Musicalizing heritage and heritagizing music for enhancing community awareness of preserving world heritage sites in Africa

Abstract

For the past two centuries or so, education systems in Africa have changed from parental- to school-based training. With this pedagogical shift, children and young people are mentored using school curricula that say very little about the cultural heritage sites in the community in which they were born and raised. Heritage research outputs, such as books and articles in international journals, cannot be accessed by local people. If they do manage to access these publications, the content is too technical for them to understand the central arguments. Consequently, local people, especially teenagers and young adults, have little awareness of the scientific interpretation of heritage sites and their associated value. The question remains as to what methods could be used to make young people appreciate cultural heritage sites and hence collectively engage in heritage preservation projects. Using Tanzania’s ‘Bongo Flava’ (BF) music as a case study, this paper provides empirical evidence of how music could be used to make people aware of the value of heritage sites in Africa. We report that BF music at Kilwa Kisiwani World Heritage Site in Tanzania is continuing to motivate young people to develop an interest in preserving monuments and to participate in conservation initiatives.