Self-glorification in Zimdancehall and Sungura Music

Master's Thesis from the year 2016 in the subject Literature - Africa, grade: 1, Midlands State University, course: MA African Languages, language: English, abstract: This study pursues the struggle for space voice and recognition in Zimdancehall and Sungura music. In this study, intense interest has been on names and metaphorical constructs of self-glorification in Zimdancehall and Sungura music. It established that artists deploy metaphorical constructs and nommoic creativity in the struggle for space, voice and authority. It is inspired by the growing interests in boasts in Zimbabwean music. Informed and guided by Afrocentricity, the study holds that artists are using nicknames to glorify themselves as a strategy of winning the hearts of the audience.

The study argues that boasts are not new in the Shona culture and they are as old as language itself. It is argued and maintained in the study that Zimdancehall and the Sungura musicians are tapping from African cultural heritage to express individuality in a competitive industry. Metaphors, imagery and nicknames are deployed in the struggle for prominence.