And then the child, barely two, gave his mother a mud toy far littler than he, and less cuddly. She paused to savor the magic of that fleeting moment, which she had never had. And quickly got him out of the path of a dusty wind just arrived from nowhere. Ruffling all the hung shukas and swaying the lean trees.
He seemed puzzled by the hidden force which could raise as much dust as he saw swirling in the afternoon air, making the trees hum. Dusting hair. Making the eyes water.
After, he wanted to mirror the wind's might, to see how far the soil could go out of his hands and into the air. And it didn't really go.
When the wind was truly gone and the dust settled he asked mama in uneven words who it was that made her too, as he could see her, there before him. And if he could have the maker to play with and make things out of the same mud of the earth with.
Out of the pebbles he could throw in every which direction in quick succession, he wanted her to have three. But drowsiness crept in before she could answer. And took over. He fell asleep before her hands could reach them pebbles, in his mama's lap.
Whereupon he floated, free, without fear, and saw many, many things he wanted to show mama. He called and called, but she couldn't hear his sleep talk. She didn't see his finger point to any of the things he wanted her eyes to turn to. He was invisible in his flight.
When he woke up he had no words to put any of those things into.
Wednesday, March 15, 2017
A Thought ~ 16: The Music Ramrod
Renaissance:Music must surely be a/the ramrod by means of which Africa will gain/regain its glorious place in the cultural world. And if not the world, the universe.
Spetxa One by C4Pedro
Kelele za Chura by Chege ft. Nandy
Leg Over by Mr. Eazi
King Kong Remix by Vector ft, Phyno x Reminisce x Classiq x Uzi
Nana by Diamond Platnumz ft. Mr. Flavour
Dorobucci by The Mavins (Don Jazzy et al)
Dance For Me by Eugy and Mr. Eazi
A Thought ~ 15: Tomorrow will, as always, show up
Plan - plant - as though there is tomorrow. Don't binge, as though there won't be.
Monday, March 13, 2017
The Ballad at (as?) the Core: Popular African Music Today
The dominant genre of modern African music in 2013-14 was the ballad. Is this symptomatic of anything? Is the African singer, perhaps, at heart a balladeer(ess)? Since it began to step out of its Congolese cradle (where it nestled as rumba) in the mid-1950s, contemporary African music, increasingly a part of the global ‘pop’ culture, continues to be at its most endearing and most resonating in that modus. Since Bob Marley, however, it has been much challenged around Sub-Sahara by the infectiousness of the political-cultural messaging in reggae, the rambunctious imprint in hip-hop, and that catch-as-catch-can wave -- Afro-Fusion.
Still, the lyrical content of African pop music today is mostly about love and loneliness ('aloneness', even) and loss, in distant or forsaken places. Love: which in may sorts of ways, to an expression. The anguished heart which Zahara’s ballad evokes returns us to a period, not quite so long ago, which she probably has a personal recollection of, when parents, spouses and lovers didn’t have mobile phones, and many couldn’t even write. So absences and longings were total, and telegrams (the quickest way to say anything from afar) were dreaded for their habitus-induced capacity to totalize the end of hope. The telegram had become the default bearer of the worst kind of news -- the death of a loved one.
Has the mobile phone, then, killed longing and lonesomeness? Not quite, for it has restored hope that, as in the traditional village or community life, no social (dis)connect is beyond rerouting and repair in the global village. But it requires a different sort of re-imagining and feeling. Perhaps Zahara should tell us how one should feel about the empty train now.
Is not all gospel music a protestation of undivided love for The Maker? The “Kwetu” (motherland) which John Bosco, the Congolese, sang so longingly about in ‘broken’ Swahili -- that brokenness being both Sheng’s precursor and contemporary -- across East Africa of the Fifties: Wasn't it about Love?
