“African Music is Global Music”

On Teaching Global Music in Nigeria and Making Historical Global Music in Boston

  • Michael Birenbaum Quintero
  • Samuel Ajose

Abstract

This conversation is between Samuel Ajose, who teaches at the University of Ibadan, Nigeria, and Michael Birenbaum Quintero, who teaches at Boston University, United States. The interlocutors parse  “global” and “global music history” from their own perspectives within different institutional and regional contexts as ethnomusicologists and teachers. Ajose and Birenbaum Quintero discuss how they apply global and historical dimensions to teaching in their respective positions and how they have come to include community music-making outside the university to fulfil their pedagogical commitment.

Author Biographies

Michael Birenbaum Quintero

Michael Birenbaum Quintero is an ethnomusicologist and Associate Professor of Music at Boston University. He chairs the Musicology & Ethnomusicology Department and teaches in African American, Latin American, and New England & American Studies.  He writes mostly about the politics of Afro-Latin American music and collaborates with musicians and communities.

Samuel Ajose

Samuel Ajose is a Leventis fellow, SOAS London, and currently serves as the Head of the Department of Music, University of Ibadan, Nigeria, where he teaches Music Appreciation, History of Western Music, and Music Education. His research intersects Christian popular music, Yoruba Pentecostalism, and church music education.

Published
2023-11-02
Section
Special Issue: Teaching Global Music History: Practices and Challenges