Les clubs d’amateurs de musique à N’Djamena : un creuset pour de nouvelles sociabilités, éphémères ou pérennes ?

Abstract

The present article examines two clubs for music lovers in N’Djamena, the Guest Star Club and the AJRA collective. Way beyond the strictly cultural and artistic context, these two structures also generate sharing and exchange about other fields of interest concerning life choices related to the passage from adolescence to adulthood.These structures are short-lived and therefore impermanent, all the more so because their members do not seem to consider membership as a permanent feature in their lives. Yet a closer examination of the internal practices in such structures reveals a completely different aspect: they are likely to function along lines similar to the formal rules of other established organisations, which in turn tends to blur or question the limits of their impermanence.Analysis of the social codes within these structures shows they are either at odds or in harmony with life in society and, as such, may be considered as part of the “ways of living together” in an African town currently undergoing considerable change.

Keywords

• Club
• Sociability
• N’Djamena
• Impermanence
• Urban Culture