Barbara Alge (Frankfurt): “Transoceanic Exchange in the Music of São Tomé and Príncipe” | Transoceanic Exchanges

Tuesday, 16 December 2025, 2pm-4pm CET
Campus Westend, Hörsaalzentrum, room HZ 8

Co-organised by Prof. Dr. Nadia Butt and Prof. Dr. Barbara Alge, funded by ZIAF.

The lecture series is part of the Forum of Global Anglophone Literatures and Cultures.

Barbara Alge (University of Frankfurt, Germany)

This lecture looks at musical phenomena resulting from colonial and postcolonial encounters and transactions of the small African twin-island state São Tomé and Príncipe with Portugal, Cape Verde, mainland Africa, the Caribbean and Brazil. Different moments in the music history of São Tomé and Príncipe are selected based on different sources such as ethnographies and archival documents dating back as far as the 19th century, a corpus of sheet music from the first half of the 20th century, interviews with local musicians carried out through fieldwork onsite and virtually by the presenter since 2017 as well as current musical production on the island. We will learn how, in different moments of the history of this island state, which reached its independence from Portugal in 1975, cultural networks in and out of the country as well as certain musical styles shaped musical production. Local musical genres and styles being looked at do not only include the most popular classified as “national” and “ethnic markers” such as Socopé, Tchiloli, Ússua, Bulauê, Puíta, Danço Congo, Quina, Tafua and Dexa, but also Lundum, Duala, Marcha, Tango, Bolero, One-Step, Samba, Samba-Socopé, Puxa, Rumba, Cumbia, Merengue, Zouk, Morna, Coladeira, Reggae, Kizomba, Cadence, Música Sertaneja and Rap. The lecture argues that transoceanic exchange in Santomean music can not only be traced back to aesthetic choices, but first and foremost to political reasons and reasons of economic exchange. Through the lens of musical phenomena the lecture thus gives insight into the political and economic history of this African island state.

Bio Note:

Barbara Alge is Professor in Ethnomusicology at Goethe University Frankfurt. She has held a junior professorship at the University of Music and Theatre Rostock and guest professorships at the Federal University of Minas Gerais (Brazil) and the University of Vienna. Her research interests include music, dance and postcolonial identity construction in the Portuguese-speaking world with a special focus on Portugal, Minas Gerais and São Tomé and Príncipe.