Migrant Musicians. Transnationality and Hybrid Identities Expressed through Music

Abstract

Migrant musicians contribute to the intercultural wealth of the societies they live in. They manifest their hybrid identities and convey transnational experiences through different forms of musical expression. On the one hand, they (re)discover their musical culture of origin and reinterpret it from a new, cosmopolitan perspective. On the other, their making music and experiencing music enable them to construct an “inner homeland” to identify with, while living abroad in constant balance (or contradiction) between cultures. Based on existing works originating from different national settings this essay aims to synthetically describe the relationship between migrants’ musical expression and different manifestations of cultural belonging. Its main focus lies in how hybrid transnational identities may be expressed through music. It also addresses the redefinition and reinterpretation of migrants’ musical traditions in the cosmopolitanized city of Lisbon, with a special regard to the Cape Verdean diaspora as a community shaped by music.