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THE BRANDED ARENA: UGANDAN ‘TRADITIONAL’ DANCE IN THE MARKETING ERA

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 July 2011

David Pier
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Abstract

Brand marketing in its latest global advances offers ideologies of public participation and the audience–‘provider’ relationship that many in the developing world are finding compelling, even when consumer capitalism fails to produce its promised rewards immediately. Strategies of ‘branding’ are being explored in combination with older performance strategies, with new syncretic branded arenas emerging as a result. In Africa, music and dance have always been important for establishing certain arenas and mediating transactions within them. In the era of post-independence nationalism, ‘traditional’ dances were itemized and made more disciplined and spectacular to give new states an aura of inclusiveness, rigour and historical depth. As the image of a powerful African state declines, these same dance traditions are being hitched to commercial brands, and to the globalized consumerist/entreprenurial dream. This article considers the Senator National Cultural Extravaganza, an annual traditional music-and-dance competition sponsored by East Africa Breweries Ltd, which requires participants to compose ‘local’ songs and dances in praise of Senator Extra Lager. It focuses on the spatial and temporal architectures of events and the way these channel, and are complicated by, the energies and significances of dance. The ‘textbook’ brand–consumer relationship does not, it is argued, survive wholly intact.

Résumé

Dans ses dernières évolutions mondiales, le marketing de la marque présente des idéologies de participation publique et la relation public-fournisseur que beaucoup dans les pays en développement trouvent séduisante, même lorsque le capitalisme de consommation ne produit pas immédiatement les gratifications promises. L'article examine les stratégies de marque en parallèle avec des stratégies de spectacle plus anciennes, un examen dont émerge de nouveaux champs de marque syncrétiques. En Afrique, la musique et la danse ont toujours été importantes pour la mise en place de certains champs et la médiation des transactions au sein de ces champs. À l'époque du nationalisme post-indépendance, les danses « traditionnelles » ont été répertoriées et ont gagné en discipline et en spectaculaire pour donner aux nouveaux États un air d'ouverture, de rigueur et de richesse historique. Au fur et à mesure que décline l'image de l'État africain puissant, ces mêmes traditions de danse sont hissées au rang de marques commerciales, et de rêve consumériste/entrepreneurial globalisé. Cet article examine un concours annuel de musiques et danses traditionnelles parrainé par East Africa Breweries Ltd., intitulé Senator National Cultural Extravaganza, qui demande aux participants de composer des chansons et des danses « locales » louant les qualités de la bière Senator Extra Lager. Il se concentre sur les architectures spatiales et temporelles des manifestations et sur la façon dont celles-ci canalisent (et sont complexifiées par) les énergies et les dimensions de la danse. La relation marque-consommateur « classique » n'en ressort pas tout à fait indemne, selon l'auteur.

Type
Research Article
Information
Africa , Volume 81 , Issue 3 , August 2011 , pp. 413 - 433
Copyright
Copyright © International African Institute 2011

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