Here below are 25 of the best African ballads of 2014. Check them out. They are not arranged in any particular order:
1. Bondo - Say You Love Me
2. D’ija - “Awww”
3. Jaywon - “Tana Wole”
4. Davido ft. Uhuru x DJ Buckz - “The Sound”{Nigeria+S. Africa}
5. Vanessa Mdee ft. K.O. - “Nobody But Me” {Tanzania + }
6. Skales - "I am for Real"
7. Orezi and Davido - “Shuperu”
8. Seyi Shay - “Jangilova”
9. Yemi Alade - “Johnny”
10. Tiwa Savage - My Darlin'
11. Adekunle Gold - Sade
12. Rayce - For You
13. Rayce - Tetela
14. Mr. Flavour ft. Chidinma - “Ololufe”
15. Zahara - Limbisa {South Africa}
16. Tolu ft. Don Jazzy - My Lover
17. Elani - Nikupende (Lyric Video) {Kenya}
18. Waje - Coco Baby ft. Diamond Platnumz {Nigeria + Tanzania}
19. Avril - Nikimuona {Kenya}
20. Charass - Coco Butter [Remix] ft. Davido x Phyno
21. Alicios - Posa ya Bolingo (Lingala Love) {DRC}
22. Harrysong - I'm In Love [Remix] ft. Olamide
23. Bisa Kdei - I Love You {Ghana}
24. DeeVS ft. Bisa Kdei - Yebeko
25. Elani - Kookoo {Kenya}
NOTE
See also Zahara's Loliwe; and see how she explains the meaning of the song. The literal meaning of the word is “The Train”. Though it came out in 2011, I mention it here for the special poignancy and richness of its allusions. Loliwe is Zahara's metaphor for the deep longing for a father, a loved one, who went away in search of greener pastures. A father who went away and, it seems, isn’t ever coming back -- because trains from the big towns arrive predictably at the local station and disappoint.
Still, the lyrical content of African pop music today is mostly about love and loneliness ('aloneness', even) and loss, in distant or forsaken places. Love: which in may sorts of ways, to an expression. The anguished heart which Zahara’s ballad evokes returns us to a period, not quite so long ago, which she probably has a personal recollection of, when parents, spouses and lovers didn’t have mobile phones, and many couldn’t even write. So absences and longings were total, and telegrams (the quickest way to say anything from afar) were dreaded for their habitus-induced capacity to totalize the end of hope. The telegram had become the default bearer of the worst kind of news -- the death of a loved one.
Has the mobile phone, then, killed longing and lonesomeness? Not quite, for it has restored hope that, as in the traditional village or community life, no social (dis)connect is beyond rerouting and repair in the global village. But it requires a different sort of re-imagining and feeling. Perhaps Zahara should tell us how one should feel about the empty train now.
Is not all gospel music a protestation of undivided love for The Maker? The “Kwetu” (motherland) which John Bosco, the Congolese, sang so longingly about in ‘broken’ Swahili -- that brokenness being both Sheng’s precursor and contemporary -- across East Africa of the Fifties: Wasn't it about Love?
Here below are 25 of the best African ballads of 2014. Check them out. They are not arranged in any particular order:
1. Bondo - Say You Love Me
2. D’ija - “Awww”
3. Jaywon - “Tana Wole”
4. Davido ft. Uhuru x DJ Buckz - “The Sound”{Nigeria+S. Africa}
5. Vanessa Mdee ft. K.O. - “Nobody But Me” {Tanzania + }
6. Skales - "I am for Real"
7. Orezi and Davido - “Shuperu”
8. Seyi Shay - “Jangilova”
9. Yemi Alade - “Johnny”
10. Tiwa Savage - My Darlin'
11. Adekunle Gold - Sade
12. Rayce - For You
13. Rayce - Tetela
14. Mr. Flavour ft. Chidinma - “Ololufe”
15. Zahara - Limbisa {South Africa}
16. Tolu ft. Don Jazzy - My Lover
17. Elani - Nikupende (Lyric Video) {Kenya}
18. Waje - Coco Baby ft. Diamond Platnumz {Nigeria + Tanzania}
19. Avril - Nikimuona {Kenya}
20. Charass - Coco Butter [Remix] ft. Davido x Phyno
21. Alicios - Posa ya Bolingo (Lingala Love) {DRC}
22. Harrysong - I'm In Love [Remix] ft. Olamide
23. Bisa Kdei - I Love You {Ghana}
24. DeeVS ft. Bisa Kdei - Yebeko
25. Elani - Kookoo {Kenya}
NOTE
See also Zahara's Loliwe; and see how she explains the meaning of the song. The literal meaning of the word is “The Train”. Though it came out in 2011, I mention it here for the special poignancy and richness of its allusions. Loliwe is Zahara's metaphor for the deep longing for a father, a loved one, who went away in search of greener pastures. A father who went away and, it seems, isn’t ever coming back -- because trains from the big towns arrive predictably at the local station and disappoint.
Sunday, March 12, 2017
A Thought ~ 14: The Social Self
The social self has always been much more extensive, much more fluid, in time and space, than the physical -- or the personal. Social media are only the latest attempts to underscore this fact. Structures of government and bureaucracy preceded them. Religion and witchcraft preceded all that 'Governmentality'. Storytelling did too. Likewise all that genealogical stuff. Like Roots.
