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REAL LOVE VERSUS REAL LIFE: YOUTH, MUSIC AND UTOPIA IN FREETOWN, SIERRA LEONE

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 April 2016

Michael Stasik
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Abstract

The most popular music among youths in Sierra Leone's capital Freetown is music dealing with love. While the music, which is mainly of foreign origin, evokes idealized images of ‘real love’, the real-life relationships of its young audiences are characterized by chronic states of emotional uncertainty and dissatisfaction. Economic disparities lead to an increasing monetization of young people's relationships, driving them either into a fragile flux of multiple partners or out of intimate engagements altogether. Taking this ‘dissonance’ between sonic representations and social relations as a point of departure, in this article I explore the ways in which young Freetonians position themselves at the juncture of desire and reality. After an introduction to Freetown's contemporary music scene, I juxtapose various life and love stories of youths with the fantasies they invest in ‘love music’. In so doing, I discuss the complex relationships between affect, exchange, deprivation and the strictures involved in attaining social adulthood. Drawing on the notion of utopia – denoting a desired yet unattainable state – I argue that it is within the experiential gap between the consumption of a representation and the desire to live (up to) that representation that Freetown's youths rework their horizons of possibilities.

Résumé

La musique la plus populaire chez les jeunes de Freetown, la capitale du Sierra Leone, est celle qui parle d’amour. Alors que cette musique essentiellement d’origine étrangère évoque des images idéalisées de « l’amour vrai », les relations que vit son jeune public au quotidien sont caractérisées par des états chroniques d’incertitude et d’insatisfaction affectives. Les disparités économiques conduisent à une monétisation croissante des relations des jeunes, qui les entraîne dans un flux fragile de partenaires multiples ou les laisse en dehors de tout rapport intime. Prenant comme point de départ cette « dissonance » entre représentations soniques et rapports sociaux, cet article explore la manière dont les jeunes de Freetown se positionnent à la charnière entre le désir et la réalité. Après avoir présenté la scène musicale contemporaine de Freetown, l’auteur juxtapose des histoires de vie et d’amour de jeunes aux fantasmes qu’ils investissent dans la « musique d’amour ». Ce faisant, il débat des relations complexes entre l’affect, l’échange, la privation et les restrictions qu’implique l’expérience d’atteindre l’état adulte social. S’appuyant sur la notion d’utopie, qui dénote un état inaccessible pourtant désiré, l’auteur soutient que c’est dans la fracture expérientielle entre la consommation d’une représentation et le désir de vivre (à la hauteur de) cette représentation que les jeunes de Freetown reforgent leurs horizons de possibilités.

Type
Youth, Love and Popular Music
Information
Africa , Volume 86 , Issue 2 , May 2016 , pp. 215 - 236
Copyright
Copyright © International African Institute 2016 

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