原文:http://mp.weixin.qq.com/s?__biz=MzU1MDQwNTgzMg==&mid=2247491806&idx=1&sn=4fe7160ce7ea8efd2f40ab90881c29c6&chksm=fba3b379ccd43a6fd72fbc8d06267f22f76038ff848073e12fced2b912340e54e5c031c2e0fe#rd
1
导读
感谢思维导图作者
Anne,女,爱读书爱Borges的小翻译,热爱文艺,经济学人爱好者
学习外刊没有毅力坚持下去?
疑难困惑无人解答?
赶紧点击下方超链加入
2
听力|精读|翻译|词组
From Nollywood to Netflix
从诺莱坞到网飞
英文部分选自经济学人文艺板块
From Nollywood to Netflix
从诺莱坞到网飞
衍生阅读:在电影院几乎绝迹的非洲,藏着一个比好莱坞还高产的“诺莱坞”
https://www.sohu.com/a/291848926_120044102
African entertainers are wowing global audiences
非洲明星博得全球观众喝彩
“I swear to make sure you never forget about me,” sings Burna Boy on the opening track of “Twice as Tall”, which was released last month. These days there is little chance of that. The Nigerian musician’s fifth album, an evocative blend of contemporary sounds, score-settling and social commentary, topped the streaming charts in dozens of countries. It was streamed 5m times in the hour after it came out.
“我定要让你们永远记住我”,伯纳男孩在上个月新专辑《Twice as Tall》的主打歌中唱道。现在人们的确记住他了。该专辑是这位尼日利亚歌手的第5张专辑,它将当代音乐、不满宣泄以及社会评论完美融合,稳居数十个国家播放排行榜的榜首。发行后一小时,播放量就达到了500万次。
注:
Score-settling: 来源于词组settle a score; taking revenge on someone for something damaging that they have done in the past 翻旧账秋后算账
Burna Boy is one of the biggest stars associated with Afrobeats (also known as Afropop): an umbrella term for what is less a genre than a movement, encompassing influences such as Caribbean soca and dancehall, electro hip-hop, jùjú music (based on Yoruba rhythmic percussion) and auto-tune heavy pop. Other prominent artists include Davido, WizKid, Mr Eazi and Tiwa Savage. All have record deals with major Western labels, clock up tens of millions of listens on streaming sites and attract thousands of fans to concerts. Afrobeats artists have collaborated with the likes of Drake, Stormzy and Beyoncé, who last year curated an album featuring a host of African talent.
伯纳男孩是非洲节拍音乐(也叫非洲pop)的代表艺人之一。非洲节拍音乐是一个宽泛的概念,与其说它是一种音乐流派,不如说是一场音乐运动,非洲节拍音乐受到勒比索卡音乐、舞厅乐、电子嘻哈、祖祖音乐(以约鲁巴节奏打击乐为基础)和自动调音的重金属流行乐等影响。其他杰出街拍乐歌手,如达维多、威资克、伊阿兹先生和蒂瓦·萨维吉,他们都与西方大型唱片公司签约,作品在网站上的播放量达数千万次,数千粉丝来听他们的演唱会。非洲节拍音乐代表歌手还曾与德雷克、史东兹和碧昂斯等巨星合作,碧昂斯去年发行的专辑就是融合了众多优质非洲音乐元素。
注:
1. Umbrella term雨伞术语,是一种比喻的说法,表示此术语涵盖几个术语而成,或者叫概括性术语。
2. Afrobeat: Afrobeat是Yoruba music、jazz、Highlife和funk rhythms的结合,使用打击乐器和人声,上世纪七十年代在非洲开始流行。它的主要发明人是尼日利亚多乐器手和乐队领队Fela Kuti。Fela Kuti还将政治和音乐混在了一起。在他和他的乐队Nigeria 70从美国回来后,Fela Kuti创造了名词Afrobeat。
Boosted by “Black Panther” (2018), a superhero smash-hit set in a fictional African kingdom, African film and television are also drawing a broader audience. Nollywood, as Nigeria’s film industry is known, is increasingly renowned for the quality of its output as much as its quantity. Netflix recently bought the rights to Nigeria’s two highest-grossing films, “The Wedding Party” (2016) and its sequel (2017), as well as the much-praised “Lionheart” (2018). This year it released its first original African-made show, “Queen Sono”, a spy drama set mostly in Johannesburg, created by Kagiso Lediga, a South African writer-director. Next came “Blood & Water”, set in Cape Town, which became one of Netflix’s ten most popular shows in over 50 countries.
