The Metamorphosis of Performance: Oral Heritage and Medial Transformation in Kanywood Video Films

Abstract

Die Studie definiert und analysiert Kanywood-Videofilme kritisch, wobei ein besonderer Schwerpunkt auf Quellen der mündlichen Literatur und Performancepraxis liegt. Per Definition steht Kanywood sowohl für Filmindustrie als auch für in Nordnigeria produzierten Videofilme. Die Studie hält an "Kanywood" als dem für die Branche geprägten Label fest. Der Literaturüberblick zeigt, dass die Aneignung von Bollywood-Filmmustern durch Kanywood-Filmemacher übermäßig untersucht wurde. Bisherige Untersuchungen im Bereich des re-enactment oraler Hausa-Performance in Kanywood-Videofilmen sind hingegen unzureichend. Die vorliegende Studie füllt mit ihrer Untersuchung der Transformation der Hausa-Kultur im Medium Film aufgrund der Globalisierung und im Kontext traditioneller Performance-Künste diese Lücke, und fügt so den bestehenden Arbeiten über Kanywood eine innovative Forschungsperspektive hinzu. Im theoretischen Rahmen von Performance Studies und mit der gründlichen Analyse eines ausgewählten Korpus zeigt die Studie, wie der Videofilm als Medium wichtiger sozialer und kultureller Veränderungen gesehen wird. Er ist nicht nur ein Gegenstand anhand dessen die Erforschung des Konzepts einer transzendierenden Globalisierung möglich ist, sondern auch ein Weg, um zu verstehen, wie die Gesellschaft sich unter bestimmten sich wandelnden Umständen verändert. Während die allgemein zugrunde liegende Frage lautet, ob Kultur statisch ist oder nicht, verhandelt die Studie dabei die spezifischen Fragen, inwiefern Performances während des Filmemachens neu inszeniert und neu gerahmt werden, und inwieweit traditionell kodierte Performance-Ereignisse im Videofilm verändert, subvertiert und/oder bereichert werden. Die Studie empfiehlt die Ästhetik von Filmsprache als ein Gebiet weiterführender Forschung, stellt heraus, dass Imitation, Adaptation und Aneignung zirkulierender künstlerischer Formen ein globale Phänomene sind, die auf Intertextualität beruhen, erklärt, dass Kultur nicht statisch, sondern dynamisch ist, und kommt zu dem Schluss, dass es angemessener ist, Videofilme und Filmemacher durch das Paradigma der kulturellen Hybridität und Modernisierung zu betrachten, da sie die kulturelle Verschiebung, Transformation und Veränderung im Zeitalter der Globalisierung fördern.

The study identifies and critically analyses Kanywood video films with particular emphasis on sources in oral literature and performance practices. By way of definition, Kanywood stands for both the film industry and video films produced in northern Nigeria. The study sticks to “Kanywood” as the label coined for the industry. However, “Kannywood” with the consonant cluster, as in Hollywood, Bollywood and Nollywood is a variant label, which some scholars have adopted. The study forgrounds that Kanywood filmmakers' appropriation of Bollywood have been excessively explored. But investigations in the area of re-enactment of performance in Kanywood video films are conceivably insufficiently undertaken. Therefore, the distinct contribution of this study reflects on transformation of Hausa culture due to globalization, thus elaborating the existing works on Kanywood. Through a performance framework and a thorough analysis of selected corpus, the study shows how video film is seen as a provider of major social and cultural changes. It is not only a means through which an exploration of the concept of the transcending globalization is possible, but it is also a way of comprehending how the society transforms under some changing circumstances. While the general underlying question is whether or not culture is static, the study thereby negotiates specific questions such as how are performances re-enacted and re-framed during filmmaking process, and how far are traditionally encoded performance events altered, changed, subverted or enriched in video film? The study recommends the aesthetics of language as an area of further research, foregrounds that imitation, adaptation and appropriation of circulating artistic forms is a global phenomenon grounded in intertextuality, expounds that culture is not fixed but dynamic, and concludes that it is more appropriate to look at the video films and the filmmakers through the paradigm of cultural hybridity and modernization which enhance cultural shift, transformation and change in this era of globalization. Keywords: Kanywood, performance, oral heritage, transformation

The study identifies and critically analyses Kanywood video films with particular emphasis on sources in oral literature and performance practices. By way of definition, Kanywood stands for both the film industry and video films produced in northern Nigeria. The study sticks to “Kanywood” as the label coined for the industry. However, “Kannywood” with the consonant cluster, as in Hollywood, Bollywood and Nollywood is a variant label, which some scholars have adopted. The study forgrounds that Kanywood filmmakers' appropriation of Bollywood have been excessively explored. But investigations in the area of re-enactment of performance in Kanywood video films are conceivably insufficiently undertaken. Therefore, the distinct contribution of this study reflects on transformation of Hausa culture due to globalization, thus elaborating the existing works on Kanywood. Through a performance framework and a thorough analysis of selected corpus, the study shows how video film is seen as a provider of major social and cultural changes. It is not only a means through which an exploration of the concept of the transcending globalization is possible, but it is also a way of comprehending how the society transforms under some changing circumstances. While the general underlying question is whether or not culture is static, the study thereby negotiates specific questions such as how are performances re-enacted and re-framed during filmmaking process, and how far are traditionally encoded performance events altered, changed, subverted or enriched in video film? The study recommends the aesthetics of language as an area of further research, foregrounds that imitation, adaptation and appropriation of circulating artistic forms is a global phenomenon grounded in intertextuality, expounds that culture is not fixed but dynamic, and concludes that it is more appropriate to look at the video films and the filmmakers through the paradigm of cultural hybridity and modernization which enhance cultural shift, transformation and change in this era of globalization. Keywords: Kanywood, performance, oral heritage, transformation

The study identifies and critically analyses Kanywood Video films with particular emphasis on sources in oral literature and performance practices. By way of definition, Kanywood stands for both the film industry and video films produced in northern Nigeria. The study sticks to "Kanywood" as the label coined for the industry. However, "Kannywood" with the consonant cluster, as in Hollywood, Bollywood and Nollywood is a variant label, which some scholars have adopted. The study foregrounds that Kanywood filmmakers' appropriation of Bollywood have been excessively explored. But investigations in the area of re-enactment of performance in Kanywood video films are conceivably insufficiently undertaken. Therefore, the distinct contribution of this reflects on transformation of Hausa culture due to globalization, thus elaborating the existing works on Kanywood. Through a performance framework and a thorough analysis of selected corpus, the study shows how video film is seen as a provider of major social and cultural changes. It is not only a means through which an exploration of the concept of the transcending globalization is possible, but it is also a way of comprehending how the society transforms under some changing circumstances. While the general underlying question is whether or not culture is static, the study thereby negotiates specific questions such as how are performances re-enacted and re-framed during filmmaking process, and how far are traditionally encoded performance events altered, changed, subverted or enriched in video film? The study recommends the aesthetics of language as an area of further research, foregrounds that imitation, adaptation and appropriation of circulating artistic forms is a global phenomenon grounded in intertextuality, expounds that culture is not fixed but dynamic, and concludes that it is more appropriate to look at the video films and the filmmakers through the paradigm of cultural hybridity and modernization which enhance cultural shift, transformation and change in this era of globalization.