A Multimodal Warning. How West African Singers Address the Dangers of Irregular Migration
Gardy Stein
Abstract: Migration is a ubiquitous subject, not only as part of human history in general, but also due to the intensified international mobility of our times. While discussions about causes and effects of migration dominate politics and society, the arts make a much more quiet contribution. Highlighting the contribution from postcolonial West African contexts, this article discusses how the topic of migration is addressed in contemporary pop music, comparing the output of musicians across different genres. Focusing on artists that encourage return migration to Africa or warn against the dangers of irregular migration, the study analyses which frames their lyrics and visuals evoke. Additionally, it examines the comments of recipients on YouTube to discover instances of agreement and disagreement with the views expressed by the singers. To allow for an emic perspective, interviews with the artists are also taken into consideration, making their experiences, concerns, and suggestions be heard.
Keywords: irregular migration, West African music, West African reggae, multimodal discourse analysis