漫威超级英雄电影《黑豹》于2018年上映,故事背景是一个虚构的非洲王国,该电影取得了巨大的成功。正是由于这部电影,非洲电影和电视剧逐渐走入更多观众的视线。尼日利亚的电影行业也被称作诺莱坞,因大量优质作品而闻名于世。奈飞最近买下了尼日利亚票房最高的两部电影的版权,分别是2016年上映的《婚礼派对》及其2017年的续集,还有2018年上映口碑良好的电影《狮心女孩》。今年奈飞播出了名下第一部非洲原创电视剧——《特工女王》,这是一部间谍片,故事场景在约翰内斯堡。由来自南非的卡吉索·莱迪加创作,他既是编剧也是导演。之后奈飞又播出了《血与水》,这部剧故事场景在开普敦,在50个多国家登上了奈飞十大最受欢迎电视剧的榜单。
Previous African entertainers have enjoyed global success. Fela Kuti, Youssou N’Dour and Hugh Masekela sold records far beyond, respectively, Nigeria, Senegal and South Africa. In the 1970s Senegalese films such as “Touki Bouki” (1973) wowed overseas audiences. But never before have so many African artists burst into the global mainstream together. The momentum extends to literature: this week Tsitsi Dangarembga, a Zimbabwean writer, and Maaza Mengiste, who was born in Ethiopia, were shortlisted for the Booker prize for fiction.
之前也有非洲的艺人举世闻名。尼日利亚的菲拉·库提、塞内加尔的尤苏·恩杜尔和南非的休·马塞凯拉,他们的专辑都曾远销国外。20世纪70年代,诸如《图基·布基》(1973)的塞内加尔电影也曾风靡海外。但以前从未有如此多的非洲艺术家同时在世界主流娱乐圈崭露头角。这一趋势延伸到了文学领域,本周津巴布韦作家齐齐·丹加伦布加和出生于埃塞俄比亚的作家马萨·门吉斯特一同入围了布克奖候选名单。
注:布克奖(the Booker prize),当代英语小说界的最高奖项。只要原创作品用英语创作,均可参评。每年评选一次,参选作品必须在前一年12月1日至当年11月30日内出版,共有小说、非小说、诗、青年文学四大奖项。
Africa has long been seen as an importer of culture, say Matthias Krings and Tom Simmert, two academics, in a recent paper. The battered minibuses on the streets of capital cities attest to that, emblazoned as they are with the names of English Premier League footballers or American hip-hop stars. But increasingly there are posters of African pop stars on the walls of American, British or French teenagers’ bedrooms, too. African countries are exporting more of their cultural output. As Davido says of Afrobeats, “It’s our new oil.”
马蒂亚斯·克林斯和汤姆·席默特在最近发表的一篇论文中称,非洲一直以来都被认为是文化输入国。从非洲各国首都街道上随处可见的破烂小巴车就可见一斑:车上画着英超联赛的球员或是美国的嘻哈明星。不过,非洲流行歌星的海报也慢慢出现在美国、英国和法国青少年的卧室墙上。非洲国家也正越来越多地输出自己的文化。正如达维多对非洲节拍音乐的评价,“它是我们全新的石油。”
The moment has been a long time coming. In the 1980s and 1990s it was harder for African artists to win attention. Making music, films and tv was expensive; at home, widespread piracy made it difficult to earn money. Abroad, African music was often relegated to catch-all “world music” shelves in record shops, next to Peruvian pan pipes. The only references to the continent on mainstream Western radio shows may have been “Africa” by Toto, a weird if catchy song, or the members of Band Aid bellowing inaccurately about its lack of snow in “Do They Know It’s Christmas?”
非洲艺术经历了漫长的过程才有今天。20世纪八九十年代,非洲艺术家难以获得关注。做音乐、拍电影电视剧耗资巨大,且国内盗版盛行,艺术家很难赚钱。在国外的音像店里,非洲音乐沦落到被放置在笼统的“世界音乐”大类货架上,挨着秘鲁的牧羊神笛。西方主流广播节目提及非洲大陆的内容,恐怕只有托托(Toto)演唱的一首奇特但悦耳的《非洲》,或是邦迪乐队(Band Aid)在《他们知道这是圣诞节吗?》那首歌中,大声唱着非洲没有雪,即使这一描述不够准确。
From the 2000s changes in technology began to level the global playing field. Cheap kit let Afrobeats producers make high-quality recordings; software meant sounds could be more easily mashed together. Blogs such as notjustok.com helped broadcast music and generate followings. The market for song excerpts as ring tones provided a new source of income. For their part, film-makers benefited from fans uploading segments to YouTube. Then came streaming services such as Spotify and Apple Music, as well as Netflix and irokotv, which hosts Nollywood films.
