Kumpolo: Aesthetic Appreciation and Cultural Appropriation of Bird Sounds in Tanzania

Abstract

This article deals with the aesthetics of the sounds of ring-necked doves and African ground hornbills among the Wawanji people of the Iringa region in the southern highlands of Tanzania. The Wawanji composed tunes by imitating the sounds of these birds. The essay argues that an aesthetic value was culturally attributed to the natural sounds of the birds, in so far as the lyrics set to these tunes and tales about the birds or their sounds concerned human experiences such as fear, work, joy, and hope.

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