Beyoncé is going on a world tour. Why she shouldn’t ignore Africa

event of the year. It will run from May to September 2023, with performances so far scheduled only across Europe and North America.

See in Daily Maverick: Being Beyoncé – Her iconic career through the years, in images

African fans were disappointed, but no doubt not surprised – Africa is almost always excluded from major world tours organised by global record labels. To be clear, it’s not just Beyoncé.

Still, this particular exclusion is compounded by Queen Bey’s love of the continent – especially of former South African president Nelson Mandela – and the influence she’s drawn from it in her work. Of course, hope remains for her African fandom that destinations could still be added to the tour.

As a popular music scholar, I’m interested in how Beyoncé addresses social issues in her music – and how this is perceived by listeners in Africa. I argue that African destinations should be included – and not just because Beyoncé incorporates African elements in her music. But because of how large and fervent her fanbase is in Africa and how her social awareness messages resonate with these fans.

Snubbing Africa

In a capitalist commercial music industry, stadium world tours significantly affect an artist’s revenue and exposure. Almost without fail, African countries are erased as possible destinations, leaving many fans asking why.

While we may never know the answer – unless record labels blatantly state their perspectives – many are left to wonder if big name artists and their management teams think that Africa does not have adequate infrastructure to accommodate their grandiose sets. Or if they believe that stadiums will not fill up with patrons such as those across the global north do.

One of the ways that we can start to make sense of Africa’s exclusion is by applying an intersectional lens to western popular culture. (This is a framework to understand the distribution of power – social, economic, political and cultural – in society, how it is maintained, and why certain groups of people are marginalised.) By thinking particularly about the relationships between class and geographic location, western popular culture can be viewed as a product of a capitalist society that prioritises the generation of profit. Capitalist record labels put making money first.

In popular culture, Africa has traditionally been cast as a backward continent plagued by famine, poverty and war. This shapes how the continent is viewed when assessing its capabilities to generate profits. The management teams and record labels of global pop musicians could see Africa as a high-risk, low-reward destination. They would rather travel to destinations where profitability is guaranteed based on infrastructure and previous experiences.

However, some major artists have had successful tour performances in Africa, such as Ed Sheeran in 2018 and Lady Gaga in 2012. Even though both performed only in South Africa, they did not wholly snub the continent. And their South African dates were commercial successes.

Beyoncé and Africa

What further confounds many African fans is that it seems such a natural fit for Beyoncé to revisit the continent. Her love for Africa is evident. Her visual album, Black Is King, is a testament to this. She explores and celebrates her African heritage through it. At the same time it highlights the diverse tapestry of culture and tradition on the continent and across the diaspora. Various musical, visual, language and wardrobe elements from Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya and South Africa are fused in it.

Beyoncé may never have brought a world tour to Africa, but she is one of the few major global pop musicians to perform here. In 2003 she appeared at the 46664 Concert in Cape Town. Hosted by Mandela, the concert aimed to spread awareness of HIV/AIDS in the country. In 2018 she headlined the