BLACK VOICES

This is not a book, it is a weapon: the musical insurrection that casts off the chains of history, shaking the foundations of the present. The voice of the oppressed. An exploration of African sounds, from the first notes produced by early instruments to the legacy of hip hop.

An exploration of the African musical universe, its origins, characteristics, links with Western musics, including cultural, political, and ideological movements and analysis of the dignity, depth, currency, and beauty of Blackness. A cross between reporting and reflection filled with the most relevant and popular names, plus the political and social particularities surrounding the music of Sub-Saharan nations. An overview from the first notes produced by early instruments to the inherited legacy of present-day hip hop. Black Voices is a sonic journey through the complex history of Africa, a wild symphony that speaks to its musical depth and the cultural exploitation and pillaging that it has endured for centuries. Tania Safura Adam explores how enslavement, colonialism, the rise of modernity, the battles for independence, and Pan-Africanism have shaped and reconfigured the continent's melodic imaginary. A journey brimming with rhythms, voices, rebels, and visionaries, and which has left an indelible mark on the trajectory of popular musics. Tania Safura Adam (Maputo, Mozambique, 1979) is a curator and researcher. She is the founder of and editor at Radio Africa, a cultural platform for critical thinking and dissemination of Black arts and cultures. Her work explores Black diasporas, migrations and African music. She has curated the exhibitions "Microhistories of the Diaspora: 'Embodied' Experiences of Female Dispersion" (La Virreina 2018-2019) and "Blue Black Futures" (MACBA, 2022). She spearheaded the activities program for "Making Africa: A Continent of Contemporary Design" (CCCB, 2016). Her poetry has appeared in the anthologies Africa(na)s: Historias para el siglo XXI (2709 books, 2023) and in Concreta 22: «Maternidad: Un sufrimiento exquisite» (Concreta, 2023). She is currently leading the research project España Negra. Viaje hacia la negritud en el espacio-tiempo (Museo Reina Sofía, MACBA, Artium, CCCB, IVAM), the Iberian Black Studies Research Group at the Museo Reina Sofia, and the program "Radio Africa" on Betevé. She recently published Voces negras: una historia oral de las músicas populares africanas (Malpaso, 2024).