Making-Do from Mozambique: Rethinking musical modernity through World Music 2.1

Authors

  • Guillermo de Llera Blanes

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.15847/cea49.43057

Keywords:

Making-Do, Word Music 2.1, Remix Circularity, Mozambique, postcolonialism, cultural heritage

Abstract

This article examines contemporary music-making in Mozambique through three interconnected concepts: Making-Do, World Music 2.1 (WM 2.1), and Remix Circularity. It argues that Mozambican musicians engage in sonic worlding shaped by structural constraint, cultural memory, and improvisational use of technology. Drawing on long-term ethnographic fieldwork, audiovisual documentation, and practice-based research conducted between 2018 and 2025, the analysis examines how these dynamics unfold across regions and collaborations. Making-Do describes practices of reuse and hybridization rooted in scarcity and local knowledge. WM 2.1 captures the integration of traditional instruments and aesthetics into electronic and hybrid forms. Remix Circularity theorizes the glocal feedback loops through which sound circulates between tradition and innovation. Case studies including Dilon Djinji, Artista Mil-Quinhento & Conjunto Popombo de Nampula, May Mbira, and Maneto — illustrate how Mozambican music enacts resilience and multi-territorial creativity. The article concludes by calling for ethical reflection on commodification and support in the global sound economy.

Downloads

Published

2026-03-05

Issue

No. 49 (2025): Sonic Revolutions [OnlineFirst]

Section

OnlineFirst

License

Copyright (c) 2026 Cadernos de Estudos Africanos

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

I authorize the publication of the submitted article/review of which I am the author.

I also declare that this article is original, that it has not been published in any other way, and that I exclusively assign the publication rights to the journal Cadernos de Estudos Africanos. Reproduction of the article, in whole or in part, in other publications or on other media is subject to the prior authorization of the publisher Centro de Estudos Internacionais do Iscte - Instituto Universitário de Lisboa.