Kilindini Docks: a case of ‘mondo music’?

Inventing the discovery of a manufactured 'African’ sound.

Authors

  • Guglielmo Bottin University of Milan

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5429/2079-3871(2025)v15i2.2en

Abstract

This paper examines a case of ethnoforgery in postwar Italian popular music represented by the 1957 song "Kilindini Docks" and the 1959 album 8 African Ritual Songs. Presented as vernacular African music, these recordings were instead composed and arranged by Italian musicians and accompanied by a fabricated ethnographic narrative. Contributing to ongoing debates about cultural representation and the politics of musical invention in transnational popular music, this study sheds light on the songs' production, international dissemination, and reception, revealing how pseudo-African musical elements were strategically employed to construct a veneer of authenticity that was marketed globally for decades and remained largely unquestioned.

Author Biography

Guglielmo Bottin, University of Milan

Dr. Guglielmo Bottin is a lecturer at the University of Milan, where he received his Ph.D. in Musicology with a thesis on the music theory of groove and the history of rhythm technologies. He was also a visiting research fellow at the at Chair of Popular Music Studies at Humboldt University in Berlin. In 2019 he co-founded the Center for Electronic Music and Multimedia of La Biennale di Venezia, of which he was the scientific director for three years. He has recently published on sonic hauntology, film music, the history of European popular and dance music, and the use of sound in contemporary art performances and installations. He is on the board of directors of the Italian branch of the International Association for the Study of Popular Music, and also works as a sound artist, music producer and DJ, having performed in over 30 countries worldwide.

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Published

24-11-2025

Issue

Vol. 15 No. 2 (2025): Open Issue

Section

Articles – Open Section

License

Copyright (c) 2025 IASPM Journal

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

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