African Musics in Australia

African musical practices in Australia are highly diverse and multifaceted. This chapter examines the work of a Senegalese Australian artist across contexts ranging from a new multimedia arts initiative, music festivals, community events and schools. Drawing on evidence from ethnographic research as well as performer and educator experiences, it shows that music provides an important space through which to explore the complexities of diasporic experience in Australia and to engage in self-representation countering dominant negative portrayals of Africans in Australian media and political discourse. Through music, African Australian artists negotiate ideas about cultural specificity and universality, maintaining connections to African cultural practices while forging new connections and forms of creativity in contemporary Australia.