The year was 2005. Ernest Zamba aka GNL Zamba started making strides in the entertainment industry.

Even when he was cutting his teeth with Hip Hop All Stars and Mother Africa, a group of young rappers, the story was bleak. Hip hop remained a salad for the mainstream genres. It was taken as a genre for spoilt rich kids wanting to ape western lifestyles. To even fuel the sceptics more, GNL was doing his thing in Luganda, coming up with his own genre – Lugaflow.

But GNL would go on to disprove critics with his first album Koyi Koyi; the riddles of life. It ruled Kampala. It brought hip hop to the fore. Later in 2009, he launched his album at Kyadondo rugby grounds to a massive crowd, pulling all the stops. He even formed his own group, Baboon Forest. He wanted to follow that success up with another album, Dreaming in Colour. He changed his mind because the album was in English and he believed the Ugandan audience wasn’t ready for it.

He went on to sign hip hop sensations Mun G and Big Trill. Together they call themselves the three musketeers. Zamba would go on to produce his second album, Speaking Vernacular. On his journey to complete his third album, The Renaissance, Club Beer decided they should sample Zamba and so he was lined up for his first unplugged show, a show where artistes perform live to their fans.

GNL has always been a crowd-puller, but last Thursday at Club Silk, he struggled to pull the numbers that the shows usually command. By 10pm, there was still a handful of guests, but nonetheless, he decided to start the concert. GNL chose Magic Horns band to back him up but the band was a little stale. The guys on the drums and bas guitar were so off key.

However, despite that, GNL proved he is still the Ugandan hip hop king. I know many think that describing him as ‘king’ is overrated, but hip hop is not about vocal ability, it’s about the rhyme, the poetry and the lyrics. No one on the Ugandan scene beats him to that. The only one who comes close to GNL is Mun G.

GNL sampled his lyrical genius, doing songs like; Uganda Yaffe, Mr Right, Machozi, Elly Wamala’s Ani Yali Amanyi, Koyi Koyi and his first hit, Soda. He gave people a sneak peak into his new album, sampling tracks such as Power, Bump and Grind, and they are powerful songs. Like at most hip hop gigs, during the break, there was a rapper cipher.

He was later joined on stage by Mun G and Big Trill to do Zina and Seesetula. However, the people he had collabos with didn’t show up; Goodlyfe, Vampino and Leilah Kayondo. Only Aziz Azion made it. After two hours of his freestyle and rhymes, the writing was on the wall; GNL is keeping hip hop alive.

———-

FELIX EUPAL

Sister Fa, a Senegalese rapper campaigning to end female genital mutilation, is still traumatised by her memories of this violent rite of passage, an experience she has turned into a powerful song.

Now 30, she remembers being taken as a small child to visit a favourite aunt , and arriving to find about 50 girls and a party atmosphere.

“It was amazing, so beautiful. There was a lot of love and a lot of fun. The next day the love and fun turned to screaming, fear and pain,” said Sister Fa, now Senegal’s most famous female rapper.

Sister Fa – real name Fatou Mandiang Diatta – tells her story in the song ‘Excision’ (Cutting).

Female genital mutilation, still practised in 28 African countries, involves the partial or total removal of the clitoris, and in its most extreme form the vaginal opening is also sewn up.

Senegal banned it in 1999, but it is still widely practised by some ethnic groups – including the Diola which Sister Fa belongs to – and about a quarter of Senegalese women have undergone it.

Sister Fa’s mother died before she got the chance to ask her why she was cut. For years she felt her mother had betrayed her, but recently she came to understand she had no choice – that is why she refers to the practice as “cutting” rather than the more judgmental “mutilation”.

In the communities that practise it, cutting is a prerequisite for marriage and social acceptance. Girls who aren’t cut are ostracised and treated like animals, Sister Fa says.

“If you are not cut it is very hard to have a place in the community … No boy will marry a girl who isn’t cut. She’s not allowed to cook food, she cannot give people water, she won’t be involved in ceremonies and there are certain places where she cannot even go because they will say, ‘You have a clitoris’.”

The singer, who grew up in Casamance in southern Senegal, first questioned the tradition as a teenager, when two babies in her community died after the circumciser applied bleach, thinking it would reduce the pain.

“They had very bad injuries but no one dared take them to hospital. It was a big tragedy and no one was talking about it,” she told TrustLaw during a visit to London this month to speak at an event at the House of Lords, parliament’s upper house.

Sister Fa appears equally at ease addressing politicians and chatting with teenagers. She is fluent in five languages, glamorous, articulate and forthright.

She is also fearless. Campaigners against FGM have been attacked and even killed in some countries.

When Sister Fa goes to Senegal on tour and appears on TV and radio shows, people phone up to abuse her. But she is not worried by threats.  “I’m a rapper. I say things exactly the way I think,” she said. “I’m not really scared. If one day I have to give my life to save this future generation …  well, so what?”

BREAKING THE SILENCE

Sister Fa, who now lives in Berlin with her Austrian husband and their daughter, says moving to Europe in 2006 gave her the space to gain a clearer perspective on FGM.

“Before, I was a little bit ashamed about talking about it because it’s a taboo. It was my father-in-law who told me it’s time to break the taboo,” she said.

“I started talking in a very shy way, to say that I’m not a complete woman. There’s something missing in my body.  Now I’m not ashamed any more to say this happened to me, and to explain to people that it’s time to stop this practice.”

Senegal has made considerable progress in tackling FGM, thanks to the grassroots movement TOSTAN which has persuaded thousands of villages to abandon cutting.

The government aims to eradicate FGM by 2015, but Sister Fa says that when a community declares it has abandoned cutting, many people do not stop. Perhaps 60 percent do, but others simply get their daughters cut in another village.

There is still strong resistance to ending cutting, and it is vital to put FGM in the school curriculum and involve young people, she says. “There’s a generation we must focus on to get them to abandon it before they become mothers and fathers and cut their own children.”

Sister Fa is used to breaking down barriers. As a woman she had to battle to be accepted in the male-dominated world of rap, but she says it is the best music for protest songs – she also sings about child marriage, AIDS and war.

She now has her sights set on Senegal’s neighbour Guinea, where FGM is almost universal. She plans to travel there shortly to work with local musicians who can then continue to spread the message.

During her Senegal tour last year, Sister Fa was particularly proud of helping  persuade her home village to abandon cutting.

The singer says her father, a teacher, was disappointed when she decided to pursue her music rather than go to college. He was hoping she’d be a diplomat.

Today he is one of her biggest fans. He has also made her a solemn promise – he will never cut her two youngest sisters.

………………..

Emma Batha

EASTLEIGH, AN URBAN GRID of muddy, broken streets on Nairobi’s east side that currently reigns as the global home of Somali music, has been so overpopulated from the influx of refugees and migrants that even taxi drivers sigh painfully when asked to travel there. Leaving downtown eastbound into Eastleigh, just as the music playing from radios in traffic changes from Kenyan reggae-fusion to the more Eastern dance beats of Somali pop, there are more pedestrians, more cars, and worse roads. Rather than markets lining structured arcades, they now spill over the street with hawkers leaning out into the traffic jam ankle-deep in mud to offer you shawls and shirts. Two weeks ago, to add to Eastleigh’s social intensity, extremists here increased their rate of terror from monthly grenade attacks to sending a bomber into a Swahili Kenyan-filled matatu mini-bus just as it was crossing Eastleigh. They bombed another car last week, and a mosque this week.

