Breaking Rocks

<p> Based on fieldwork in Kinshasa and Paris <em>Breaking Rocks</em> examines patronage payments within Congolese popular music where a love song dedication can cost 6000 dollars and a simple name check can trade for 500 or 600 dollars. Tracing this system of prestige through networks of musicians and patrons - who include gangsters based in Europe kleptocratic politicians in Congo and lawless diamond dealers in northern Angola - this book offers insights into ideologies of power and value in central Africa's troubled post-colonial political economy as well as a glimpse into the economic flows that make up the hidden side of the globalization.</p>