Language Syncretism and the Expression of Youth Identities in Zimbabwe Urban Grooves Music

Abstract

The Zimbabwe urban grooves music is an urban contemporary musical genre that fuses local and global rhythms and beats and is popular with youth. Afro diasporic genres such as Jamaican dancehall and the Euro-American rap and rhythm and blues (R&B) are appropriated by the youthful artists who sing predominantly in local languages (Shona and Ndebele) about the lived Zimbabwean experiences. Despite the dominant vernacular lyrics, there is a significant fusion of the vernacular languages and English language. The artists also employ figures of speech drawn from vernacular proverbs, idioms, and contemporary Zimbabwean experiences as well as global cultural practices. Thus, language syncretism is a notable characteristic feature of urban grooves. The language syncretism also involves “lexical innovation” as musicians resist limitations of formal grammatical rules of both the local Zimbabwean languages and English; hence, there is a prominent use of slang in urban grooves. This article examines the role of language syncretism in urban grooves musical lyrics. The discussion postulates that there is a remarkable interaction between language syncretism in urban grooves music and Zimbabwean youth experiences and identities which are significantly shaped by the intersection between local and global encounters.

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