Dikiryo Abdi. Photo: Daniel J. Gerstle

But musicians like Waayaha Cusub believe the community has to react to terror not with fire, but with love. It is their attempt to reduce the cycle of retaliation extremists seek to cultivate. Here, last Sunday night at the packed, hidden hotel lounge, there was tall Dikriyo Abdi out front, reversed baseball cap, mic up, dimple in, and free hand conducting the audience to sing along, “Dhibaatada waa, liska dafaa…” Violence gotta stop, to move ahead…, he raps, the audience echoing the song by heart.

Joining him were Falis Abdi, the adored songstress who has transformed in half a decade from groovy young dancer to idolized vocal legend and mother of two; Lihle Muhdin, the eleven-fingered rapper known for his single “Kaca kaca wada kaca…” Wake wake wake up and fight for your rights…; Burhan Ahmed Yare, the laid back, shy singer; and Shiine Akhyaar Ali, the sage poet who survived an execution-style assassination attempt just a couple years ago.

The crowd was livelier than even most Nairobi concert crowds. The kids knew all the songs, the lyrics, the dance moves. The cause of trying to warn against further fighting in their community is dear to them. Even in the back, rows of girls were dancing on some higher plain. Somehow in the midst of this, trying not to get danced on, I crouched with camera, attempting to take it all in. This is as accurate a portrait as one can get of what kinds of nightlife you can find on the Somali side of Kenya.

While rappers from JayZ to Pharoahe Monch rhyme on Western airwaves about growing up in tough streets, this humble collection of rappers, singers, and poets — and even many of their fans — have taken bullets, stab wounds, beatings, threats, and stalking by those who oppose their messages of peace, love, and reconciliation. On top of that, they are refugees who fled Somalia’s bloody war and still stand up and rap against an al Qaeda-backed extremist rebel force of a hundred thousand guns called “The Youth,” aka al Shabaab, who even banned music as part of their failed strategy to conquer the minds of Somalia.

The three “Stop-the-Violence” concerts, including this one plus two recently concluded at the Kwani Literary Festival December 9th-16th, are rallies to call youth to turn away from extremism, to imagine what their future could be like with reconciliation. Sure, since it’s a “stealth,” aka surprise show, they are relatively small and take place hidden behind walls and guards, but still they’re packed. The rappers are singing with a Somali DJ; in future, bigger shows heading back to Somalia, they plan to bring along their Kenyan partner band Afro Simba and any others willing to risk their lives to bring the music back.

Waayaha Cusub

Where extremists who want to twist culture back a thousand years and put ladies on leashes are able to command millions of dollars of rockets, rifles, and explosives, and a legion of propagandists invoking God to preach hate, the guardians of the middle, the government, backed by African Union troops, struggles to barely, just barely get enough resources to push back. Meanwhile, cultural leaders like Waayaha Cusub and their allies who spin songs, lyrics, and talks of reconciliation scrounge for pennies but push onward. They are the bravest artists I’ve ever heard of, much less gotten to meet and jam with. I’d like to invite any gangsta, punk, or metalhead banking on badass to come join the group on their ongoing tour to bring their musical message back to the world’s most dangerous city, Mogadishu.

Enjoying Somali Nairobi is all about knowing which street is which. Even as I write this, Shiine, the head of Waayaha Cusub, calls me to share that more fighting broke out on one side of town; within the hour I meet him at a hospital to find a kid with stab wounds front and back, others killed just a few streets from where they ran this tremendous peace concert.

Over the long run, to enjoy the peaceful Somali culture in Nairobi, the best place to start is to follow Waayaha Cusub and their Somali Sunrise Concert Tour for Peace and see when their shows are coming. You should try to meet up with a Somali friend who can show you the sweet spots or bring you to a show, or failing that, head to the Laico Regency Hotel Cafe downtown, where you may easily meet a Somali journalist who can advise you before you head to Eastleigh, or even to northwest Kenya. The Somali side of Kenya is full of rich frankincense and cardamom culture, and in the northeast you can walk amid herds of giraffe or witness one of the largest open livestock markets in the world.

Waayaha Cusub

If you do decide to learn more about Somali music in Nairobi, first, try to attend this week’s Kwani Literary Festival, which will feature not only two performances by Waayaha Cusub, but also poetry readings and talks by celebrated author Hadraawi and UK-based poet Warsan Shire in the safer side of Nairobi. Then, travel with a Somali guide / translator and grab a cardamom and camel milk tea at the Gulf Palace Hotel Restaurant overlooking the markets at Jam Street. Slip into the labyrinthine tunnels of shops inside the arcades and underground. And then check out the Waayaha Cusub Music Studio & Store. Imagine what Somali towns — and dance clubs — will be like when peace finally comes to this neighborhood and many of its inhabitants’ home country, Somalia.

“Nabad waa muhim, nolasheena waa, naruurada eebi hiyo naxariista waa,” raps Shiine in the group’s latest song, meant to keep the community’s spirits high. “For everything we want in this world, first we must achieve reconciliation and peace.”

…………………………
DANIEL J GERSTLE

Public Enemy, the firebrand rap crew that urged fans to “fight the power” in the ’90s, is headed to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.

PE will be the fourth rap group to be inducted, following Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five (2007), Run-D.M.C. (2009) and The Beastie Boys (2012).

At the 2012 ceremony, Public Enemy frontman Chuck D pulled double duty, inducting the Beastie Boys with the help of LL Cool J and inducting Red Hot Chili Peppers with comedian Chris Rock.

P.E. charged into the fray of rap’s Golden Era with members Flavor Flav, Chuck D, DJ Terminator X, Professor Griff and the S1W security force. Their charging production–whistles, buzzes, DJ scratching–courtesy of the Shocklee Brothers, gave PE a distinct sound that overwhelmed rap records of the time.

As a black militant rap group, PE incited controversy with combative lyrics and anti-establishment messages. At the height of their popularity, Professor Griff, PE’s minister of information, was ousted for anti-Semitic statements.

While Flavor Flav has become known in later years as a reality TV show star, Chuck D has emerged as rap’s elder statesman.

Other 2013 inductees include disco queen Donna Summer, Rush, Randy Newman, Heart and bluesman Albert King. The Ahmet Ertegun Award for non-performers will go to Lou Adler and Quincy Jones.

The 28th Annual Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame Induction Ceremony will take place Thursday, April 18th 2013 at the Nokia Theatre L.A. LIVE in Los Angeles, and it will air on HBO on Saturday, May 18th 2013 at 9 pm ET.

Tickets to attend the ceremony go on sale on Friday, January 25th 2013.

For more information on tickets, go to http://www.rockhall.com/.

