electricity or the internet as an evaluation of how underdeveloped they are. Our solution to this potential issue is to avoid giving the impression that the interview is an interrogation, which can mean to ask questions indirectly when we judge it is preferable. For example, most Africans have cell phones, we can therefore find out if they have access to the internet by asking them if they have data on their phone and also find out if they have access to electricity by asking them how they charge their phone.

Finally, to ensure that people we interact with are aware of our role as students, we are planning on presenting ourselves as students to the interviewees and briefly explain our project before starting the questionnaire.

Variables

Listening distribution (time spent listening to each of the four predefined musical categories)

In relation to:

1. Age
2. Gender
3. Location
4. Religion
5. Mobility. Evaluated based on:
6. Proximity to urban centers
7. Frequency of visits to urban centers
8. Connectivity. Evaluated based on
9. Access to electricity
10. Access to internet, radio, cell phone data, and TV
11. Music channels frequented (radio stations, TV music channels, streaming applications)
12. Musician status. Evaluated based on:
13. Type of music
14. Frequency
15. Instrument

Approach

All of our relationships will be drawn between the main variable (listening distribution) and the situational variables (aspects of people and their location). We will inspect the results for significant trends (T-test and visual observation through graphs) in order to identify through which variables- if any- does globalization most effectively spread. To do this, averages will be drawn from multiple data points within each of the four defined musical categories and charted.

Results

Due to the small sample size, numerous imbalances were noted. 19 of the 31 interview participants were between the ages of 15 and 30 (more in ‘Results’). Most of the interviews were conducted in rural areas, unfavorably skewing results away from urbanites. Gender was well-balanced, with 16 participants identifying as female and 15 as male. Gender: potential differences in the role of men and women; Age: cultural evolution and loss of traditional knowledge through ages.

Figure 1. General listening distribution

Figure 1 presents the average listening distribution for the 31 participants. This graph provides an overview of the type of music listened to by our interviewees. The greatest amount of listening attention was dedicated to international music- the one with the highest listening average- while traditional music is the least listened-to. The range across the four types of music is relatively small, all categories falling between“sometimes” and “often”.

Variable 1: Age

Figure 2. Listening distribution in relation to age

Results: Figure 2 presents the average listening distributions for our four different age categories. The age categories were grouped off into 15-year intervals; the first, left-most group features ages 15–30, the second: 30–45; third: 46–60, and the fourth, left-most group: 60+. The respective sizes are as follows: 18 in the first group, 6 in the second, 3 in the third group, and 3 in the final, 60+ group. Moreover, one interview of a child less than 15 yrs old (with parental consent) was omitted due to the lack of similar-aged participants.

International music is, on average, the most popular across our age groups. The two youngest groups report listening to traditional music the least and international music the most. The 30–45 yrs old report the highest rates of listening for international music. Both age groups also report listening to in-country music slightly more than music from continental Africa. Within the few interviews carried-out, the two final age-groups show a noticeable increase in the amount of time spent listening to traditional music. The oldest group (60+ yrs old) features the highest listening of traditional music, while still significantly listening to international music. This is compared to the 45–60yrs group, where continental and international music are the two minima.

Discussion: Our results show an increasing amount of time spent listening to traditional music as age increases. However, the reverse trend is not observable with international music, since the oldest group (60+ yrs old) listens to international music, on average, just as much as the youngest group (15–30 yrs old). This suggests that time spent listening to one type of music does not necessarily affect the other. Because of this, it cannot be concluded that international music is responsible for converting younger generations away from traditional music.

Variable 2: Gender

Figure 3. Listening distribution in relation to gender

Results: In order to determine whether gender is an influential factor in listening distribution, we compared the listening distributions of the types of music people listen to (traditional, continental, national and international) between self-identified females and males. Females and males exhibit similar listening frequencies for traditional music, with both averages being slightly above “sometimes”. However, for all the other types of music, males’ listening average is higher than females. This difference is even more pronounced for continental and international music across the two genders. With each step from local to foreign musics, male listening grows higher (with national and continental music at nearly equal averages). The graph’s maxima is identifiable in the male tendency to listen to international music the most. Females, on the other hand, exhibit a more even listening distribution. The minimum of the graph is shown in the least amount of listening to continental music by females.