进入新世纪后,技术变革开始缩小全球娱乐圈的差距。非洲节拍音乐创作者只需便宜的工具就可创作高质量的专辑;软件则让混音变得更加容易。诸如notjustok.com的博客推广创作者的音乐,并帮他们吸收粉丝。歌曲片段作为铃声开辟了一条新的创收道路。粉丝将电影片段上传到Youtube,电影制作人由此获利。然后就是声破天、苹果音乐、奈飞和irokotv这样的流媒体,irokotv也是诺莱坞电影的主办平台。
Two other powerful trends have encouraged the spread of African pop culture: demography and diasporas. The median age on the continent is under 20. Like the post-war baby-boomers, such a large cohort of young people may have been bound to sway global tastes. Meanwhile first- and second-generation African populations in the West have sharply expanded.
另外两大趋势也促进了非洲流行文化的传播,一是人口结构,二是海外非裔人口的流动。非洲大陆人口的年龄中位数不足20岁。与战后婴儿潮一代一样,如此庞大的年轻人群体一定会对全球文化品味产生影响。此外,生活在西方的第一代和第二代非洲人也出现爆发性增长。
The number of immigrants from sub-Saharan Africa in America shot from 265,000 in 1990 to 2m in 2018 (375,000 are Nigerians, the largest single group). Between 2001 and 2011 the African-born population of England and Wales rose from 800,000 to 1.3m (the Nigerian contingent more than doubled). “Once you blow in Nigeria you almost automatically blow in London,” says Joey Akan, founder of Afrobeats Intelligence, a newsletter. Since it remains hard to make money in Nigeria, he adds, its artists must reach the diaspora.
1990年,美国来自撒哈拉以南非洲移民为26.5万人,到了2018年,这一数字飙升至200万,其中人数最多的是尼日利亚裔,有37.5万人。2001-2011年间,英格兰和威尔士的非洲移民从80万增加到130万,尼日利亚裔人口是原来的两倍多。“尼日利亚的红人,也能在伦敦大红大紫。”《非洲打击乐情报》的创始人乔伊·阿坎如是说。他还说,在尼日利亚赚钱依旧艰难,尼日利亚的艺术家必须走出国门。
Home thoughts from abroad
游子的乡土情怀
African migrants and their children are far from just passive consumers, especially when it comes to music. A London-born dj of Ghanaian parentage, dj Abrantee, is credited with popularising the term Afrobeats in 2011. Several well-known Afrobeats artists come from the diaspora, for example the British-born acts J Hus, Fuse ODG and NSG. Davido was born in Atlanta.
非洲移民和他们的后代绝不仅仅是被动消费者,在音乐方面尤其如此。阿布兰提是一名唱片节目主持人(DJ),生于伦敦,父母都是加纳人。2011年,在把“非洲节拍音乐”这一名词发扬光大上,他功不可没。还有其他知名的非洲裔节拍音乐艺术家来自海外,如出生在英国的acts J Hus、Fuse ODG和NSG,和生于亚特兰大的达维多。
The clout of Nigerians, both on the continent and in the West, has led to some grumbling. Ghanaian artists sometimes say Nigerians play down the influence of their genres, such as hiplife and azonto, on Afrobeats. In 2015 Kenyan artists took to the streets to demand local radio stations play more of their music. Beyoncé’s album included few east Africans, noted musicians from the region. Western packaging can add to the impression that there is little happening outside Lagos. Popular “Afrobeats” streams heavily feature Nigerians.
无论是在非洲本土还是在西方,尼日利亚裔艺术家都招致了一些不满。加纳裔艺术家认为,尼日利亚在非洲节拍音乐中削减他们的艺术的影响力,如嘻哈生活和阿桑托舞蹈。2015年,肯尼亚裔艺术家走上街头,要求当地广播台播放更多肯尼亚裔艺术家的音乐。碧昂丝的专辑中几乎没有东非人和东非艺术家的元素。西方的包装给人留下的印象是,非洲艺术只聚集在拉各斯。广受欢迎的“非洲节拍音乐”以尼日利亚风格为主流。
注:拉各斯(Lagos),尼日利亚第一大城市,同时也是整个西非地区人口最多的城市,2006年人口逾800万人。2019年,在全球城市500强中排名第133位,是非洲最为现代化的大都市之一,尼日利亚全国60%的工业产值集中于此。
Such worries about “Nigerianisation” in part reflect the sheer number of Nigerians (over 200m) and the role of Lagos as a creative hub. But other sounds are attracting more attention, too, for example South African house styles, gqom and amapiano. Even if these are quickly adapted by enterprising Nigerians, that stimulates interest in the original music. High-profile festivals and playlists may be dominated by Nigerians but they increasingly showcase others, such as Nasty C from South Africa, Navy Kenzo, a Tanzanian duo, or Innoss’B, a Congolese singer-songwriter.
