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Color of a Band
Afro-Hoosier International Puts a New Face on Music
By Derek Smith
It was Brad Nowell of the band Sublime who said “good music is good music, and that should be enough for anybody.” These words reflect an industry in which “good music” assumes a variety of appearances and warn not to judge a book - or record - by its cover. In Bloomington, Ind., one group defies the traditional perceptions associated with the popular music of Africa, or afropop. They are Afro-Hoosier International, and every Monday evening at their weekly rehearsals they put a new face on afropop, the face of a middle-aged white man.
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Photo courtesy of Afro-Hoosier International Afro-Hoosier International Band |
“Afropop is our passion,” said Afro-Hoosier International
co-founder Robert Port. “We all love making music and have a great
time playing together . . . Music is one of the few things that
doesn’t discriminate.”
Port, a Caucasian linguistics and computer science professor at IU, started the band with friend and fellow professor Mike Gasser.
In a time when the musical preference of suburban white America
leans toward mainstream genres like rap and R&B, it may not be surprising
to learn that the purer sound of contemporary African music has developed
a non-African following. Afropop groups perform all over the world and
some of the more popular artists like Angelique Kidjo, the acclaimed first
lady of afropop, have record sales in the hundred thousands. Services
like Afropop Worldwide, a public radio series distributed by PRI to more
than 100 stations in the United Statues, are also helping popular African
music spread to a diverse audience.
“The world is getting smaller, and we’re in each other’s
faces more which makes a lot of people curious about other cultures,”
said Daniel Reed of Indiana University’s Archives of Traditional
Music. “People have always been drawn to the exotic, and its not
surprising that African music is crossing racial boundaries as well as
geographic ones.”
Afro-Hoosier International draws on a rich blend of African
music in their rendition of Nigerian juju, west African makossa and other
native styles. Dressed in their traditional African garb and armed with
a variety of instruments from electrical guitars to saxophones, the group
may seem “curious” to many mid-westerners. Still, they seem
to need no explanation.
“We play what we like, and we happen to like African beats and rhythms,”
said Port.
“Robert and I both worked in Africa with the Peace Corps. and grew
to like the music. Its what was available to us,” said co-founder
Mike Gasser. “When I came back, no one was interested in the music
over here. You used to have to go to New York to get a record. I had to
listen to Afropop Worldwide and record songs on cassette.”
| CD suggestions from Afro-Hoosier International _____________________ Congo-Style Kwassa Kwassa Africa Worldwide East-African Style Spirit of the Eagle Roots Rock Guitar Party West Africa - West Amen Set Baayo West Africa - East Juju Music South Africa South African Rhythm Riot |
Fortunately
for avid listeners, the quest to find good African music is much easier.
Now more diverse music stores and online venues like Amazon.com and artist’s
websites help listeners in their search.
“Here in Bloomington, you can buy scores of CDs,” said Port.
“Borders has 30 to 50 CDs of afropop at any given time. Now there
are American companies that make collections of African music . . . Putumayo,
the company that started the world music trend, has probably been the
most influential in the spread of African music.”
Putumayo World Music has been distributing popular African
music since 1993, according to Putumayo
publicist Tesfa Clacken.
“Afropop was included in our first compilation
CD, “The Best of World Music,” and since then we have signed
artists like Ricardo Lembo from the Congo and Habib Koite from Mali because
of the genre’s growing popularity,” Clacken explained.
Putumayo’s CD’s are carried by big retailers like Barnes & Noble and Virgin, but most are sold in more than 4,000 specialty stores in over 50 countries. Since 1993, Putumayo has produced more than 100 albums as interest in world music continues to grow. Their 2003 Record sales had an increase of 20 percent to $13 million just from the previous year. Most of the revenue generated from the sale of afropop records is to be found outside of its native continent. According to Reed, afropop is much more lucrative in North America and Europe than it is in Africa.
“People in Europe and the United States have
much more disposable income than the people in Africa,” he said.
“The most successful afropop artists are the ones that live and
work outside of their homeland.”
Although there are no active African members in Afro-Hoosier
International, the group has had four African members in the past. According
to the band, the African community in Bloomington doesn’t seem to
mind their lack of ethnicity.
“A couple of our members were perturbed when our African members
quit,” said Gasser. “It didn’t bother me, because I
really didn’t care how we looked. I don’t think [the African
community] cares. They just seem to like the music.”
“It doesn’t seem to bother them,” Port added. “We’re not trying to Americanize African music. We try to make it sound as much like the original as possible, but its not going to be an exact duplicate no matter what we do. Its hard to sound African when you’re not African. ”
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| Photo courtesy of Afro-Hoosier International Afro-Hoosier International with fans after show |
Although it hasn’t appeared on any American top 10 charts, afropop has developed a substantial following in the United States, which continues to grow. Though they aren’t African, Afro-Hoosier International cannot be discredited from having “good music” just because of their appearance. Bloomington, Indiana may seem far removed from the distant continent of Africa, but within this Midwestern university town is a modest group of musicians continuing to thrive on the influence of African music.
For additional information on afropop take a look at these websites:
Designed and edited by Lauren McLean
Page Layout and Edited By: Lauren McLean, Story Written By: Derek Smith