Yorùbá Bàtá Goes Global: Artists, Culture Brokers, and Fans

By Debra L. Klein

Responding to growing international interest in the Yor b culture of southwestern Nigeria, practitioners of b t --a centuries-old drumming, dancing, and singing tradition--have recast themselves as traditional performers in a global market. As the Nigerian market for ritual b t has been declining, international opportunities for performance have grown. Debra L. Klein's lively ethnography explores this disjunction, revealing the world of b t artists and the global culture market that helps to sustain their art.
Yor b B t Goes Global describes the dramatic changes and reinventions of traditional b t performance in recent years, showing how they are continually recreated, performed, and sold. Klein delves into the lives of Yor b musicians, focusing on their strategic collaborations with artists, culture brokers, researchers, and entrepreneurs worldwide. And she explores how reinvigorated performing ensembles are beginning to parlay success on the world stage into increased power and status within Nigeria. Klein's study of the interwoven roles of innovation and tradition will interest scholars of African, global, and cultural studies, anthropology, and ethnomusicology alike.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0226439542
• ISBN13: 9780226439549
• Release Date: October 2007
• Publisher: University of Chicago Press
• Length: 240 Pages
• Weight: 1.15 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 6.3" x 9.1"