Ritual roles of “African nights” DJs in Lisbon

Abstract

The objective of this paper is to explore the diverse roles performed by the DJs working at the so-called “African nights” of Lisbon. Based on a three-year ethnography, the reflection starts from a dialogue with the literature on Electronic Dance Music DJs for comparing both these cultures. The social encounters at these “African” parties are analysed as a contemporary secular ritual in which participants negotiate relevant categories of social belonging and each individual´s place in a postcolonial social structure through dancing. In this context, the socialization processes on the dancefloor take place through the music chosen, produced and mixed by specialized actors: the DJs. As experts in musical symbols efficient for the ritual, they are responsible for the community across several facets. First, they choose and convoke participants in such a way that they influence the ethnic structuring of the night. Second, they guide their emotional states along the night, making them pass through a series of phases until reaching the ritual climax so that the ritual becomes efficient. Third, they facilitate the networking process among community members, acting as society builders. In conclusion, these DJs play a highly important role in the structuring of postcolonial society.

Cite this work

No public copy is stored for this record, so only the metadata is cited.

Stored only when both papers are in the corpus — 6 citations exist upstream.

Papers that cite the same references — the relational fallback while embeddings are still backfilling.