Re-membering the Postcolonial Musical Audience with Indigenous Soundscapes:Mbeyu NjijaMusic-Video Documentary in Tanzania

There is a direct link between the Church musical audience and displaced indigenous music traditions in Tanzanian university programmes. Currently, many students admitted to tertiary institution music programmes come from a Church-based music background and hence their attitudes are governed by the colonial mentality that indigenous music is “heathen” and “evil”. Their views are reinforced by the Eurocentric curriculum that still perpetuates anti-indigenous music methods. As a result students are uprooted from their indigenous musical material and heritage. Curricula in Tanzania need to disrupt, repair, and transform the persistence of churchly neurophysiological sonic perceptions in the community. Furthermore, the curricula need to combat the impact of colonialism and globalisation that have continued to remain separate from indigenous knowledge. Mbeyu Njija is an indigenous music documentary that provides an example of what such a new curricula could include. The documentary attempts to “re-member” Tanzanian audiences with their lost selves by bringing them back in contact with fading memories of indigenous soundscapes. The article's argument is that indigenous music in formal institutions in Tanzania must begin by repairing the audience’s sonic imbalances and perceptions.