Abstract:

A number of scholars have discussed how ‘jazz’ has been constructed as being the creative product of the United States of America. The article draws on some of the ideas of Arjun Appadurai in order to show how the music of two non Americans, Moses Molelekwa (South Africa) and Nah Youn-Sun (South Korea), may be understood as challenging
which sounds may be classified as ‘jazz’, and who may be included in its audiences. I will focus on their active involvement in—frequently trans-global—collaborations with
artists outside or on the peripheries of ‘jazz’. The article also explores the conditions of globalization that make possible such reconfigurations and how these dynamics relate to broader processes of reimagining global geographies of power and music. In discussing the musical performances of these ‘jazz’ artists, I hope to reflect on the role of the imagination in the process of genre definition.

Author: Jan Harm Schutte