Pan-African resonance : music, migration, and everyday practice in London and Accra / Alison Okuda.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Okuda, Alison, author.

Series:

New African histories series

New African histories

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Pan-Africanism--History--20th century.

Pan-Africanism.

Music--Caribbean Area.

Music.

Music--Great Britain.

Music--Africa.

Emigration and immigration.

African diaspora.

Physical Description:

1 online resource : illustrations (some color), maps.

Other Title:

Music, migration, and everyday practice in London and Accra

Place of Publication:

Athens, Ohio : Ohio University Press, [2026]

Summary:

"As African and Caribbean nations gained independence from Britain in the 1950s and 1960s, many young musicians, students, and professionals crossed the Atlantic in search of new opportunities and built vibrant communities. Pan-African Resonance: Music, Migration, and Everyday Practice in London and Accra traces these journeys from Ghana, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, Saint Lucia, Barbados, and Guyana, exploring how migrants practiced pan-Africanism through music across continents and generations. Drawing on musical recordings, newspapers, oral histories, and government documents from six countries, Alison Okuda demonstrates that pan-African solidarity thrived through the everyday creation and enjoyment of popular music. The book unfolds in two parts. Starting in the 1950s, it examines how Ghanaian highlife and Trinidadian calypso brought together musicians and young members of the independence generation, first in London and later in Accra. Even amid cultural tensions, Ghanaian and Caribbean communities expressed aspirations for freedom and unity in nightclubs, recording studios, private homes, and public streets. Before Ghana's 1966 coup d'etat, Ghanaians and diasporic Africans collaborated to shape an independent African-Atlantic world. Although the coup disrupted formal Pan-Africanist organizing, in the second part of the book Okuda shows that in the 1970s a new generation sustained dynamic networks of solidarity through highlife, reggae, and other popular styles-heard in recordings, radio broadcasts, live performances, and community events. Influenced by generational change and musical fluidity, African diasporic unity has remained central to popular music, migration, and politics in Ghana and the wider African-Atlantic world into the twenty-first century. Offering a rich interdisciplinary approach, Pan-African Resonance will appeal to readers interested in popular culture, transnational history, diaspora studies, and modern African history"-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Migration and Music in African-Atlantic London, 1946-1962

Nation Building, Homecoming, and Musical Reverberation in Accra, 1940s-1966

Highlife and Calypso

Pan-African Music-Making in Accra, 1950s-1966

Making New Music for a New Generation

Black London, 1962-1980

Nation, Gender, and Music in Post-Nkrumah Accra, 1966-1980

"African Music on African Land"

Reggae and Accra's Pan-African Music, 1966-1980.

Notes:

Some online versions lack accompanying media packaged with the printed version.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on online resource; title from digital title page (JSTOR, viewed on August 28, 2026).

Other Format:

Print version: Okuda, Alison,. Pan-African resonance .

ISBN:

9780821427026

0821427024

OCLC:

1594050122

Access Restriction:

Restricted for use by site license