Discussion: Gender seems to veritably influence an individual’s listening habits, specifically as they pertain to foreign music. A trend can be seen in the graph where the males increasingly direct listening attention towards more foreign music (from “sometimes” for traditional music to “more than often” for international music). Males more commonly migrate/commute to urban areas for work than women, who traditionally stay near their homes and children. Moreover, as males often work more than females (in our sample size), they tend to move more and also have more income; higher financial mobility affords increased interaction and exposure to foreign music, more music in general, and/or with financial freedom to choose the type of music. Such explanations are numerous and speculative; what remains clear is that males report listening more to music than females, and that males listen more to foreign music than local music.

Variable 3: Location

The location variable is left out of the final analysis because we very rarely conducted more than 3 interviews per site; we thus judged that the sample size for most sites was too small to be interpretable. Instead, location and mobility data were combined to evaluate how “urbanized” a participant’s environment is. The results are presented later in this section.

Variable 4: Religion

Religion is also left out of the final analysis, as 30 out of the 31 interviewees identified as christian. While still remarkable, religion is better interpreted as a constant than a variable in this study. A lack of variation quite evidently prevents us from evaluating the influence of religion on the type of music people listen to.

Variable 5: Level of urbanization (adapted from mobility)

Figure 4. Listening distribution in relation to level of urbanization

Results: People from the rural areas listen significantly more to traditional music, whereas urban dwellers listen much more to international music. Urban dwellers exhibit the lowest listening frequency towards traditional styles, being the only demographic to fall below “sometimes”. In contrast, urban dwellers feature the maximum amount of attention dedicated to international music. Within national and continental music, the results are all slightly above “sometimes.” However, there is a flip where national music is more listened to by rural than by urban dwellers, followed by an increase in listening to continental music by urban than rural dwellers. With each progressive step from local to foreign, urban dweller listening grows higher. Rural dwellers, on the other hand, exhibit a more even listening distribution.

Discussion: These results suggest a strong difference between the listening frequency of rural and urban dwellers for traditional music and international music. A trend is identifiable in the listening frequency of the urban inhabitants: the more a foreign the music, the attention urban listeners dedicate to it. Traditional music, however, features an even listening distribution across various environments, where no type of listener appears to devote more time than another. What can be concluded from this analysis is that urbanization has an impact on the listening distribution and frequency of the dwellers. The more people were urbanized the less likely they would listen to traditional music. It can be inferred that being in the city brings more opportunities to hear and listen to different types of music, with a greater and more diverse population than the rural areas. This demographic mix found in the urban has the potential to bring more cultures together, accounting for the mix of many types of music.

Variable 6: Connectivity

Figure 5. Listening distribution in relation to internet access

Results: This graph gives an overview of the listening distribution in function of internet access. Participants without internet access exhibit greater listening tendencies towards traditional music and national music. They report listening to traditional music between “sometimes” and “often”. Average listening among no-internet listeners falls at or below “sometimes,” and is lower for those with access — internet users average closer to “often.” Those without internet access listen to continental music the least- this is the graph’s minimum. In contrast, participants with internet access report the graph’s maximum, listening often to international music. Internet-users also average between “sometimes” and “often” for national and continental music. This group listens the least to traditional music.

Discussion: According to this graph, the general trend is that people with no internet access seem to listen more to traditional music and less to international music, whilst people with internet access seem to exhibit the inverse trend: internet-users listen more to international music and less to traditional music. This supports interpretations that the internet allows people to access content from everywhere in the world and- by doing so- they exhibit greater exposure to the music from outside of Africa. Exposure to international music perhaps coordinates with decreased attraction to traditional music. This works in the opposite direction: those who do not have internet access are potentially more prone to listen to music accessible in local areas, i.e. traditional music.

Variable 7: Musician status

Figure 6. Listening distribution in relation to musician status

Results: Here, we assessed the listening distribution in relation to the informant’s musicianship status (musician and non-musician). Among the 31 people interviewed, 16 of them were non-musicians while the 15 others reported playing music.

