Tradition and Modernity in the History of Pop-Rock and Semba

Abstract The colonial authorities in Angola employed the modern/traditional dichotomy to classify and frame musical styles such as semba and pop-rock. What would later be called semba was labeled as ‘folklore’, while pop-rock was considered ‘modern music’. This categorisation reinforced the binaries of the European centre/modern city versus the slums ( musseques )/space of African tradition. Such classification was part of a folklorisation process imposed by the state, aiming at exerting a certain degree of control over the music produced by non-Europeans. Drawing on written, visual, and primarily oral archives, this research demonstrates that the popularisation of semba throughout the city compelled colonial officials to rearticulate these binary divisions in conjunction with the promotion of the imperial “Portuguese” culture.