– Erik Parker, CBS Local

Public Enemy may not be the first band that you think of when you think of the phrase ‘rock n roll’ but the ground-breaking hip-hop group have been nominated as one of 2013’s potential inductees for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Joel Peresman, the president and chief executive of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame spoke about the variety of this year’s list of nominees. “The definition of ‘rock and roll’ means different things to different people,” said Peresman, “but as broad as the classifications may be, they all share a common love of the music. This year we again proudly put forth a fantastic array of groups and artists that span the entire genre that is ‘rock and roll.

Public Enemy are amongst a sub-group of nominees that are elected for the first time. Joining them are Deep Purple, Motown band The Marvelettes, NWA and Rush, amongst others. Returning candidates include Kraftwerk, Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, Donna Summer, Heart and Randy Newman. Donna Summer has been on the list five times before, though this is the first time since her death, this summer. Fellow disco pioneers Chic have been on the ballot six times previously, as well.

The final decision on who gets to enter the hallowed Hall of Fame is decided by a group of 600 members of the music industry, including musicians and music historians. Once the decision is made, the entries will be honored at a ceremony in Los Angeles on April 18, 2013.

THE WATCHWORD : VOTE PUBLIC ENEMY >>> http://rockhall.com/get-involved/interact/poll/

“No one has been able to approach the political power that Public Enemy brought to hip-hop,” Adam Yauch of the Beastie Boys told Rolling Stone in 2004, “I put them on a level with Bob Marley and a handful of other artists – the rare artist who can make great music and also deliver a message.” Public Enemy brought an explosion of sonic invention, rhyming virtuosity and social awareness to hip-hop in the 1980s and 1990s. The group’s high points – 1988’s It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back and 1990’s Fear Of A Black Planet, stand among the greatest politically-charged albums of all time. Powered by producer Hank Shocklee and his crew the Bomb Squad, Nation Of Millions was a layered masterpiece that took the ethic of the hip-hop breakbeat – using only the best parts of any given song – and advanced it geometrically, building new music out of a thicket of samples and beats: tracks like “Rebel Without A Pause,” “Night Of The Living Baseheads” and “Black Steel In The Hour Of Chaos” are triumphs of funk, fury and collage. Chuck D. – routinely rated as one of the greatest rappers of all time – pushed the art of the MC forward with his inimitable, rapid-fire baritone as he connected the culture of hip-hop with Black Nationalism and the ideas of Malcolm X. His counterpart, Flavor Flav, brought humor (in the case of “911 Is A Joke,” pointed humor) and a madcap energy. Along the way, they brought a new level of conceptual sophistication to the hip-hop album, and a new level of intensity and power to live hip-hop, inspiring fans from Jay-Z to Rage Against the Machine to Kurt Cobain. After Public Enemy, hip-hop could never again be dismissed as kids’ music.

THE WATCHWORD : VOTE PUBLIC ENEMY >>> http://rockhall.com/get-involved/interact/poll/

Zimbabwe is a paradox. A country riddled with contradictions. While the often unpalatable and sometimes hair-raising stories are making news, the stories of everyday people of Zimbabwe are less reported, if not altogether the country’s best kept secret.

“Generally, Africa seems to be portrayed in a negative light,” says Gerald Mugwenhi, better known as Synik, the four times nominee of the 2012 Zimbabwe Hip-Hop awards. “If people are showcasing the positive side they are usually the exception. Zim is like anywhere else, there are problems, yes, but there are also great things to talk about. However, the focus, when people hear of Zim, is the politics, but the people are a better story.”

Synik is a lyrically talented and much respected Hip-Hop and spoken word artist from Harare. He earned his initial stripes in the Zimbabwean Hip-Hop scene in 2008 when he released an EP which gained him the momentum to make contacts with other local artists. His debut album Syn City has been making some waves as a free download recently.

“The point of the free download was to make the music accessible to everyone. It is available to buy on all major online platforms but I wanted to give people who aren’t familiar with me or my music a chance to hear it as well. It made the album popular as many people got to talk about it, and to share it as well. I believe that sales would never have translated into much had we made it strictly for sale. A number of people got the free download and still bought it to show support, but for many people in Zimbabwe – and maybe some other parts of Africa – buying online is not a possibility.”

The buzz that resulted from the album release had a lot to do with its accessibility. “I didn’t have any misgivings about the free download. I think it’s a good strategy for a debut album and the focus is more long term than immediate returns.”

Syn City, produced by Begotten Sun, is a result of a collaboration with many of Zimbabwe’s finest emcees such as Metaphysics, JnrBrown and Karizma to name a few. Out of mutual respect these artists got together with Synik to share their life experiences in Harare, so that the album could give a clearer reflection on their lives, and allowing for different voices to tell their stories.

To Synik this album is a tribute to the city which helped shape him as an individual — particularly having left his job as an account assistant to pursue his music. The album offers a rare opportunity to get a glimpse into the capital city of one of the most demonised countries of today through the lenses of articulate young people, giving a broader understanding of what is really going on. One could argue that it gives an account of life in Zimbabwe that is not of the newspaper variety.

These artists — cue Chuck D — are the news anchors of the streets of Harare.

“I live in Harare, which I dubbed Syn City playing on my moniker and loosely borrowing the art from the movie,” Synik explains, “but the stories in the album are not unique to Harare. Syn City can be any city.” The film he is speaking of is Sin City, and its visuals are also referred to in the video for the title track which is said to be the first 3D music video from the African continent:

Syn City was shot on a green screen, the backplates are photos we took around the city. The wide angle of the city is a photo we took which was then built into something resembling a 3D environment. By so doing we were able to control the separate elements and achieve the Sin City feel were going for.”

The video, produced by Nqobizitha Mlilo and Rufaro Dhliwayo, has been released online but is not intended to be limited to the online market only. So far it has not yet enjoyed airplay on Zimbabwean television or regional music channels. However, Synik is determined to have it shared on as many platforms as possible.

The album is a mixture of various sounds including the mbira combined with the occasional use of his mother tongue Shona to give it a Zimbabwean feel.

“I think a true reflection of my communication is the balance between my mother tongue and English. There are ideas one can express easier in one language and not the other, so using both gets the message out truthfully.”

The album is self-explanatory. Synik is being brutally honest in his account of life in general and his life in specific, not even shying away from showing his vulnerable side. The track ‘Muripo’ is the one song he says was made at his most vulnerable, expressing his emotions quite freely. It is a deeply personal album. The original album had 12 tracks, but soon after its release a bonus track ‘Marching as One’, originally just an interlude, was added.

“Marching as One is a rebellious song,” Synik says, “so on the album it was good for transitioning into the AfrICan joint. We later on did the full version of ‘Marching’ for the [urban art] Shoko Festival special edition of the album.”

Apart from music, Shoko Festival seeks to incorporate many other art forms such as photography, comedy and dance. It also has a strong element of skills-sharing through workshops and discussions to bring about social change. One of the themes discussed this year was freedom of expression.

Since the Zimbabwean government introduced tough media laws in 2002, freedom of expression has been under attack, and it is interesting to see what the role of artists has become.