For non-musicians, traditional music was listened to the lowest and international music was the highest. For musicians, continental music was listened to the lowest and national music was the highest, followed by traditional music and international music. Musicians exhibit more even-distribution, with similar listening averages to non-musicians. Musicians report greater time dedicated to traditional, national, and international music over continental music with a preference for national music. While both groups listen to national music quite often, non-musicians listen more often to continental music than musicians do. Non-musicians exhibit a stepwise increase in their listening frequency as the music type moves from local to international. Overall, the lowest frequency of the whole graph was found for traditional music in non-musicians and the highest frequency of the whole graph was found for international music, also in non-musicians.

Discussion: Our data suggests an increase of listening in international music among non-musicians. Musicians exhibit a more balanced listening distribution, also listening to more music on average. Additionally, non-musicians seem to have lower listening tendencies for traditional music than musicians do. One might argue that musicians tend to be more connected to traditional music if they play music, thus they listen more to traditional music than non-musicians. This might be explained by the fact that we conducted most of our interviews in rural areas where most of the people we interviewed reported that they were playing traditional music. As the results from the graph on urbanization effects are suggesting it, rural dwellers listen more to traditional music than urban dwellers.

Conclusion

Limitations

We understand that the scope of our conclusions is limited by our small sample size. Having interviewed only 31 people, we cannot draw broad conclusions. Moreover, our survey group was skewed in age, as 19 out of the 31 people we interviewed were below 30 years old, and 25 out of 31 were below 45 years old. It is also important to note that many of the people interviewed were members of staff or translators at the sites that the AFSS program has visited whose exposure to visitors and tourists would increase international exposure. The interviews were conducted mostly in rural areas because of the constraints put by the AFSS itinerary and thus, this might give representative results especially when we want to analyze the effect of urbanization on the listening distribution.

The language barrier was also an obstacle for efficient and clear communication. This barrier contributed to possible misunderstandings and inconsistency in the answers we got. When communication was easier, the conversation could last longer and the depth of information gathered reflected this. Not all questions were fully answered by each interviewee.

Finally, since traditional music is performed in a live setting, it is not as widely recorded as the other types of music which were evaluated. This discrepancy is likely to contribute to our findings.

General Discussion

We found that the most important variables were urbanization level, technology and age. Musicianship is also an important variable in answering our research question but it is harder to quantify and would require further investigation.

International music was significantly more popular among all listeners than local music. All interviewees attested to using the radio as a medium for their listening. This can, of course, explain the prevalence of international music listening. It is quite rare to hear traditional music on the radio. We suggest that globalization of music- especially through modern technology in urban areas and commuter culture- displaces traditional music in favor of more globalized, recorded music.

Future Directions

There are several paths moving forward in this line of research.

1. More interviews
2. Consideration of listening media, and diversifying results across media
3. Clarifying the distinction between playing/listening
4. Quantifying reported times to offset for differences in the personal usage of relative adjectives “sometimes” “often” etc.
5. Considering listening types: active, passive, performed, sung, individual, communal, etc.
6. Considering the evolution of listening habits.

Each of these opens the discussion to more theoretical foundations of music in culture. A more profound survey engaging with existing literature would overcome the blindspots and assumptions made in this paper. Such research could provide more precise reflections on the effects of media imperialism, globalization, the recording industry, and promote efforts for cultural conservation.

We greatly thank the team of AFSS, our translators, and our research participants for such a rich and illuminating field experience

Appendix

Questionnaire:

1. Do you listen to music?
2. If not, why don’t you listen to music?
3. In terms of “never”, “sometimes”, “often” and “always”, how often do you listen to:
4. Traditional music? (from the local community)
5. National music? (from the country)
6. Continental music? (from Africa)
7. International music? (from elsewhere)
8. What is your religion?
9. Do you play music?
10. If yes, which instrument?
11. How often do you play?
12. What type of music do you play?
13. Do you have access to electricity?
14. Do you have access to the internet? Data? TV? Radio?
15. Do you listen to music on the internet? Data? TV? Radio?
16. What styles do you listen to? (If possible, which phone applications, channels, stations, websites?)
17. Where do you live? If the person does not live in a city area
18. How frequently do you go to the city?
19. For what reasons?
20. How do you get to the city?
21. How long does it take?

Map: