Composing Afropolitanism: Music in the Feature Films of Abderrahmane Sissako

Abstract

Abderrahmane Sissako’s films are among the most renowned African films in Europe, winning many awards, including a César for Best Original Music. Although his work gained much attention from African studies scholars and film scholars alike, the music within Sissako’s films is hardly spoken of, let alone analysed under a single theoretical concept. The difficulty here lies in the fact that Sissako’s filmmaking goes against classical film aesthetics; he presents multiple non-related narratives in one film and does not construct a certain time and space. Furthermore, his choice of music is quite peculiar. We find a string quintet of Schubert side by side with African jeliya and a French folksong; Chinese karaoke is paired with Afro-Cuban standards. However, this sounds somehow very logical and familiar to both Western and African audiences. This has to do with the fact that Sissako’s films articulate what Achille Mbembe terms “the presence of the elsewhere in the here and vice versa.”‑ This type of awareness called Afropolitanism 1 has been brought up in connection with the narrative, but never used as a concept to analyse the music, which leads to the question: in what ways is Afropolitanism applicable to the (use of) music in Abderrahmane Sissako’s feature films La Vie sur Terre (1998), Heramakono (2002), Bamako (2006) and Timbuktu (2014)? By using a combination of Michel Chion’s audiovisual analysis method, Michael Pisani’s theory on the functions of film music, and an explanation in terms of Afropolitanism, we can provide answers to the question above. In this thesis I argue that the music within Sissako’s films comments on the Afropolitan discourse, either by musical style or song text. Afropolitanism clarifies the representation and reception of music in Sissako’s films and seems to be the underlying objective of other film readings as well.