Intonations tells the story of how Angola’s urban residents in the late colonial period (roughly 1945–74) used music to talk back to their colonial oppressors and, more importantly, to define what it meant to be Angolan and what they hoped to gain from independence. A compilation of Angolan music is included in CD format.Marissa
Marissa J. Moorman is a professor in the Department of African Cultural Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She is the author of Intonations: A Social History of Music and Nation in Luanda, Angola, 1945 to Recent Times. She is on the editorial board of Africa Is a Country, where she regularly writes about politics and culture.
“Through extensive interviews with singers and musicians and
archival materials that survived civil wars, this well-written,
engaging, and innovative study filled with illustrations,
informative footnotes, and an audio CD is an outstanding
contribution to the literature of independence movements. Summing
Up: Highly recommended.”
*CHOICE*
“If you’re a reluctant reader, do yourself a favour: buy a copy of
this elegantly written and engaging book and listen to the
fantastic CD included in the plastic sleeve at the back! Once
you’ve swayed and shimmied to some of the greats, including Urbano
de Castro, N’Gola Ritmos and Paulo Flores, you will be dying to
know more. Moorman doesn’t simply provide translations – often in
two languages – of her chosen tracks, she shares her meticulous
research to tell the story of how Angolans in Luanda’s shanty towns
used music to talk back to the colonisers. Her book is packed with
information drawn from national radio archives and many extensive
interviews with some of the country’s foremost musicians. An
academic historian, Moorman is a clean writer who has produced a
very compelling piece of work. I refer to Intonations as ‘my
bible’.”
*The I. B. Taurus Blog*
“Marissa J. Moorman presents a fascinating social and cultural
history of the relationship between Angolan culture and politics.
Intonations deals with the subversive possibilities of popular
music in Angola’s shantytowns during the struggle for
independence…. The writing is fresh, clever, and the argument
nuanced and layered….”
*World of Music*
“The book on the subject (of the role of music in the Angolan
independence movement.)”
*Afropop Worldwide*
“Intonations makes a significant contribution to our understanding
of how Angola became what it is today, and it also makes a serious
case for why popular music is political in surprising and
unsettling ways.”
*African Studies Review*
“The writing is fresh, tight, clever. The argument is nuanced and
layered. It’s analytical but also deeply personal. Intonations is a
provocative and compelling book.”
“This engaging and provocative study places urban Angolans at the
center of the freedom movement narrative by exploring the emergence
of the semba music scene in the musseques or shantytowns of
Luanda…. the CD alone is worth the cover price.”
*Oral History Review*
“Marissa Moorman convincingly demonstrates that culture not only
reflected, but was also constitutive of national identity. She
shows that ordinary folks and non-political elites played as big a
part in the construction of independent Angola as those involved in
the liberation struggle.…All in all, the book is clearly
structured, conscientiously produced, and provides true reading
pleasure.”
*Africa: Journal of the IAI*
“(Intonations) provides a precious glimpse of the golden age of
Angolan music. That age, which was crucial for the formation of
modern Angola, was characterized by a vigorous expansion of the
urban fabric, a notable cultural dynamic, and the formation of a
unique consciousness which manifested itself in the Angolan music
of which Marissa Moorman gives such a rich and detailed
account.”
*H-Luso-Africa*
“(Moorman) delves into the musical activities in the urban clubs
during the 15 years preceding independence. It is on these
activities that Moorman bases her case for a kind of movement
towards nation building that was parallel but fundamentally
distinct to the armed guerrilla struggle.”
*African Affairs*
“Moorman evokes the emergence and intense life of Luanda's late
colonial music scene with welcome depth, passion, and
precision.”
*American Historical Review*
“Moorman’s elegantly written history makes a significant
contribution to our understanding of Angolan music, history, and
nationalism.… The book will appeal especially to students in
African studies, African history, colonial and postcolonial
studies, and ethnomusicology, but the writing makes Intonations
accessible to audiences outside these specialties.”
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