African Folklore: An Encyclopedia - Marshalls University

African folklore 704
The producers belonged to the urban masses. They generally had some basic general
education, and were either self-taught or trained by practicing colleagues in their field.
They shared the same social and cultural background with their clients, audience, and
fans.
The urban environment, spreading more and more to the countryside, forms the
location where popular theater thrives, but it also forms the subject of many different
forms of popular art. In songs, plays, and paintings, people deal with aspects of living in
the city and all the complications that come with it.
In this close relation to social and economic development, popular history has a
specific history. Many early outbursts of popular art forms started in the early decades of
the twentieth century, sometimes even in the nineteenth century. But it was especially in
the years after World War II that African popular culture matured. The economic growth
in the cities was relatively high then, the war itself had shown the colonial powers to be
more vulnerable than previously thought, and independence seemed a viable possibility.
Popular culture thrived in the 1960s and 1970s. In the following decades, the influence of
mass media became more noticeable, changing the character of popular culture in a
possibly decisive way.
This was also the era of a growing feeling of national and continental pride. Black
intellectuals and political leaders stressed, in articles and speeches, the concepts of
negritude (particularly Leopold Senghor), black consciousness (Kwame Nkrumah), and
later Authenticite (Sese-Seko Mobutu). This growth of awareness led to an emphasis on
traditional African heritage.
Visual Arts
The visual popular arts in Africa are dominated by painting. The choice for this medium
was in itself an expression of modernity, as it was relatively new in the African context. It
involved the use of new materials such as boards and canvas, brushes, and imported
paints in many bright colors. Several painters were active before World War II, but
painting became a serious affair only in the 1950s when materials were more readily
available and a class of people emerged that could afford to buy or commission paintings
for purposes of commercial advertising, public decoration, or private contemplation.
Painted signs for commercial advertising were directly linked with urbanization and
the growth of economic activities. Countless people set up small enterprises in the
informal economy that dominated many areas, especially West Africa. They needed to
underline their presence, due both to competition and the need to establish their
individuality. Painters fulfilled their needs. These were, of course, small businessmen
themselves, usually self-taught, who drew their models from photographs, magazine
pictures, calendars, and posters. Barber signs were seen everywhere. These were painted
advertisements made for small-scale barbers who set up under a tree and needed
something to draw attention to their business. This grew into a large field of indigenous
portraiture, with a mixed message. The main idea was to draw attention to the barber, but
it drew attention to the capacities of the painter as well. At the same time it reflected
contemporary fashion and hairstyles, and showed how people saw themselves. Other