“There is a joke here,” Synik laughs, “you may have freedom of expression but no one guarantees you freedom after expression.” He points out that fear may have been used as a political tool so much that paranoia has become a by-product. “Hip-Hop as a radical and outspoken art form is the perfect tool in cultural activism.” That doesn’t mean, he adds, that one would automatically have to become the ‘voice of the voiceless’. “There are artists, who speak boldly, but personally I am not an outright political individual.” But in the same breath he admits that the line between the personal and the political is thin — especially in a place like Zimbabwe.

“I’ve never really felt motivated to be a voice because of the conditions around me. I just express what I’m feeling at the time. I try to bring about positive change through my music. Whether it’s through introspective music, where I try to deal with myself from the inside, or through asking bigger questions about what’s going on around. I just believe artists have a great opportunity to hold up a mirror to society so it can change if it needs to. It takes a certain amount of bravery to speak against some things.”

Although Synik is gradually getting recognition for being a Hip-Hop artist, he also has performed as a spoken word artist and still supports the poetry events happening in Harare. To him, Hip-Hop and poetry are very much interrelated. Synik continues to grow in his musical expression and has recently incorporated the acoustic guitar to his performances. He considers himself to be one who is still trying to find himself.

There is no denying that Zimbabwe is experiencing tough times. Popular western media have been almost relentless in their reporting about the calamities it is facing. Amid all the chaos, human rights violations and economic turmoil, in meeting Synik, a different kind of story is unearthed. A story of a young and driven individual who is determined to realise his dreams, making it despite all the portrayed doom and gloom. Media is only telling one story, so it’s only right that Synik tells another one. His story is told from his — and possibly many other urban Zimbabweans’ — perspective. Just because not everything is a dream doesn’t mean that everything is a nightmare. Home is home and the place Synik calls home is Harare; Syn City is a shout-out to this place.

………………………………………

Amkelwa Mbekeni is one half of the Planet Earth Planet Rap International Hip-Hop segment of And You Don’t Stop! radio show on WBAI (New York)

The music business in most African countries is extremely fragmented, with lots of one-person record labels, no clearly structured distribution and A&R systems. And though the internet has made it easier than ever for emerging artists anywhere in the world to reach an audience, this doesn’t mean the path to fame and fortune is any more clearly laid out.

So you’ve written a bunch of songs and you keep getting complimented on your rapping skills. You’ve set up Reverbnation and Soundcloud accounts and strangers from all over the world have left mostly positive comments beneath that freestyle you posted on YouTube. That gave you such a buzz that you can already see yourself living the life of an artist, performing for thousands while raking in the dough. But no record companies have come calling yet and you’ve now been at it for a while. What next?

The fact is that most aspiring musicians never get beyond the stage of hobbyists, waiting for a record deal that will never come. Even supremely talented musicians who don’t know how the music business works can find themselves banging their heads against a brick wall of indifference until they meet someone who gives them a couple of tips that seem obvious only in retrospect. Some artists get past the first stage by attracting the attention of a label sometimes only to find themselves floundering, with no idea how to proceed. The gap between hobbyist or floundering newly-signed artist and musicians starting to make an actual living from music is partly to do with talent and musical ability, but it is also often a matter of attitude and unrealistic expectations. So we asked Trenton Birch what common but incorrect expectations and assumptions are held by young aspiring musicians who enrol on his course.

Trenton is the Head of Marketing at the SAE Institute Cape Town, and he lectures on the Music Business. The SAE is part of a global network of 56 schools in 25 countries and the Cape Town branch has students form all over Africa. Its Music Business course is the only one of its kind running in South Africa. Trenton is a working musician himself, fronting the the band Trenton and Free Radical. He founded the record label Black Mango Music, which was responsible for the international release of Goldfish’s first album, and started the African hip-hop website Afrolution. He’s also an accomplished DJ who plays African House / Future World styles. So he knows the business about as well as anyone else. Here are the top 10 expectations/assumptions and unhelpful attitudes:

I want to be famous
You’re not an artist!  A true artist makes art because they want to be creative. The art must come before anything else. Fame is an added bonus.

I want to make money and drive a nice car
Find another industry to go into.  The music business is a very hard industry to make money out of.  Don’t be misled by the American Hip Hop videos that show all the bling. There are hundreds of thousands of artists in the US who never get anywhere. You need to be prepared to struggle and ride a bicycle for a while.

I’ve made it when I get a record deal
When you get a record deal the real work starts. Too many people get signed and get dropped because they expect the label to do everything for them once they ink the deal. Signing to a label should be seen as a partnership and you need to take responsibility for your career as much as the label should.

I need a record deal
Not any more.  The industry has changed.  There are advantages to a record deal, the main ones being finance and marketing, but there are now a lot of DIY tools available to get your music out there. Don’t chase a record deal. Focus on building a fan base and the deals will come.

I’m an amazing rapper – but can you write a song?
Being a good MC doesn’t guarantee anything. The best rappers in the world got to where they are because they can write a good song.  Without good songs you’ll never make it. Focus on song-writing and try your tracks out live to assess the response. And a good song is not all about your lyrical dexterity, its about the hook and the melodies that your fans can sing along to.

I’ll make it if I copy the style of the biggest international stars
Don’t be a copycat. This is one of my biggest issues with African artists. As we try to shake the shackles of cultural colonisation, artists are still too often trying to emulate their Western counterparts. We have incredibly rich cultures in Africa, unique and dynamic. We have amazing stories and need to be proud of who we are.  Who wants to hear a rapper or singer from Africa that sounds like an American when there are millions of Americans who have better American accents than you.

Making a living as an artist will eventually be easier than working 9 – 5
Being an artist is a job like any other. If you think you can lay about playing video games and hanging in the studio all day then you are in for a surprise. It’s hard work! You have to run your career like a business. If you want the freedom that comes with being a successful artist in the future you need to put the hours in now and manage your career. Get out of bed early and NEVER be late for anything.

I need to be an international star
Forget the rest of the world. Every country has thousands of artists trying to make it. Focus on your own territory.  If you crack things on your home turf and the music is good enough, other countries will take note and listen.

I need to start making an income from this as soon as possible
Get a job! Don’t be a snob about it. Having a job takes pressure off making money from your art, which means you can be creative without that pressure. Earning money empowers you to make your own decisions and invest in your own creations.  Sure it’s tough to hold down a job while you’re trying to be an artist, but it’s tougher having no money for transport and not being able to survive.

Something’s wrong if I don’t get anywhere in 5 years
Make music for life. They say it takes 10 years to become an overnight success. Most artist you see who are making it have been at it a long time. You’ve got to have perseverance and patience. Oh yes and you need to have a JOB so you don’t suffer while your on your rise to stardom.

