Dancing Music

If you have ever danced to a traditional Nepali dance music, you know what it like. It's about love, separation, teasing, nostalgia, first sights, little girls trying to figure out how they should fill the pitcher with water, married women missing their home, soldiers/workers missing their families -- the old mothers and the hardworking wives and the innocent sons, and so on. Once in a while, you'll get a martial tune about nationbuilding or patriotism.

West African dance music (Ghanian and Togoan, and Nigerian possibly) has more friendship and camaraderie. Between men and men yes but more generally in sex-neutral terms (because West African societies have traditionally been maternalistic and matrilinear even though men don't help with the Kitchen). There's little talk of patriotism but more of loyalty to your people, because of the still-existing pre-Westphalian notions of nationhood (which I prefer). The men and women will flirt and dance, but it's more vigorous, more physical, less shy than Nepali-dance flirting (as in, you stare at butts a lot and pretend to slap them playfully). I have found the dances here a lot more vigorous than those at home.

I don't know if that says anything about anything.

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