Guillermo de Llera Blanes, researcher at INET-md, recently awarded a PhD by NOVA FCSH, authors the article ““Making-do”: The DIY MidiMbira and other traditional Mozambican instruments in live-looping performance”, published in open access by DIY, Alternative Cultures & Society (Sage Journals).
Abstract:
This article argues that DIY musical instrument innovation and live-looping in Mozambique functions as a decolonial practice, asserting what I term sonic sovereignty. Drawing on remix theory, African temporality, and Playability Theory, it examines the transformation of traditional instruments—specifically the MidiMbira and the Kankumbwe—through digital performance. A 2024 live-looping set is analyzed in which archival footage was modularized into audiovisual stems, controlled via tactile interfaces, and layered with improvisation. Methodologically, the article combines practice-based research with ethnographic engagement and remix aesthetics. The RIY3 (Remix/Recycle/Re-signify It Yourself) framework conceptualizes DIY as a culturally embedded, recursive logic that prioritizes continuity over novelty. In contrast to Global North framings of DIY as leisure-based resistance—rooted in voluntary disengagement and creative subcultures—Mozambican DIY emerges from constraint and cultural inheritance. It is not merely reactive, but a situated form of creative agency forged through necessity, collaboration, and historical continuity.