Something about hip hop/rap music is proving to be the most popular tool for African youths to organize and express collective resistance. Just last week, I wrote about the role of rap and hip hop music in Mali as a rising force of youth empowerment against perceived political injustice.  This week, news reports from Angola are showing a similar trend. Rap star Luaty Beirao, aka Ikonoklasta, is helping galvanize opposition to the newly re-elected Angolan President of 33 years, Jose Eduardo dos Santos. Dissatisfaction with President Santos has been on the rise in Angola for the past several years. The majority of Angolans still live in extreme poverty (most reports estimate between 50-60%) despite Angola’s standing as the second largest oil producer and the third biggest economy in sub-Saharan Africa. The 30-year-old rapper uses his music to openly express his views and awaken young people to the power of protest.  In 2011, while protests were heating up in North Africa, Ikonoklasta was busy heating up his own stage  of some 3,000 fans with an exciting show where he sang out explicit language, waved anti-dos Santos flags, and rallied his audience for an anti-government protest to be held the following week. The show was also filmed and then re-posted to YouTube and spread like wildfire through the social media. Not too many of his fans showed up at the protest, but subsequent rallies and protests cropped up in the same place, and later, in other parts of the country.

Mr. Beirao keeps paying for his bold stand against the ruling party. He and a few other musicians were detained by the police from that concert in 2011. Again on June 11, 2012 Beirao was arrested by Portuguese authorities at Lisbon airport when coming from Luanda. Apparently a package of cocaine was found stashed in one of his bicycle wheels but he was soon released from custody based on strong indications that Angolan police agents had placed the drugs in his baggage to incriminate him. Another time, during a protest in March, Ikonoklasta was hit on the side of the head by police which left a scar he displays by wearing a mohawk haircut.

Ikonoklast describes his music as conscious hip hop and was drawn to music as a young adult because of the political content he heard in their lyrics. The music is not officially banned in Angola, but has been “purposely neglected” as Mr. Beirao puts it, for over 15 years.  Conscious hip hop is not played on local radio or TV but its underground artists are household names and their music circulates throughout the country on pirate compilations. One of the genre’s biggest distributors are taxi drivers. Some claim that conscious hip hop/rap is far more popular than music that is promoted officially in public and private media. Social media like Facebook and YouTube also spread politicized Angolan hip hop across the continent and the world.

Some Angolan artists are also very productive outside of Angola.  For example, the artist DJ Mpula, also known as Pedro Coquenão, is a kuduro artist who raps socially-conscious messages about Angola in much of his music. Kuduro, which has been around since the 1980s, is a music style that combines samples of traditional carnival music like zoucand soca from the Caribbean and semba from Angola. It weaves it into an up-tempo 4/4 electronica dance beat. Pedro’s sound is making its mark as a new kind of Angola-centric style for his inclusion of traditional Angolan rhythms, lyrics, and dances. His new album Batida, released by Soundway Records in March 2012, is a wonderful work. On this particular track, Tirei O Chapeau, the featured rapper, is none other than Ikonoklasta.

Pedro began to make his own tracks in his loft and drop them into a radio show he hosted in Portugal. The very encouraging reaction he got to his tracks gave him the idea to make a record. He sent out instrumentals to rappers in Angola and Lisbon, gave them a rough lyric theme that he thought matched the mood of the track. Before long, recordings of vocals started coming back. He took the album to producer and mixing engineer, Beat Laden, in Lisbon and finished it in 2009. Pedro told Soundcloud in a recent interview that “being half Angolan, half Portuguese gives me the chance to try to translate the countries to each other, on a small scale of course. It’s impossible now a days to live in Lisbon and not to talk about crisis. Likewise, it’s impossible to have friends and family in Luanda and not include the political and social problems that the city has.” One of my favorite tracks on this album is “Yumbala Mixtape.” I like it for the excellent blend of dance groove and serious lyric message. He denounces the general poor living conditions and corruption in Angola. But the serious topic doesn’t deter its overall objective – get up and move.

“Yumbala” Sample

Back to the recent news articles on Angola– following its recent presidential elections, one observation by journalist Peter Wonacott jumped out at me. In his August 30th piece about youth protests, Wonacott says the moneyed elite in Angola live in swank apartment complexes such  as the one called “Nova Vida” (The New Life,) while directly opposite lies a slum complex that residents call “Vida Esquecida”  (The Forgotten Life.)  It reminded me of something I’d heard before, but it wasn’t called “Nova Vida.” It was called “Waga 2000″ and it refers to a development project of luxurious homes and apartments where the moneyed elite and businessmen congregate from all over West Africa. It too is only steps away from one of the poorest slum  neighborhoods of Ouagadougou, the capital of Burkina Faso. The same shocking divide between rich and poor is decried by hip hop/rap musicians in Burkina Faso today as well.

The trio includes the Burkina MCs, Art Melody and Joey Le Soldat, and Frenchman DJ Form — two rappers and a beatmaker.  They claim to have become the spokesmen for the entire Burkinabe youth, students, shopkeepers, farmers and artists. They deliver the conscious hip hop with their own unique blend of electronic music, hip hop, and warba – a traditional dance of the Mossi, the largest ethnic group in the country. The two rappers protest the condition of Ouaga’s hoods, and the injustice of living day to day without any future, entrenched in poverty, corruption and violence. This track “Sak Sin Paode” (Accept What is Small) is off their brand new album, Waga 3000, named after the Ouaga 2000 development project. The vocals were recorded in Ouagadougou in just two days and their music video was reportedly shot on the fly in Ouagadougou.

“Sak Sin Paode” Sample

African youth find hip hop/rap music an effective means of organizing and expressing collective resistance. In one way, this is not surprising at all. After all, rap in the United States and its Jamaican predecessor, toasting, has been an effective and wildly popular mode of communication among youths for decades. Right here in my own neighborhood in Alexandria, Virginia, I regularly drive down one particular street that divides the “the projects” on one side (public housing for low- and moderate-income residents) and brand new condos starting at $600,000 on the other. I wouldn’t be at all surprised to learn that young local rappers on that very street have a rhyme or two about that. Furthermore,  the roots of rap are African in a round about way because the art of storytelling and lyric improvising over a beat is quite ancient and found in many West African musical traditions. What is surprising is the significant differences between the ancient music forms that are the primary source material for hip hop/rap and contemporary hip hop/rap practiced by African youth today.  In terms of musical lineage, tradition, instrumentation, and transmission, the two forms hardly seem related. Rappers don’t rhyme to traditional instruments anymore (though they may use them from time to time in their electronic mixes.) They  aren’t born into a family lineage of rappers as many West Africans are, and they don’t learn the art through a process of face to face transmission from father to son, mother to daughter like the griots did and still do. Rap doesn’t have an African traditional repertoire, style, technique, and delivery that takes years of dedicated practice and sacrifice to master. Today’s African hip hop/rap artists are creating their own, new thing learning and styling themselves according to their own rules and aesthetics. They look to the West and to their own past for inspiration and direction. Similar to the back-and-forth, Circum-Atlantic love affair of the clave between West Africa and Latin America that resulted in AfroCuban, AfroBrazilian and Afro Columbian music, the love affair of the spoken word set to rhythm carries on it’s own stories in African hip hop and rap today.

……….

HEATHER MAXWELL

Mali Without Music?

