A creative collision?

Abstract

Abstract by author:

This study investigates the historical background and contemporary cultural interaction between Finnish missionaries and Owambo people in northern Namibia. It aims at finding answers to important questions on the nature, structure, history and contextual meanings of contemporary music in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Namibia (ELCIN). What effects did the Finnish missionaries have as music educators in the interaction between the music they represented and the local musical practices? How were they equipped to meet a foreign culture and what were the underlying factors in the missionary approaches to local customs?

This study posits the theory that, while there were cultural collisions, the end result was bi-directionally creative, contributing to the birth of new musical phenomena. It uses backwards historical projection to discuss the reception and creative assimilation of the western musical influence into Owambo culture. Musicological analysis of original field gathered materials reveals that the characteristics of the free communal harmonisation technique appearing in the ELCIN music today derive partially from the indigenous Owambo vocal music and partially from the western four part harmonic concept. It shows how new habits of Christian congregational singing and choir music have become popular forms of music making in Namibia today

The musical result of the 'creative collision' underscores the creativity and the dynamic nature of culture, which undergoes continuous transformation but emerges renewed