The ethical preservation of Black music is an attempt at remembering our varied musical histories and treating such histories with respect. By sampling indigenous music and celebrating the impact of Black legacy acts, many artists are currently demonstrating the importance of preserving, understanding or displaying an interest in the musical contexts which inform their work.
Music, like other art forms, is created to be shared, and for centuries, indigenous forms of music and culture have been carried across the Atlantic and back, creating a cyclical exchange between the African continent and its diaspora. However, the rise in music streaming platforms, as well as the uptake of music plugins on social media, means that African music is now disseminated on a scale previously difficult to imagine. When Wizkid triumphantly declared ‘My music travel no visa,’ on his 2011 song, ‘No Lele,’ even he could scarcely have imagined just how big Afrobeats (and by extension himself) would become globally within the next decade.
Although the migration of Black music continues to shape and inform the continuous engagement between varied Black cultures across the world, it equally raises concerns regarding the ‘ethical preservation’ of Black music and whether or not this is even possible...
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