The African nation of Mali is often described as one of the most culturally diverse, tolerant, and musical places on the continent. Since the coup d’etat on 22 March 2012, however, when a faction of the military seized power from the government it sent the country into a tailspin of unanticipated consequences. I learned last week that the Islamicists holding the northern part of the country–the regions of Timbuctou, Gao, and Kidal–have banned all secular music and music videos. . . in Mali, of all places on earth! I decided to talk to a few friends about this most recent of terrible events taking place in northern Mali to find out how it happened, and what its implications are for the whole nation. I spoke with three people who each have their own interpretations of the consequences of this ban on secular music–two of whom are Malians currently living in Mali, and one an American anthropologist who just returned in June. You can listen to my interviews with them below, but first I want to give a brief summary of Malian music and why it is so extraordinary, and a basic rundown on the Mali crisis for those who are not up to speed on one or the other (or both) to help contextualize the music ban and why it is such a shock specifically to this African nation.

Above is a bare-bones map of Mali divided into its eight regions, plus the capital district of Bamako.  The coup d’etat of March 22nd happened in the capitol city, Bamako. The map to the right shows Mali’s major cities, the Niger River, and Mali’s surrounding countries. As you can see, Mali is landlocked, and the southern edge of the Sahara Desert envelops the regions of Mopti up to Gao, Tombouctou, and Kidal. The country is extremely large–478,767 squarre miles to be exact–and if one superimposed Mali onto the eastern part of the U.S., it would include eight states plus part of Toronto. Alternatively, Mali is a little less than twice the size of Texas.

Why is Malian music so remarkable in relation to other African countries?

Mali is famous worldwide for its music because of its tremendous multi-ethnic diversity and the prevalence of music in everyday life. Unlike the people of many African countries where people listen to and emulate American hip-hop/rap music and music videos more commonly than local folk and traditional music, Malians listen to and emulate the musics of their past. Hip-hop and rap is popular, especially among the youth in Mali, but even still,  it — and reggae too — typically features traditional instruments and local languages such as Bambara, Songhai or Senufo, in addition to French, Mali’s official language.  In a taxicab ride, on a shopping trip in local shops and restaurants, or on national television, Malian music prevails — old and new, traditional and modern — in a seemingly endless array of regional and ethnic varieties.

From the Kayes, Koulikoro, and Segou regions hail the majestic music of the wordsmith/musician caste known as the jeli [Bambara] or griot [French]). Jeli music (jeliya) includes praise-singing and storytelling accompanied by the 21-stringed harp-lute (kora),  heptatonic (seven-tone) xylophone (balafon), or  five-to-seven-stringed spiked lute (ngoni). . . or a combination of one or all of these with other instruments like the electric bass, guitar, keyboard or flute. Some of sub-Saharan Africa’s greatest bands originated from these regions of Mali, such as the Rail Band, Les Ambassadeurs, Super Djata, Super Biton, and Bembeya Jazz, as well as world music giants Salif Keita, Amadou and Miriam, and Habib Koite. Bamako is Mali’s music capitol as well, with dozens of nightclubs, marquees, recording studios, private dance companies, and national and district orchestras, including the prestigious National Instrumental Ensemble and National Dance Ensemble.

The Region of Sikasso is home to a totally different sound and culture in which Senufo, Minyanka, Bobo, Bambara and Wassoulou ethnic groups make music with pentatonic xylophones (balafon), six-stringed harp-lutes of sacred hunters’ associations (donson n’goni) and of secular youth associations (kamalen n’goni). This region rejoices in non-jeli music and is appreciated for its danceable rhythms, beautiful folk melodies and ritual and sacred music related to the arcane knowledge of exclusive associations and secret societies such as the hunters (donso), warriors (sofa), and male and female initiation societies (komo and poro). Some of Mali’s greatest female singers hail from the Sikasso region, including Oumou Sangare, Nahawa Doumbia, and Coumba Sidibe. Much of the music from Sikasso is built on pentatonic tuning and short, repetitive melodies, in contrast to the heptatonic tuning and long, melismatic-style singing that characterizes the other regions.

One similarity in music from all four of the regions mentioned thus far is in percussion. The jembe, talking drum (tama), calabash drum (bara) and family of dunun drums, with their percussive metal- scraper (karinya) and bell companions, are common throughout the regions, with the exception of the Senufo calabash drum that is predominant only in the Sikasso region.

As the Niger River flows north past Segou and toward Mopti, the musical soundscape begins to change as dramatically as does the physical landscape. Where sand begins to replace soil, and where people greet in Fulfude (also called Pheul) or Dogon instead of Bambara or Senufo, the balafons and koras fade away and give way to the sound of single-chord fiddles, flutes, bullroarers, acoustic guitars and overturned gourds placed in the sand.  Rhythms move away from the deep, reverberating syncopated rhythms of 6/8 and 12/8 patterns to unsyncopated 4/4 rhythms that thud, clack, and boom in dry sharp timbres that result from the open hand on overturned hollowed gourds. The great masked dances of the Dogon are as unique to the country as are as their animist religion and physical habitat nestled in and around the Bandiagara escarpment.

The regions of Tombouctou, Gao and Kidal constitute yet another cluster of culture and music completely unique, and distinctive from the other five regions. In the North, the most common forms of music are performed on the overturned calabash on sand and in water and on the three-stringed, plucked lute called tehardent in Tamashek (the language of the Tuaregs); on the one-stringed fiddle played by Tuareg women (imzad) and Songhai women (njarka); thetende drum, also played by women; the alguarita oboe and the tisinsec and tazammart flutes; and the guitar. The northern regions of Timbuctou and Gao are the home of the desert blues, that world music genre that blossomed with the emergence of the great Songhai  guitarist and Grammy-Award-Winner Ali Farka Toure in his first collaboration with American blues guitarist Ry Cooder.

What is the crisis?

The entire northern part of the country has been lost to a handful of shadowy, militant groups including Tuareg separatists, Islamist militia (Ansar Dine), Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), and the Movement for Oneness and Jihad in West Africa (MUJAO).  Many northerners have fled in response. According to a UNHCR, (The UN refugee agency) report from early August, there are at least 256,000 Malian refugees now living in camps in Burkina Faso, Mauritania and  Niger, and another 174,000 are internally displaced within Mali.  But many citizens who remain in the northern regions of Timbuctou, Gao, and Kidal are witnessing dramatic changes that offer less and less freedom. I was living in Bamako at the time of the coup, and forced to stay in my apartment for three days and nights as blasts of rapid gunfire, war cries from power-intoxicated soldiers, and sounds of the looting neighborhood shops kept me alert and nervous.  But the military seizure of power that happened in Bamako pales in comparison to what followed in the North. A little over one month after the initial coup, the North had declared itself an independent state. The major cities in the three northern regions were under the control of militant groups. Human Rights Watch reported numerous war crimes in the North, including rape; recruiting child soldiers; the pillaging of hospitals, schools, aid agencies, and government buildings; public executions; floggings; and threats to women and Christians. It is now August and things in the North are only worse, while Bamako still struggles to establish an effective interim government that can actually do something about the crisis. In July, Timbuctou’s ancient Sufi shrines were destroyed because they are deemed idolatrous, and Shariya law was put into effect with the same terror tactics as before, forcing unwilling citizens to obey. Malians have always believed in the freedom to interpret Islam in their own way, which has generally been manifest as a blend of Islam with traditional religions and practices of varying degrees. The large majority of Malian women did not wear the traditional full head scarves that cover the entire head and face, but now they are being forced to do so.

