Cinema Narration as Oral Performance: DJ Afro and East African Media Practices

Abstract

This article examines cinema narration in Kenya, a practice that involves artists known as DJs working with audiences in specific socio-cultural contexts.This study uses ethnographic methods to analyse the work of one such practitioner, DJ Afro, and the reflections on his performance by two sets of audiences in Eldoret and Narok respectively.For this purpose, three Hindi films in DJ Afro's repertoire have been selected: Magadheera (2009, directed by S. S. Rajamouli), Bullet Raja (2013, directed by Tigmanshu Dhulia) and Shadow (2013, directed by Meher Ramesh).The choice is influenced by DJ Afro's audiences' responses to his narration and to the genre of the films.The analysis of DJ Afro's oral texts is done using relevant theories of oral performance and popular culture.The article makes two linked arguments.First, in Kenya, cinema narration has evolved into one of the genres of popular culture.Second, this performance may have been initially understood as translation of meaning for local audiences, but it also works as an oral narrative performance involving local performers and their audiences, and in this process the meanings produced are determined in relation to local texts and contexts.