“Mbas Mi”: Fighting COVID-19 Through Music in Senegal

2021/12/22 by Bamba Ndiaye, Margaret Rowley · 1 voice · 1 citation
Arts and Humanities · #Diverse Musicological Studies

paper · doi:10.1017/asr.2021.115

openalex publication_date 2021/12/22 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/06/11

Abstract

Abstract In the first two months of the COVID-19 pandemic, Senegalese musicians produced a large body of songs addressing the coronavirus. These songs engage with prophylaxes, symptoms, instructions in case of infection, and metaphysical conceptions about the origin and meaning of the pandemic. These songs are part of a national strategy aimed at containing and eradicating the coronavirus by developing “COVID-literacy”: knowledge about the pandemic which is spread through music. In this article, we examine a socio-local history of music’s use during health crises, its place in local religious communities, and how its use interlaces linguistic, traditional, and metaphysical tenets.

Cited by

• “More than Disease”: Uncovering the Economic, Social, and Political Consequences of Sierra Leone’s COVID-19 Pandemic

Discussions

• In this article, Bamba Ndiaye and Margaret Rowley show how Senegalese artists used rap, Afrobeat, mbalax, and other genres to spread COVID-literacy, debunk myths, and integrate metaphysical beliefs, p [bsky, 1 points, 0 comments]

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