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Couching Political Criticism in Humor: The Case of Musical Parodies of the Military in Cameroon and Congo-Brazzaville

Couching Political Criticism in Humor: The Case of Musical Parodies of the Military in Cameroon and Congo-Brazzaville

Lyombe S. Eko
Copyright: © 2019 |Pages: 21
ISBN13: 9781522572954|ISBN10: 1522572953|EISBN13: 9781522572961
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-5225-7295-4.ch005
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MLA

Eko, Lyombe S. "Couching Political Criticism in Humor: The Case of Musical Parodies of the Military in Cameroon and Congo-Brazzaville." Music and Messaging in the African Political Arena, edited by Uche T. Onyebadi, IGI Global, 2019, pp. 87-107. https://doi.org/10.4018/978-1-5225-7295-4.ch005

APA

Eko, L. S. (2019). Couching Political Criticism in Humor: The Case of Musical Parodies of the Military in Cameroon and Congo-Brazzaville. In U. Onyebadi (Ed.), Music and Messaging in the African Political Arena (pp. 87-107). IGI Global. https://doi.org/10.4018/978-1-5225-7295-4.ch005

Chicago

Eko, Lyombe S. "Couching Political Criticism in Humor: The Case of Musical Parodies of the Military in Cameroon and Congo-Brazzaville." In Music and Messaging in the African Political Arena, edited by Uche T. Onyebadi, 87-107. Hershey, PA: IGI Global, 2019. https://doi.org/10.4018/978-1-5225-7295-4.ch005

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Abstract

This chapter analyzes the music of two military bands: Zangalewa of Cameroon and Zao of Congo-Brazzaville. Zangalewa is the marching band of the presidential guard in Cameroon. Part of its “Suffering Soldier's Medley,” a self-deprecating military entertainment piece, was actually a subtle politico-cultural parody, couched in jester's garb, that lampoons the brutal and oppressive Cameroon army. For its part, Zao is a “pseudo military” band, a civilian band that adopted a military persona and uses subtle satire couched in humor to critique the military and militarism. The author analyzes the politico-cultural contexts and lyrics of both bands within the framework of metaphorical couching, the embedment of messages in humor. Both bands couched criticism of the authorities in humor and African metaphors, sayings, and proverbs expressed in a mixture of English, French, pidgin, and African dialects to bypass censorious gatekeepers.

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