Music, Technology, and Humanity: A Decolonial Artistic Framework for Reclaiming African Intangible Heritage

Abstract

Throughout my academic journey, I have noticed that excellence in music scholarship is often evaluated through Eurocentric perspectives. To challenge this epistemic limitation, I turned to my own artistic and indigenous knowledge systems, drawing on Walter Mignolo’s concept of epistemic disobedience to re- imagine African compositional thought. My doctoral research focused on revitalizing Ghanaian-Akan- Mfantse folklore (the Kodzi) by transforming it into visual-programmatic form through a compositional framework I call ‘Asɛmpayɛtsia’—a process that emphasizes cultural excavation, compositional translation, and audiovisual reinscription. This three-part process serves as an artistic research method for reinterpreting intangible cultural heritage within the context of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR). It combines indigenous epistemologies with digital tools to translate oral traditions into modern creative media, thereby bridging tradition and innovation. By situating Asɛmpayɛtsia within the broader conversation on Music, Technology, and Humanity, this presentation explores how technology can function not as an agent of erasure but as a partner in decolonial renewal. The framework ultimately o????ers an alternative to extractive research models, framing composition and storytelling as acts of epistemic recovery and cultural sustainability aligned with UNESCO’s 2003 Convention on Safeguarding Intangible Cultural Heritage and AU Agenda 2063 Aspiration 5.