Table Of ContentBreaking Rocks
DISLOCATIONS
General Editors: August Carbonella, Memorial University of Newfoundland, Don
Kalb, University of Utrecht & Central European University, Linda Green, University
of Arizona
The immense dislocations and suffering caused by neoliberal globalization, the
retreat of the welfare state in the last decades of the twentieth century, and the
heightened military imperialism at the turn of the twenty-first century have
raised urgent questions about the temporal and spatial dimensions of power.
Through stimulating critical perspectives and new and cross-disciplinary frame-
works that reflect recent innovations in the social and human sciences, this series
provides a forum for politically engaged and theoretically imaginative responses
to these important issues of late modernity.
For a full volume listing, please see back matter
Breaking rocks
Music, Ideology and Economic Collapse,
from Paris to Kinshasa
_
Joe Trapido
First published in 2017 by
Berghahn Books
www.berghahnbooks.com
© 2017 Joe Trapido
All rights reserved.
Except for the quotation of short passages
for the purposes of criticism and review, no part of this book
may be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic or
mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information
storage and retrieval system now known or to be invented,
without written permission of the publisher.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Trapido, Joe, author.
Title: Breaking rocks : music, ideology and economic collapse, from
Paris to Kinshasa / Joe Trapido.
Other titles: Dislocations ; v. 19.
Description: New York : Berghahn Books, 2017. | Series: Dislocations ;
volume 19 | Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2016053211 | ISBN 9781785333989 (hardback : alk. paper)
Subjects: LCSH: Popular music--Economic aspects--Congo (Democratic
Republic) | Popular music--Social aspects--Congo (Democratic Republic) |
Music patronage--Congo (Democratic Republic) | Congolese (Democratic
Republic)--Europe--Social conditions.
Classification: LCC ML3503.C68 T73 2017 | DDC 781.63096751--dc23 LC record
available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016053211
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Printed on acid-free paper
ISBN 978-1-78533-398-9 (hardback)
ISBN 978-1-78533-399-6 (ebook)
Contents
Acknowledgements viii
Introduction 1
Chapter 1 Bars, Music, Gender and Politics 29
Chapter 2 Exchange, Music, Patronage 47
Chapter 3 Potlatch Migrants: Travelling to Europe,
Arriving in Kinshasa 71
Chapter 4 Rights, Piracy and Producers 93
Chapter 5 The Président as Gatekeeper: Patronage as
a Class Relationship 106
Chapter 6 Mikiliste Economies 133
Chapter 7 Love and Money 165
Chapter 8 Charismatic Fetishism 194
Conclusion 229
Bibliography 236
Index 249
This book is dedicated to Antoinette Trapido, Alexandra Trapido
and Barbara Trapido, with love.
_
ACknowledgements
_
Writing a book is a hard thing to do and I could not have done it
without the help of very many people.
First of all, thank you everyone at Berghahn. You have been very
patient and encouraging. I would also like to thank Don Kalb and
the other editors on the Dislocations series. I am very lucky to count
Patrick Neveling as my friend, thank you for nudging me in this
direction.
Mike Kirkwood’s suggestions on my manuscript were incredibly
valuable, as were his views on everything else, including cricket.
Susan Watkins and Daniel Finn at the New Left Review, and Professor
Ian Phimister at the University of the Free State had nothing to do
with this book, but having such intellectually impressive people take
me seriously and offer encouragement to my wider work helped my
morale enormously.
I was lucky to study at University College London’s department
of Anthropology, I am still profoundly grateful for the opportunity
they gave me. Professors Michael Rowlands and Daniel Miller there
deserve especial thanks.
At SOAS, Professor Richard Fardon made very important intellec-
tual suggestions about this work, but he has also given me a host of
other kinds of help: attentive proofreader, application reviser, and
sympathetic ear. I am amazed that a scholar who has produced so
many highly regarded publications and with so many other respon-
sibilities could find the time do this.
At the Universty of Pretoria I was given much support and intel-
lectual assistance. Professors Charles Van Onselen, John Sharpe, and
Inocent Pikirayi, and Drs Detlev Krige, Fraser Mcneill, Jason Sumich,
Juliana Braz-Diaz and Mallika Shakya all contributed to an enjoyable,
stimulating and productive two years in South Africa.
– viii –
Acknowledgements | ix
Others I would like in particular to thank for their help are:
Kalaho Mayombo, Eric Tshimpaka, Gloria Turkhadio, Celezino,
Jhimmy, Professeur Kibens, Cellulaire, Mi, Smith, Kams, Balzac,
Mandela Atala, Innocent, Yves, Eboa, Maika Munan, Sec Bidens,
Theo Bidens, Polistar, Lassa, Tony and Jean Mark.
Professor Filip De Boeck met me in Brussels to discuss my
then very unformed project and was very generous with his time.
Professor Nancy Rose Hunt has also been incredibly kind, generous
and helpful. My connection to both of these eminent scholars has
been a source of encouragement and intellectual inspiration.
In Kinshasa, Marc who let me stay in his house when he was away,
and everyone at the premier rue, especially Mimi and Diaz. Just down
the road, John at studio Mek’o was very kind. Later on I got to know
the wonderful Baby, Leon and Nanou Silikani, Diji, Pitshou Imbole,
Armando, Nancy, Bijou, Elko, Jimmy (and family), Vieux Tout Kin,
everyone at Londres bar and Kadafi spot, what a joy you all are and
how I miss all of you.
At the start of my stay in Kinshasa I was very lucky to be invited to
a conference organized by Professor Nancy Rose Hunt and Professor
Sabakinu. The colleagues I met via this conference changed my work
very dramatically. Thank you Nancy for inviting me. Kristien Geenen
gave the best paper I have ever heard, illustrated with her wonder-
ful photographs. She also showed me how to get around the city
and her approach to everything made me into a far less timid kind
of researcher than I would otherwise have been. I was honoured to
present a paper at the conference with Leon Tsambu (now Professor).
We became friends, Leon knows more than anyone about Congo
music, and he is a brilliant theorist of cultural life. I would also like to
thank Yolande, Leon’s wife, for being so hospitable despite children
and studies of her own to manage.
Via Leon I have got to know many people working at the University
of Kinshasa. Among the senior staff Professor Mutamba and Professor
Obotela were especially kind. The friendship and assistance of all the
people who work at the University of Kinshasa’s Centre D’Etudes
Politiques has been especially valuable – Dede Watchiba, Willy Kalala,
José Bazonzi, Jules Kassay, Célestin Tshimande, Delphin Kayembe
and Professor Jean Omasombo. The centre produces a huge amount
of exciting work on social and political questions in the Congo, and
is one of the most exciting social science research centres that I have
visited.