Why has secular music been banned in the North?

All forms of secular music was banned last week because, the Islamists currently in control of that area say, it is satanic.  What this means for northerners is clear: listen to, watch, or make music at your peril. With conditions like this, who knows what the future might hold? But this ban has implications for the entire country.  I interviewed people to get an idea about what those implications are as well as to get a current consensus on what role music is playing in Mali’s crisis.

Rap music plays a leading role in moving  Mali  forward.

The biggest discovery I made during my conversations with three people from Mali–Moussa Remi Mariko, Bruce Whitehouse, and Mamou Daffe–is that Malian rap artists have taken the lead in messaging to the population through music. Where are the griotsand popular music vocalists who have historically been the voices of the people? On the one hand, Oumou Sangare and Jenneba Diakite dropped bringing out new singles promoting unity and peace. But the rappers are offering dialogue in their music, explaining the problems in detail, and offering road maps to solutions. It might just be that rap and hip-hop music has become the new ‘music with a message’ in 21st-century Mali.

First, let’s hear from Moussa “Remi” Mariko, Malian musician and Director of the National Instrumental Ensemble of Mali (l’Ensemble Nationale Instrumental du Mali) based in Bamako.

“I have known and worked with Remi in Mali since 1989, and the last time I saw him in Bamako in early March, we were talking about collaborating on some compositions and recordings for one of the Presidential Candidates in the upcoming elections that were to be held in May 2012. My phone conversation with him yesterday made it clear that not only has the ban been a shock and an affront to Malian culture, but that the whole political upset since the March 22nd coup has crippled the music community.”

……….

Heather: What changes have you seen in music since the March 22^nd coup d’etat?

Remi: Well since the coup d’etat, things haven’t worked well at all in general. But in the music domain it’s worse. Because to listen to music you have to be relaxed, happy, joyful for things to work. But now since March 22^nd 2012 everything is upside down. We don’t have gigs, the festivals have stopped because of the lack of security, you see? But what has angered me the most, we the artists, we make our living from art, we have our producers who make their living from art, we have editors who make their living from art, our painters make their living from art; there is an entire structure built around art and especially around music but if they come and tell us now that we are not free to make our music but religious music – me, I don’t understand.

H: No

R: I don’t understand.

H: But they say that uniquely for people who are in the North, right?

R: Yes, they say that uniquely for people who are in the North. Okay. But what is sure is that it will affect us here because as long as we cannot go freely and make music throughout all of Mali, there’s something wrong. For example there is the Essakane Festival  which is in the North. There is the Gao Festival. That too is in the North. But if we don’t our music there, we can’t stay clustered in our own little zone. Voila!  And then there are Songhai musicians, for example Baba Salah.  You know Baba Salah?

H: Yes, of course

R: Well he’s from Gao. But if they ban music making – It’s not about whether or not we are located in Gao – it is catastrophic for Mali.

H: But Baba Salla can still make music or is he afraid for his security?

R: He continues to make music but he criticized the ban on the radio.

R: Now me, I can permit myself to speak my mind because I’m here [in Bamako] I don’t have my mother or father there.  But Baba Salla has his parents are up there. Maybe they can even attack his folks. Voila.

H: Do you think that there were signs in music before the coup that it was going to happen?

R: I think that we, the artists, felt that the situation coming on.

H: How?

R: Because even when the rappers began to sing Mere Zoun “Mother Thief”. Right after that song, they sang another piece where they said Fato ce dun durun be Koulouba “A crazy man is on Koulouba [the hill on which sits the Presidential Palace]. That was ATT [Amadou Toumani Touré – the ousted president of Mali]

H: Who was that?

R: …they even censored them, les Tata Pound, they censored their album.

H: Really?
R: But even still the population listened to it. But that [song] was to criticize the situation that prevailed.

H: The corruption, you mean, of the democracy as it was

R: Yes, exactly. The corruption, the laissez-allez approach, the irresponsibility of power, you know?

H: So that song was censored in Bamako huh?

R: Everywhere! It was censored everywhere. Because, don’t you  know, when a song is censored it excites everybody and they all want to hear it. So everybody got it in their telephones.

H: Where you surprised that the coup occurred?

R: No, not at all. It just shocked me right at first because everything was upside down. But once it was consecrated, we understood the falsehood of the President. . . and we understood that even if the elections had taken place the politicians would have killed each other because they were stockpiling guns in their homes. So even if the elections had taken place there would have been wars … it would have been even worse than what happened.

H: Now that things have changed, do you still have work?

R: The National Instrumental Ensemble does not belong to a President or a Minister. It’s the National Instrumental Ensemble of Mali. The reason for which I work in such a way as to have one piece for every region that I play during my performances. Even recently when the CDAO military came here. Did you hear about that? The CDAO military came here. Okay, so it was the 15 countries of the CDAO. They called on me and we played 15 pieces  for them – one representing each country. Even a piece in English for Nigeria! “Welcome in the Land of Mali, Nigerian People.”  That pleased the Nigerian General who had come so much. The Ensemble did that. All of that is to say that it is not an ensemble of one personality or a president or minister, it is the National Instrumental Ensemble of Mali.

H: That is excellent. So you continue to work, despite everything?

R: Yes, we are giving concerts. But it is a little slow because of the current situation.  Because before there wouldn’t be one conference goes by when they wouldn’t call on us. There were lots of inaugurations and public events for which we were invited to play. And they invited us not because one president or minister liked us. No! No! It was because were the National Instrumental Ensemble of Mali. We make our nation of Mali proud.  It’s a National Instrumental Ensemble that was created in 1962 during the time of Modibo Keita [Mali’s first President].

H: Do you still play music from the North? Music of the Tuareg?

R: Yes. We play Sundiata. Sundiata is not a praise song about someone, it’s a praise song about the descendents of Sundiata Keita. We play Touramagan. That’s a praise song about the descendents of the Traore. We play Da Monzon Diarra [for] the descendents of Da Monzon and of Biton Coulibaly. Do you see?
H: What do you hope for the future of Mali?

R: Well what is sure is that I have hope because it’s starting to get better. We created a unified government. Even though the government is criticized by certain groups, but I think there are all kinds of possibilities in this government . . . that can recuperate the north. I think that Mali is not Mali without the north because it’s the ethnic brassage that gives Mali its color- its trademark. Now I think that with the new government,   if they call forth to really work, if the avoid selfish quarrels, if they say “we are all Malians, let’s keep our sites on Mali’s best interests” we can recuperate the north and I think it will work out. I have hope. Voila. And Anna [my Malian name] will come and we’ll sing.

