Radio and Music Listening Practices in Colonial Mozambique: The Goan Experience

ABSTRACTIn this article, I explore the role of radio and music listening practices in re-signifying the imperial identities of the population of Goan origin, who were either born in or migrated to colonial Mozambique. Apart from relying on archival research and interviews with radio professionals and other relevant informants, I also draw on 11 in-depth interviews with Portuguese and Mozambicans of Goan origin who have lived in colonial Mozambique for ten or more years, both men and women. Alongside the biographical method, I also examine my interlocutors’ relationship with several forms of media to investigate their past practices of radio reception and music listening. I articulate Nick Couldry’s framework of media as practice with Elizabeth Bird’s approach to the historical audience to understand my interlocutors’ memories of radio and sound reception as part of a broader set of social and cultural practices through which their imperial identities are reconstructed. The research results suggest that my interlocutors’ past radio and music listening practices contributed to both reproducing and discontinuing their parents’ socio-cultural practices brought with them when they migrated from Goa to Mozambique. Additionally, such practices enabled the construction of different ambivalent forms of Goan-ness in colonial Mozambique, hence across different spaces of the empire.ABSTRACT IN PORTUGUESENeste artigo, exploro o papel das práticas de escuta da rádio e da música na re-significação das identidades imperiais da população de origem goesa, nascida ou migrada para o Moçambique colonial durante o século XX. Baseio-me em pesquisa de arquivo e entrevistas em profundidade com alguns profissionais da rádio e outros participantes privilegiados, bem como em dados de 11 entrevistas biográficas com portugueses/as e moçambicanos/as de origem goesa, nascidos/as ou residentes no Moçambique colonial durante cerca de 10 ou mais anos, homens e mulheres. No âmbito da abordagem biográfica, analiso a relação dos/as meus/minhas interlocutores/as com diferentes média sonoros para investigar as suas práticas de receção da rádio e da música. Neste sentido, articulo a abordagem de Nick Couldry dos média enquanto prática, com a proposta de Elizabeth Bird da audiência histórica, de modo a compreender as memórias da rádio e da receção do som enquanto parte integrante de um amplo conjunto de práticas sociais e culturais através das quais as identidades imperiais se reconstroem. Os resultados da pesquisa sugerem que as práticas de escuta da rádio e música contribuíram para que os/as entrevistados/as reproduzissem mas também rompessem com as práticas socioculturais dos seus pais, as quais não deixaram de ser igualmente reconfiguradas na migração de Goa para Moçambique. Além de tudo, tais práticas facilitaram a construção de variadas formas ambivalentes de Goanidade particulares ao caso moçambicano.KEYWORDS: Radio and music receptionmemories of media practicecolonial MozambiqueGoan identityPortuguese imperial identitiesPALAVRAS-CHAVE: Receção da rádio e músicaMemórias dos média enquanto práticaMoçambique colonialIdentidade goesaIdentidades imperiais portuguesas Disclosure StatementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).Notes1 This article results from research conducted during investigations produced for the project “The Portuguese Colonial Empire and Popular Culture: Comparative Vision of the Metropole and the Colonies (1945–1974)”, led by Nuno Domingos (ICS – UL) (2016–19) (grant reference PTDC/CPC-CMP/2661/2014), and “Broadcasting in the Portuguese Empire: Nationalism, Colonialism, Identity”, led by Nelson Ribeiro (CECC, UCP) (grant reference FCT PTDC/COM-CSS/29610/2017).2 The Portuguese colonial system discriminated between indigenous and non-indigenous populations from 1926 up until 1961, when the status of the indigenous (Estatuto do Indigenato) was abolished. Indigenous status constituted a legal category first set out in a law decree, Decreto 12.533 de 23 de Outubro de 1926, which defined citizenship rights – and the lack of them – for the native populations of Angola, Mozambique and Guinea-Bissau. For an individual to be considered non-indigenous, they would have to undertake colonial education and undergo a social and cultural assimilation process through which they would be able to integrate into colonial society. The status of the so-called indigenous population underwent legal revisions through the decades, redefining their rights and obligations in the colonies.3 “Relações Políticas com a Índia. O problema de Goa. A Emissora de Rádio de Goa”, Arquivo Diplomático, 1951–52.4 All