What is it about?
This article is about how Mali's griots, musician-philosophers from the Mande people known as jelis, use copyright. It explores the history and politics of copyright as it applies to African music, and explores the relationship between jelis and European publishers through 20+ original interviews.
Featured Image
Why is it important?
There is a long running debate in ethnomusicology concerning how well copyright works when applied to traditional forms of music, and wether it can be used a vehicle for cultural preservation and to support the careers of African musicians, This essay cuts through some of the ideological debates to try and get a clear picture of how and why copyright might prove useful to support musical careers ands traditions in Africa.
Perspectives
Writing this paper enabled me to road test theoretical assumptions and what can be rather abstract arguments by asking those actually involved with making and publishing African music about their experiences. I learnt a lot I did not know about Mali's rich musical economy and about what publishers actually do for musicians.
Caspar Melville
SOAS, University of London
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Valuing Tradition: Mali’s Jeliw, European Publishers and Copyright, Journal of World Popular Music, April 2017, Equinox Publishing,
DOI: 10.1558/jwpm.31661.
You can read the full text:
Contributors
The following have contributed to this page
