Join ethnomusicologist Jean Ngoya Kidula for an illuminating colloquium examining the transformation of the seben — a musical section and practice that emerged within Congolese rumba and has historically been associated with secular, and often stigmatized, dance culture. This talk explores how and why the seben has been integrated into contemporary African and diasporic Christian worship, reshaping its meaning within “praise and worship” contexts.

Through this discussion, Kidula will consider how the sanctification of the seben affirms, troubles, and transforms Western frameworks for understanding African artistic expression, while also interrogating renewed artistic practices and interpretations of Christianity in contemporary Africa.

Jean Ngoya Kidula, Professor of Music (Ethnomusicology) at the University of Georgia, is a leading scholar of African and African diasporic music. Her research spans African musicology, gospel music in Africa and Sweden, African-American religious music, and composition across Africa and the diaspora. She is also an active performer and director of an African Music Ensemble.