|
Hi Lawrence
Having read your posting, I thought you might be encouraged by the followig story and interested in following up the contact.
An African Gem
I am currently living in Nelson Mandela Bay in the East Cape of South Africa. I had three conversations in preparing for the British Council’s Interaction Leadership Programme’s Pan African Event in Mauritius:
·One conversation with local government represented by the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan Municipality
·One conversation with local business represented by the Port Elizabeth Regional Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Percci)
·One conversation with local community through the news editor of Radio Algoa, the regional radio station.
The conversations that followed in the local community led me to appreciate one of the gems of Africa – her music.
Music is the Heartbeat of Africa and the heartbeat has a home in the East Cape. At Rhodes University in Grahamstown, I found the International Library of African Music (ILAM) and its commercial extension, African Musical Instruments (AMI), both dedicated to preserving and promoting the heritage of African Music.
I am sure you will recognise the attached music track 3 [Wimoweh – the file is 2.43 MB so I will only attach it for those who specifically would like to have it].
The question is: do you know who created it? This song has been translated into just about every language in the world and has grossed sales of about US$ 70 billion.
The song was composed by Simon Linda, an African, in the 1950s. It was originally called: Mbube – The Lion, and the original is attached as music track 1 [the file is 2.52 MB so I will only attach it for those who would specifically like to have it].
Music, I discovered, is one of the greatest things to come out of Africa – there are those who would argue that the entire recording industry from Rock to Reggae to Salsa has its roots in the rhythms of Africa.
Furthermore, from my conversations with Christian Carver (CEO of AMI) and Geoff Tracey, son of Professor Andrew Tracey, grandson of Hugh Tracey, and himself a fully initiated sangoma, I learnt that African Music carries the Values of her People, which underpin the 6 Passions and 7 Principles of the Interaction Leadership Programme, as reflected in these key words:
People
Participation/Cooperation
Relationship
Movement/Physicality
Coordination
Energy
Conflict/Difference
Repetition
The state of music in Africa represents an ideal state in that it embodies human relationships as they ought to be – where the conflicting demands of individuality and the group, of authority and subordination, of the dead and the living, of mutual respect of self and group expression are in perfect balance. Life itself, on the other hand, is not perfect, so music can act as a model for the relationships of life. That this is not just an empty philosophical statement is borne out at every social or political occasion in Africa of which music, song and dance are an integral part.
It is music that makes everything right. It symbolises the creative tension that powers and drives Africa:
Umunthu ngumunthu ngabanthu
One rhythm defines another
The rhythm itself is an invitation that says: together we will create something.
The third piece of music, attached as track 26, is an Nguni Song called: Ilizwe Lifile Kuzimfaziwe zodwa [the file is 2.70 MB so I will only attach it for those who would specifically like to have it]. It was a protest song against the destructive situation in South Africa in 1950. The words mean:
The country is dead
There is only fighting
The nations kill each other
Home after home is lost
To men and girls
Among Blacks there is confusion
Among Whites the government rules
There is only bitterness in the world
Sweetness is finished
Let us cry to the Almighty to send His Spirit
Let both bitterness and fighting end
And Humanity return
Let it be heard in heaven
Where prayer is
That bitterness and fighting is finished here in the world
This might serve as a prayer even for Africa now.
Des Collier
South Africa
9/1/07
|