India Radio (AIR) was the main Indian broadcaster airing from Deli since 1936, and it was taken as a threat to the Portuguese regime. See “Emissora de Goa” in “Relações Políticas com a Índia. O Problema de Goa. Emissora de Rádio de Goa”, Arquivo Diplomático, 1952. Radio Ceylon was a commercial broadcaster airing Hindi film music from Sri Lanka.5 “Actividade da Emissora de Goa”, Boletim da Emissora de Goa, 1953, AOS/CO/UL-28B Capilha 1, Arquivo António de Oliveira Salazar; “Horário dos Programas da nossa Estação Radiofónica”, Boletim da Emissora de Goa, 1952, Repartição Central dos CTT do Estado da Índia, Pangim.6 Konkani corresponds to a hybrid local language produced during Portuguese colonialism by Goans. It became one of the most widely spoken languages in the Portuguese state of India, gaining the status of an official language in 1987 (Sardo Citation2010).7 “Actividade da Emissora de Goa”, Boletim da Emissora de Goa, 1953, AOS/CO/UL-28B Capilha 1, Arquivo António de Oliveira Salazar.8 “Actividade da Emissora de Goa”, p. 2, Boletim da Emissora de Goa, 1953, AOS/CO/UL-28B Capilha 1, Arquivo António de Oliveira Salazar.9 The mandó remains one of the most emblematic representative hybrid musical genres produced throughout Portuguese colonialism by Goans (Sardo Citation2010).10 While those aligned with the Portuguese colonial powers enforced the use of Portuguese at home, those who did not necessarily align with Portuguese colonial power encouraged the use of other local languages. Those who felt closer to the British empire would speak English. Such a diversity of social, cultural and political positions would also have an impact on listening practices.11 My interlocutors’ definition of Portuguese music listened to on the radio in Goa would include different musical genres: Portuguese folk music and song, fado song and the new popular urban music, including light music and the light national song, which played an important role in the national cultural project of re-Portugalisation of music during the Estado Novo and colonial regime (Moreira Citation2012; Moreira, Cidra, and El-Shawan Castelo Branco Citation2010).12 “Emissões destinadas ao Estado Português da Índia”, Gabinete dos Negócios Estrangeiros, Arquivo Diplomático, 1966–68.13 Personal interview with Manuel Tomaz, 26 July 2019.14 In the following decades, a few other radio stations were set up in Lourenço Marques (Rádio Mocidade and Rádio Universidade) and in Beira (Aero-Clube da Beira and Rádio Pax). In the case of the latter, despite voicing and representing the Portuguese colonial culture, they did not benefit from transmitters as powerful as the RCM’s and for that reason they were unable to compete with it (Ribeiro Citation2014).15 Founded by Jorge Jardim, a white “wealthy Mozambican businessman and former confident of Salazar … [who tried to] obtain Lisbon support for a coalition to negotiate [a white] independence” (Newitt Citation1995, 539).16 Founded by the Beira diocese (Freitas Citation2021), hence broadcasting programmes inspired by the Catholic church. In 1967, the station had a 10-kilowatt transmitter and for that reason it had a limited listenership ("Rádio Pax. Emissora Católica de Moçambique." 1968. Electricidade (51): 13–16).17 Interview with Luís Loforte conducted together with Nelson Ribeiro, 2 February 2020; Loforte (Citation2007). Freitas (Citation2019) points to a longer broadcast twice a day on Sundays only (morning and evening).18 Personal interview with Carlos Silva, 29 January 2020 and 1 January 2020; interview with Matânia Odete Dabula conducted together with Nelson Ribeiro, 31 January 2020; interview with Luís Loforte conducted together with Nelson Ribeiro, 2 February 2020.19 Personal interview with João Pedro Gouveia, 20 August 2018.20 This jingle roughly translates as: “Here is Portugal Mozambique calling you from the Radio Club of Lourenço Marques transmitting on short and medium wave.” This jingle is part of a wider set of radio sounds curated by Chris Turner in the LM Radio Museum (www.lmradio.org).21 Those settled in the Beira region would often tune in to Rádio Pax.22 Alda, born in Margão in 1940, migrated to Lourenço Marques in 1945.23 Freitas (Citation2019) explains that the radio transistor gained popularity in the late 1950s after the RCM launched the programme “Hora Nativa” and broadcast a musical programme sponsored by brands such as Philips and Pfaff that aimed to sell radio sets and other electronic equipment to the native Mozambican population.24 Joana, born in Lourenço Marques in 1944.25 Celia, born in Panjim, Goa, in 1953, migrated to Mozambique in 1963.26 Ibid.27 Jorge, born in Lourenço Marques in 1965.28 Adelino, born in Lourenço Marques in 1936.