对于“尼日利亚化”的担忧在某种程度上反映出,尼日利亚庞大的人口总量(超过2亿)和拉各斯城作为创意中心的地位。不过,其他非洲地方的音乐也越来越引起人们的关注,如南非的家庭音乐gqom和amapiano。尽管这些音乐形式很快就被雄心勃勃的尼日利亚裔艺术家改编,但同样也激起了人们对原创音乐的兴趣。虽然高端艺术节和歌曲榜单仍是尼日尼亚艺术家的天下,但同时也慢慢出现其他地区音乐人的身影,例如南非的Nasty C、坦桑尼亚的双人组合Navy Kenzo以及刚果的唱作家Innoss’B等。
A more piercing critique, at least of the African-made shows on Netflix, is that consumers in the rest of the world are not getting an authentic sense of African lives. “Queen Sono” is “a Hollywood spy drama copy-pasted into Johannesburg with a black female protagonist”, argues Tsogo Kupa, a South African writer and film-maker. “Blood & Water” comfortingly mimics the tropes of American teen dramas.
针对奈飞上播放的非洲本土制作的电视剧,有更为犀利的评论:其他国家的观众并没有真正了解到非洲人的生活。南非编剧兼电影制作人Tsogo Kupa说:“《特工女王》是一部披着非洲外衣的好莱坞谍战剧,只不过主角是黑人女演员,故事场景换在了约翰内斯堡而已。” 《血与水》则恰到好处地模仿了美国青少年影视剧的主题。
Yet their creators should be cut some slack. Many Westerners remain deeply ignorant about Africa. Last year the Africa Narrative, an initiative based at the University of Southern California, published a study of 700,000 hours of American tv aired in March 2018. It found that just 14% of references to Africa were positive; in 44% of cases, no particular country was specified. And even if the Netflix shows are bland, they contain telling details and asides. The first episode of “Blood & Water” makes a brief mention of the horrors of Belgian Congo—not something found in “Gossip Girl”. The films Netflix has bought are generally better than the tv shows. “Cook Off”, a Zimbabwean romcom, deliciously captures the country’s gallows humour.
但也不必过于苛责这些电视剧的制作者,很多西方人对于非洲依旧一无所知。去年,由南加州大学发起的Africa Narrative发布了一项针对2018年3月播放的70万小时美国电视节目的研究报告,该报告显示,涉及非洲的内容中,只有14%的是正面的,有44%的内容没有具体说明是非洲哪个国家。即便是奈飞的节目也枯燥乏味,通常都是讲述细节和旁白。《血与水》第一季简要提及了发生在比属刚果的恐怖事件——这在《绯闻女孩》中不会出现。奈飞购买电影的质量通常比电视剧高。如津巴布韦的浪漫喜剧《Cook Off》就巧妙捕捉到了这个国家的人在“大难临头时的黑色幽默”。
If African artists still have work to do, so do cultural gatekeepers in the West. The Grammy awards still consign Afrobeats to “world music”. The application of “Lionheart” for an Oscar for best international film was turned down because most of the dialogue is in English (with a smattering of Igbo). In response, Genevieve Nnaji, who directed and stars in it, observed: “We did not choose who colonised us.”
如果说非洲艺术工作者仍有提升的空间,那么西方的文化“看门人”亦是如此。格莱美奖依旧将非洲节拍音乐归为“世界音乐”。电影《狮子之心》曾角逐奥斯卡最佳国际电影奖,但由于对白大多为英语(夹杂少量伊格柏语)并未入围。该影片的导演兼主演吉纳维芙·纳吉对此作出回应:“尼日利亚曾是英国的殖民地(因此英语为尼日利亚的官方语言),而这也并非我们所愿。”
翻译组:
无忌,心怀梦想不断努力的理想主义男孩
Nikolai,爱想象的小双鱼,蒙特雷候补生,AKB49
Iris, 少女心爆棚的前职场老阿姨,现国际女子修道院MTIer,外刊爱好者
校对组:
Rachel,学理工科,爱跳芭蕾,热爱文艺的非典型翻译
Anne,女,爱读书爱Borges的小翻译,热爱文艺,经济学人爱好者
Helen,女,坐标武汉,职业翻译,翻硕已毕业英语二笔二口,爱好陶笛洞箫古诗词
3
观点|评论|思考
休息一下......
4
愿景
小组
现有经济学人讨论群一个,如果您也有兴趣,可联系小编WeChat : Education0603。由于每天加小编人很多,为提高效率,大家添加小编,暗号“请求加入TE讨论群",小编通过后,请做好以下三点:
1.转发公众号翻译文章到100人以上英语学习群或者朋友圈
2.回答三个问题(在公众号后台回复“群规”,请务必仔细阅读群规以及出现的三个问题)
3.加小编后做个简单的自我介绍,谢谢大家。
点击下方图片进行小程序打卡