This book is an exploration of the philosophy and place of sound as it is experienced from the cultural and political position(s) of Vedzimbahwe, who are the various people(s) of Zimbabwe. This book pioneers an inter-disciplinary approach to and with sound, an approach that traces the itineraries of indigenous epistemes of sound and listening and how they affect and are affected by the everyday socio-political processes. The idea that there is a dearth of sound studies theory coming from the Global South especially from Africa does not translate to the non-existence of critical sound knowledge on the African continent. In fact this alleged dearth is a result of the overbearing application of Western rubrics of knowledge in relationship to indigenous knowledges systems. African/Indigenous cultures are rich in sonic philosophies many of which challenge Western based theories and would rather be approached from their own standards. The book covers topics such as ethics in listening, sound and the post-colonial struggle. Political and economic relations between Africa and The West ,also between Africa and the East.
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION: CHIDZIMBAHWE PHILOSOPHIES OF SOUND.- CHAPTER 2:
CAN YOU HEAR THE SALT LISTENING-IN UPON AN INDIGENOUS, LOCAL TYMPANUM.-
CHAPTER 3: THE BLACK MARKET SOUND: SAMPLING A MICROPOLITICAL TERRAIN OF
LISTENING, RESISTANCE AND REFUSAL.- CHAPTER 4: NYAUDZOSINGWI THE ONOMATOPOEIC
FACTOR IN TOYI-TOYI AND ZHII-III RIOTS OF 1960 BULAWAYO.- CHAPTER 5 MAPOSTORI
POLYPHONICS- KURANGARIRA AND SANKOFA-(((RING)) AT HOME.- CHAPTER 6 MADE IN
CHINA MEGAPHONES- MUSIC PIRATES, HERBS, APHRODISIACS AND HOMEMADE
PESTICIDES.- CHAPTER 7: CONCLUSION: BOTEREKWA-A LOOPING BACK.
Masimba Hwati is a multi-disciplinary artist focusing on everyday forms ofresistance/negotiation and micro-politics of sound and listening. He holds a PhD in Art Practice candidate from the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna. He holds an MFA from University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Chosen art works includes Black market sounds and guerrilla poetics Mshika Shika @ Deutschlandfunkultur 2021. Select performances include Pahasha, Breadscores at the Radio Art residency Weimar 2021, Sound workshops Include Listening to the world 100 years of radio, Bauhaus workshops in Johannesburg, 2024. Select publications include: Sonic Signatures: Music, Migration and the City at Night, D Pardue, A Kenny (2023,130-138); The Black Market Sound, M Hwati (2022 )-March international Journal of strategy.
