Yes, It Came From Africa
Our modern culture is largely shaped by the silent influence of the African continent. Our entire species sprung from this continent, but the culture that stayed, ruminating on its history, kept providing to those who dispersed from the motherland. Our classic and modern storytelling comes from Africa, our music of the 50s and 70s came from Africa and the African music of today is following a similar pattern. Our clothing, not just style, but in jewelry’s case, its substance, relies on the exploitation of The Continent.
African culture is an umbrella term I’ll be using for broad strokes statements. ‘African culture’ is the same as saying ‘North American culture’, after all. It’s the second largest continent in the world, and everyone who has no personal attachment to it paints the ‘African experience’ as a monoculture. When specifying which cultures on the African continent I will be referencing, they will be referenced accordingly. However, the large diasporas through the continent’s history and the destruction of its records, the dispersion of its people through colonization, has wreaked havoc on specificity in scholarly articles such as this one. Hence, when a particular custom is referenced as ‘African’, it will mean that there lacks specificity in sourcing for the aforementioned reasons.
Analyzing lost roots of African culture in our modern sense starts before ‘The Beginning’. I mean this literally, because of the myth of Kaang (Cagn or Kaggen). Kaang is a god in San (or Khoi) religion, the religion of the Bushmen. Their culture was spread once from the Cape of Africa to what is now Kenya. In their religion, Kaang was the supreme being of creation, and he created Man. Except, Man was not reverent of Kaang and so he sent killer plagues to destroy Man in search of vindication, to be recognized as the omnipotent being he is. This myth predates the legend of Noah and the Flood by centuries, and it isn’t hard to reason out how one not only precedes but influences the other. Kaang’s son was an antelope, an eland, and when one of his other sons mistakenly killed the eland (a precedent for Abel and Cain, as well as the Nordic myth of Baldur and Loki), Kaang ordered its fatty remains to scatter land, springing forth the other lifeforms we know as animals. Within a single myth comes the budding sprout of hundreds of mythological tales that influenced the very structure of a plurality of societies.
It is largely the case that what we consider classic rock and classic country came from African American artists, who were largely influenced by their own culture as we all are, and so our evolution of music has grown to be based in African music. From Elvis Presley to the Rolling Stones to Halsey, African music is to thank for every decades’ ‘Top 40 Hits’ albums. However, it’s interesting to take a look at the music coming out of Africa right now. According to a BBC interview in 2015, Kenya is having quite a moment with country music, its biggest star being Sir Elvis, who brings the cowboy hat and boots to the Nairobi stage. In Nigeria, the emo/punk scene has been going strong since Evanescence’s album ‘My Immortal’ dropped 14 years ago (this comes from a 2016 True Africa article). The scene involves mixing cowboy culture with leather goth culture, and it looks fantastic (though perhaps inconvenient for the heat of Lagos). Finally, dance/pop music is having its moment with homegrown Ghanaian artist AZIZAA MYSTIC. When she featured in an episode of Christiane Amanpour’s ‘Love and Sex Around the World’ she showcased her unique style of mixing the taboo freedom of women’s sexuality and the old traditions of the Bushmen and tribal shaman mix into this electrifying audio experience, with brashly titled songs like ‘Adze Kolo (Voodoo Pussy)’ and ‘Black Magic Woman’. Stevie Nicks would be proud, AZIZAA MYSTIC cannot be recommended enough.
Finally, it’s worth mentioning jewelry. Though it could be argued that Indian (specifically Vedic) culture is the main inspiration behind plenty of popular necklaces, bracelets, and earrings of today, it would be a mistake to leave out the African influences that contribute to the best selling jewelry in our current marketplace. For instance, the popularity of gold in necklaces and rings is very African (think Mansa Musa). Gauges, the enlargement of a hole through the earlobe, with gradual widening, is a common practice in many African cultures. Actually, gauges (especially but not limited to lip gauges) became popular in Western coastal African cultures because it was seen as something the white invaders and slave traders found undesirable in women. The tradition evolved that the bigger the gauge, the ‘safer’ the woman was, and hence the custom began revolving around it as a rite of passage and a beauty ideal. All of this, of course, without mentioning the exploitation of African land and labor for the mining of precious jewels like rubies, sapphires, and of course, diamonds.
All in all, this is a long way of explaining that we may have lost touch with our African roots, through complete or no fault of our own, but that Africa has not lost touch with us. Africa, as it is portrayed today, is dilapidated metropolises, corrupt governments, and children running barefoot with no more than bones for their skin to cover. We see Africa as insulated, not part of the global equation, but that is a mistake. As Africa’s past has fueled our present, and our present has fueled Africa’s future, we mustn’t forget that there is no independent feature of our culture.
Unmentioned Sources:
- Lang, Andrew (2003). Myth, Ritual and Religion Part 1. Kessinger Publishing. ISBN 0–7661–5668–0.
- McNamee, Gregory (1996). A Desert Bestiary. Big Earth Publishing. ISBN 1–55566–176–9
- Solomon, Anne; Anne Lewis (1998). The Essential Guide to San Rock Art. New Africa Books. ISBN 0–86486–430–2.
