‘So you think you can play with me’ – Louis Moholo-Moholo and the semiotics of freedom

IF 1.4 2区文学 Q2 COMMUNICATION

Language & Communication Pub Date : 2025-09-21 DOI:10.1016/j.langcom.2025.09.008

Ana Deumert , Nkululeko Mabandla

引用次数: 0

Abstract

In this paper we look at the work of Louis Tebogo Moholo-Moholo, the legendary South African drummer. Drawing on extensive interview data, we consider Bra Louis's reflections on his artistic practice, while also listening to his musical performances, to the sound of the drums and the collaborative improvisations that define the genre of ‘free jazz’. The analysis focuses on the semiotics of rhythm – its materiality and interactions with orders of time and timing – as well as on Bra Louis' credo of ‘just playing free’ in a world where this freedom doesn't exist. In exploring the meaning of freedom, we reflect on the semiotics of sound (drawing, especially, on Guattari's a-signifying semiotics), and conclude with an analysis of one of Bra Tebs' improvisations as an iconic-indexical instantiation of ‘being free’ in a world of oppression.

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“所以你认为你可以和我一起玩”——路易斯·莫霍罗-莫霍罗和自由的符号学

在本文中，我们看看路易斯·特博戈·莫霍罗-莫霍罗的工作，传奇的南非鼓手。根据大量的采访数据，我们考虑了Bra Louis对他的艺术实践的反思，同时也听取了他的音乐表演，鼓声和定义“自由爵士”类型的合作即兴创作。分析的重点是节奏的符号学——它的物质性和与时间和时间顺序的相互作用——以及Bra Louis在一个不存在这种自由的世界里“只是自由地玩”的信条。在探索自由的意义时，我们反思了声音的符号学（尤其是Guattari的符号符号学），并以分析Bra Tebs的即兴创作作为在压迫世界中“自由”的符号指标性实例来结束。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Language & Communication Multiple-

CiteScore

3.40

自引率

6.70%

发文量

期刊介绍： This journal is unique in that it provides a forum devoted to the interdisciplinary study of language and communication. The investigation of language and its communicational functions is treated as a concern shared in common by those working in applied linguistics, child development, cultural studies, discourse analysis, intellectual history, legal studies, language evolution, linguistic anthropology, linguistics, philosophy, the politics of language, pragmatics, psychology, rhetoric, semiotics, and sociolinguistics. The journal invites contributions which explore the implications of current research for establishing common theoretical frameworks within which findings from different areas of study may be accommodated and interrelated. By focusing attention on the many ways in which language is integrated with other forms of communicational activity and interactional behaviour, it is intended to encourage approaches to the study of language and communication which are not restricted by existing disciplinary boundaries.