Shaping identities in choir competitions in Tanzania

Abstract

In this article, I explore choir competitions as sites for building, strengthening, and expressing identities in one diocese of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Tanzania. In addition to being events where the musical skills of the choirs and choir conductors can be demonstrated, these competitions are occasions in which sameness and difference become accentuated and various identities related to both groups and individuals are active. These identities include various components, such as musical, religious, and ethnic, among others. The competitions are occasions for strengthening and expressing these identities, but they also create a space for conflicts between the various aspects of identities.