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Theodore Konkouris

Nganaw: Heroes

Gunpowder, Cassettes & Tape Recorders: Production, Distribution & Transmission of a Musical Tradition in Mali, West Africa

The primary aim of my research is to document the evolution of a commercial Malian music industry, based on an ethnographic account of the contexts, social organization, aesthetics and symbolism of the hunters’ musical tradition in Mali. By including the voices of performers and their experiences as musicians and as members of the hunters’ associations along with the experiences of music and radio producers, I explore issues of continuity and change, ideology, and style as a medium for publicly presenting and negotiating hunters’ and ultimately Malian identity.

I employed the methodology of participant observation through apprenticeship to the hunters’ master musician, Solomane Konate, with whom I learned how to play and experience this music and performance. I travelled and participated in hunters’ ceremonies and public events, followed him to recording sessions and documented recording practices and events, and learned the behavioural code and worldview of the hunters. By working closely with Ibrima DaMonson Diarra of ORTM and other radio presenters of the private sector, and with hunters’ music producer and label owner Modibo Diallo, I hope to show how these issues shape the hunters’ music industry and are shaped by its circulation via mass media. 

Research Interests: Hunters' Music in Mali and Guinea; African Systems of Thought; Divination Systems among the Mande Hunters; Healing and Medicine; Hunting; Sorcery & Witchcraft. 

Subject Areas: Acculturation; Syncretism; Aesthetics; Anthropology of Music; Biography & Autobiography; Body & Embodiment; Change & Transformation; Communication Theory; Cosmology & Mythology; Cultural Studies; Discography; Divination Systems; Emotion; Ethics; Ethnographic Writing; Existential Anthropology; Fieldwork & Ethnography; Film & Video; Folklore; Globalization; Healing & Medicine; Hermeneutics; Identity; Improvisation; Media Studies; Music Education; Music Industry; Oral History; Philosophy; Political Economy; Popular Culture; Reflexivity; Ritual Studies; Style & Technique; Subjectivism; Symbolism; Trance; Altered States; Visual Art; Visual Anthropology. 

Types of Music: African Music; Avant-Garde; Blues; Contemporary Music; Country & Western Music; Experimental & Outsiders’ Music; Film Music; Folk Music; Jazz; Latin American Music; Popular Music; Ritual Music; Rock; Traditional Music; World Music. 

Geographical Areas: Africa; Americas; Oceania & the Pacific Islands; The Arctic.