ABSTRACT Sefi Atta has recently claimed that she considers herself an Afrobeat author, because she started writing in 1997, a month before Fela Kuti died and his music became more widely available outside of Nigeria. I contend that in A Bit of Difference (2013) Afrobeat music embodies the cultural signifier of transnational and local influences in contemporary Lagos and other Western urban spaces. The main character of the novel, Deola Bello, was born in Lagos, grew up in London, and occasionally travels to Atlanta on business trips as an auditor for an international charity organization. The protagonist Bello’s travels across countries and cultures establishes an intercultural dialogue based on African and African diasporic music, ranging from juju to naija hip hop. The first part of this essay underscores the cultural influence of Afrobeat on Atta’s writing, and presents an overview of the critical readings of music that highlight socio-political meanings in the Anglophone black Atlantic. The second half maps the historical geography of songs in the novel and their contextual significance, which serve to interpret the afrodiasporic consciousness embedded in the text.

中文翻译：

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Afrobeat Journeys：追踪 Sefi Atta 的音乐档案有点不同

摘要 Sefi Atta 最近声称她认为自己是 Afrobeat 作家，因为她于 1997 年开始写作，在 Fela Kuti 去世前一个月，他的音乐在尼日利亚以外的地区变得更广泛可用。我认为在 A Bit of Difference (2013) 中，Afrobeat 音乐体现了当代拉各斯和其他西方城市空间中跨国和地方影响的文化标志。小说的主人公德奥拉·贝洛出生在拉各斯，在伦敦长大，偶尔出差到亚特兰大出差，担任一家国际慈善组织的审计员。主人公贝洛的跨越国家和文化的旅行建立了一种基于非洲和非洲散居音乐的跨文化对话，范围从 juju 到 naija hip hop。本文的第一部分强调了 Afrobeat 对 Atta 写作的文化影响，并概述了音乐的批判性阅读，这些音乐突出了英语黑色大西洋中的社会政治意义。后半部分描绘了小说中歌曲的历史地理及其语境意义，以解释嵌入在文本中的非洲侨民意识。