What a dreary life we would have if all we had were our flesh and bones -- and blood and sweat and tears. No extensions whatsoever. But, thankfully, we have affinities. We communicate. We have memories. And imaginations. And aspirations. We take many forms, despite our physiological limitations.
We know we are not alone -- and not the only one(s). Alone, neither the Self nor the Other endures -- in his or her or the Other's eyes. Nor is the social self necessarily a socialist.
It is the unfinished selfie in which friends, dear ones and random others and places and things always appear, and with time quietly fade away -- only to be replaced by others, or none at all.
1. CLICK TO SEE THIS: What Charles Horton Cooley's scholarly self thinks that he thinks is his original thought about the social self
2. And see what George Herbet Mead says:
What a dreary life we would have if all we had were our flesh and bones -- and blood and sweat and tears. No extensions whatsoever. But, thankfully, we have affinities. We communicate. We have memories. And imaginations. And aspirations. We take many forms, despite our physiological limitations.
We know we are not alone -- and not the only one(s). Alone, neither the Self nor the Other endures -- in his or her or the Other's eyes. Nor is the social self necessarily a socialist.
It is the unfinished selfie in which friends, dear ones and random others and places and things always appear, and with time quietly fade away -- only to be replaced by others, or none at all.
1. CLICK TO SEE THIS: What Charles Horton Cooley's scholarly self thinks that he thinks is his original thought about the social self
2. And see what George Herbet Mead says:
"The “I” of introspection is the self which enters into social relations with other selves. It is not the “I” that is implied in the fact that one presents himself as a “me. “ And the “me” of introspection is the same “me” that is the object of the social conduct of others. One presents himself as acting toward others – in this presentation he is presented in indirect discourse as the subject of the action and is still an object,– and the subject of this presentation can never appear immediately in conscious experience. It is the same self who is presented as observing himself, and he affects himself just in so far and only in so far as he can address himself by the means of social stimulation which affect others. The “me” whom he addresses is the “me,” therefore, that is similarly affected by the social conduct of those about him." (Read more).3. REGARD: James Neill ~ "The Social Self" Slideshare
Kenya's Riverwood
As kids we watched lots and lots of movies, in the open fields and social halls. But that was nowhere near the number that kids nowadays have access to, or the many ways that they can see them. It was our sense, there in Nairobi's Eastlands, that movies were made by others. It did not bother us at all that we could enjoy them, without qualms. It didn't, as, I suppose now, the school system kept pushing us ahead, year after year, toward a hazy future no one told us had limits.
I also remember (I was coming to this) that going to town in the early days meant going to River Road, and only on special occasions like Christmas and Easter. Downtown was just as big as it is today, but there were unseen 'walls'. River Road was our own, our only, downtown. It was great fun walking up and down it, the pavements full of happy shoppers like us whom we didn't know, and the Indians busy in their shops serving.
The people who many years later gravitated toward Timboroa, along that great road, and founded Riverwood were drawn there by an old spirit they knew nothing about. They are our little brothers and cousins, and even heirs, so to speak.
Cinema in Kenya has a long and even spectacular history, though through it all Kenyans were kept, or remained, on the sidelines as spectators and, at best, extras in their own country. The spectacle was in many ways reflective of a plenitude of natural attractions. But certain blockbuster productions -- such as Out of Africa, Born Free, White Mischief, and, more recently (in 2010), The First Grader (in which a Kenyan star played the leading role) -- drew their deep inspiration from unique intricacies of life as lived in Kenya, and Kenya alone. What with inspiring Maasai chants, amusingly broken Swahili and a mix of mysterious phrases all thrown in for magical measure.
Kenya's Riverwood, perhaps inspired in part by The First Grader and obliquely by the phrase in Shakespeare's The Tempest -- "What is past is prologue" -- wanted to change all that. It wanted, and still does, to bring the Kenyan filmmaker and actor/actress right in the middle of this global game. But Riverwood remains a pale shadow of Nollywood, which is a pale shadow of Bollywood (but not in Nigeria), which is a pale shadow of Hollywood (but not in India).
Riverwood pales, to near invisibility, before them all. It is a late, late comer to a game that it should have gotten into several decades ago. As Kenya slumbered, Nigeria (which has rich and deep roots in African theatre) soared in the world of film-making, through its homegrown Nollywood. Kenya must play catch-up.