H: I  sure will

R: No I know it will all work out. Mali is a big country and there is a Bambara proverb that says “Mali  be lombo lamba. Ng’a t’i fili.” That means, “a strong wind can rock a canoe on the river, but it won’t capsize.” That’s Mali. And one more thing. You know the actual President now, well people were annoyed with him because they though he was not on their side. They attacked him at the Palace and he spent 2 months or so in France for treatment — Dioncunda. But when he came back he pardoned his aggressors . . . can you imagine? And to think that when someone threw a pair of shoes at George Bush, they put him in prison [he laughs in teasing]. But our President, he pardoned his aggressors. That act there really touched me…as an artist it really touched me.

……………….

“I also had a conversation with Professor Bruce Whitehouse, an anthropologist who teaches at Lehigh University in Pennsylvania.  Bruce was a fellow Fulbright Scholar with me last year in Mali. He lived in Bamako with his family and rode out the coup d’etat until June when he returned to the US. During this time, he kept his own deeply insightful blog on current events in Mali called Bridges from Bamako.

Bruce’s insights into the recent banning on secular music by the extremists currently controlling Mali’s north helped clarify the political situation in the North and in Bamako and the role of rap artists Amkoullel, Mylmo, and Les Sofas de la Republique in guiding youths toward a solution to Mali’s problems.

Finally I was able to speak with Mamaou Daffe, the founder and director of the Festival sur le Niger, considered one of Africa’s finest music festivals for several years running.  Mamou is highly optimistic for Mali and for the role that his music festival will play in Malian reconstruction.”

………

.Heather: How has life changed in Segou since the events in Mali since March 22nd?

Mamou: Segou remained very calm. When you are in Segou, you don’t feel that there is a crisis. Our daily activities continue on uninterrupted because all of the major talks happen in Bamako and we don’t really understand the details of the problems in the north. I dare to say that Segou is Mali’s zone of confidence; its artistic and creative zone. Since the coup d’etat all of the artists have come to Segou and almost every month the Festival sur le Niger Foundation continues its programs and projects.  Just last week we finished a program on basket weaving produced by local weavers, cotton producers and others to promote local cotton.  So really Segou profits from the situation to strengthen its reputation as the  cultural capitol of West Africa.

H: How has Segou reacted to the most recent ban on all secular music on radio in the north?

M: Like I already mentioned, people here were surprised and shocked by the situation especially Shariya. But very quickly we realized that we needed to start working within the logic of reconstruction. And that has translated into the theme of Timbuctou for our next festival here in 2013.  The Festival of the Desert will take place here in Segou with us, as our invited guest.  We will feature cultural caravans that will  come from Morocco and northern Mali encourage dialogue and harmonious cultural diversity. There are many structures that revolve around the Festival sur le Niger such as the Kore Cultural Center, the council for local economy, SMART Segou- an English program based in Segou. All of these programs are working together in the spirit of reconstruction because we understand that Mali has taken a big hit. We can’t do much in the way of national or international systems but we believe that in Segou we can work to reach the summit of our own art and to contribute hope morally and mentally. Now that we have a new government and talks have begun we hope that the problems in Mali will get resolved quickly. . . maybe by the end of this year.

H: So you still plan on holding the Festival sur le Niger in February 2013?

M: Absolutely! Absolutely! More than ever. We think that it will even be the biggest edition ever. We  think that in fact, this is the most important time to hold the festival because we can organize resistance through culture.

H: This is the 9^th edition right? Can you explain the theme for this edition more specificially?

M: Yes the theme is about Cultural Governance. This is a timely theme because we experienced our own democracy at a crisis – it was totally blocked up. So this year we want to explore new ways toward  a legitimate African – Malian democracy. The main question we pose now is the fragility of the nation which is broken because of problems in governance, justice, and equality.  So we are going to work very hard toward this central theme through a variety of angles such as culture and citizenship, governance and citizenship, and art and democracy – and make connections between all of these. We are inviting Timbouctou because it is our universal heritage and we’re going to work toward a Timbouctou reconstruction and renaissance.  We’re inviting cultural actors and artists from Timbouctou who will come in a caravan from the Festival in the Desert.

H: So the Festival in the Desert is also going to take place in 2013?

M: No it will happen in Segou because there are still some problems in the North.  So in the name of fraternity – because we are brothers, Heather – we are brothers and we do things together. It’s true that we don’t understand each other in some areas, but for the most part we have done things together, we have gone to school together, the Director of the Festival in the Desert is a good friend so I want to receive him and his delegation with a strong cultural caravan. Also we have Moroccan friends that want to bring a caravan. They are coming from Taragalt in the Sahara. The 3^rd Caravan will come from southern Bamako. So there will be a wonderful moment where the north and the south will converge. It will be a moment of artistic and culture fusion. We’ll have Tiken Jah Fakolyfrom Mali, Alou Mbaye N’Der from Senegal, Burkina Electric from Burkina Faso,  Bara Bara Kandam from Ivory Coast and Congo. We’re going to release this artist roster next week so you are the first to have this roster actually.

H: You are not concerned about security?

M: No not at all. As you well know, we always have a professional security force. Also the Festival takes place right next to the military base. And in all truth, security issues in Mali have calmed down a lot. It is very calm in Bamako now. The only security problem now is in the north. But even there, with our brothers there, very important discussions are happening so even up there, we are hoping that within a few months things will be calm too. Furthermore we have a global security program that, like last year, is in partnership with the state. Since the Festival is a national festival – it’s private because we own it but public also because we’ve been in partnership with the state since we started 9 years ago so we help each other to make it safe. We hope that it will be an very important moment for national conciliation and construction.

H: You have a recording studio at your foundation there in Segou called Kore Records, right?

M: Yes

H: How is that going? Do you have musicians from the north coming in to record?

M: YES! But I am happy to announce that we just started a new recording project yesterday that is called the Sahel Blues with artists from the Sahel. Mama Sissoko, Bouraga Diabate… you know, the part of Mali we call Western Sahel near the First Region in Mali.  So we started this creation of artists from this region and they will begin recording in the studio next week. They will perform at the Festival and in other parts of Mali and abroad. You are the first to know again about this group! We also have our local artists that we support which is in line with our mission to develop jobs in the cultural domain. So yes, the studio is busy.  In sum we are taking advantage of the calm and tranquility of Segou so that by December certainly; we will have a sufficient amount of products and we will be very happy to have our artists interviewed by the Voice of America.

……….

In light of these conversations the ban on secular music in the North is doing  more to fan the flames of music’s power in Mali to rally and rebuild than isolate and destroy.

……………………….

Heather Maxwell

This is for the ones that do it
This is for the ones that sue it
This is for the ones that’s scared.

European heaven is African hell…

This is for the ones that snatch
This is for the ones that trade
This is for the ones that betray

This is for the ones on the bend
This is for the ones in the cell
This is for the ones to the edge.

European heaven is African hell…

African history – European lie
African athletes – European agents
African preacher – European prophet
African hoodlum – European government
African entertainers – European lawyers
African Monday – European Christmas
African success story – European aid
African police – European judge
African business – European accountants
African cocaine – European oil
African comedians – European medias
African politicians – European president
African genocide – European world order.

European heaven is African hell…