Yet all is not lost. Early afternoon yesterday (Saturday, March 11th, 2017), I chanced upon an article in Kenya's Saturday Nation, written by Kingwa Kamencu, about Mwaniki Mageria and the rise of Riverwood Ensemble -- which incidentally was hosting its fourth annual academy awards ceremony that evening. I was amazed by all that she made known to the wider public, and certainly to me, about Riverwood's evolution. Kenya's top trending topic of the day on Twitter was, appropriately, #KFCBRiverwoodAwards2017 -- which took place later last night. I watched most of it on K24 TV. Alas, there was too much TV material in the list of award winners. There was too much KFCB all night, too!
[An Aside: I think KFCB should get off Riverwood's and independent film producers' backs. It's a stifling force. Its calculated inclusion in the above hashtag was demeaning and distasteful. No one wants to hold hands with the executioner, or chukdari]
There are certain important events and milestones in Riverwood's winding path through time that I want to highlight from Kamencu's narration:
1. Riverwood Ensemble, as an umbrella organization of some 240 to 300 Kenyan filmmakers (no one seems to know the exact number), did not even exist in 2010.
2. The filmmakers who were to be at the very core of Riverwood, eventually its raison d'être, were already working their trade in diverse places in Nairobi when Mageria's interest in movie-making awoke. Their preferred meeting place was Timboroa, on River Road.
3. In 2010, Mageria, who was already a vendor of, I surmise, foreign films, had a meeting with Mr. Wachira Waruru, the CEO of Kenya Film Commission at the time, who, in response to his queries, advised him "to go to River Road and see what the producers there were doing" (Mageria's own words).
4. In 2011, Mageria had a meeting with Patrick Quarcoo, CEO of Radio Africa Group, who offered, on a trial basis, a daily one-hour slot on Kiss TV to the River Road filmmakers. It is not clear if, and for how long, this offer was actually made use of. Other media houses soon showed interest, such as: Njata TV, Inooro and Three Stone Media. But how these offers were dealt with, Mageria did not say. Be that as it may, these contacts, looking increasingly purposeful, marked the beginning of the Riverwood Ensemble Filmmakers' Association.
5. The association is currently working on the launch of Riverwood Channel on Bamba TV, based in Kenya (Riverwood TV already has a Twitter handle).
More can be added, as follows, to that portion of the Riverwood chronology which I have gleaned from Mageria/Kamencu:
2014 (Saturday, March 15th): The first annual Riverwood Awards event was held, in Nairobi (Here is the List of Winners).
2015 (Thursday, March 28th): As Kei reported, the Riverwood Ensemble organized a Movie Night in Nairobi to showcase English language movies produced by its members. It was an optimistic move intended to be the first in a series of shows scheduled for the last Thursday of every month.
2015 (Saturday, March 14th): The second Riverwood Awards conducted at Alliance Francaise (Here is the List of Winners)
2016 (Saturday, March 12th): The third Riverwood Awards ceremony took place (Click to see the Full List of Winners).
2017 (Saturday, March 11th): The fourth Riverwood Awards night was held at KCC -- Kenya Cultural Centre, previously known as Kenya National Theatre (see full list of Nominees and Award Winners). It is noteworthy that Kizingo, a Swahili comedy, won in this year's best feature film category.
Here is a selection of tweets that were dedicated earlier in the night to the 2017 awards day:
UPDATED: March 12-13, 2017
I also remember (I was coming to this) that going to town in the early days meant going to River Road, and only on special occasions like Christmas and Easter. Downtown was just as big as it is today, but there were unseen 'walls'. River Road was our own, our only, downtown. It was great fun walking up and down it, the pavements full of happy shoppers like us whom we didn't know, and the Indians busy in their shops serving.
The people who many years later gravitated toward Timboroa, along that great road, and founded Riverwood were drawn there by an old spirit they knew nothing about. They are our little brothers and cousins, and even heirs, so to speak.
Cinema in Kenya has a long and even spectacular history, though through it all Kenyans were kept, or remained, on the sidelines as spectators and, at best, extras in their own country. The spectacle was in many ways reflective of a plenitude of natural attractions. But certain blockbuster productions -- such as Out of Africa, Born Free, White Mischief, and, more recently (in 2010), The First Grader (in which a Kenyan star played the leading role) -- drew their deep inspiration from unique intricacies of life as lived in Kenya, and Kenya alone. What with inspiring Maasai chants, amusingly broken Swahili and a mix of mysterious phrases all thrown in for magical measure.
Kenya's Riverwood, perhaps inspired in part by The First Grader and obliquely by the phrase in Shakespeare's The Tempest -- "What is past is prologue" -- wanted to change all that. It wanted, and still does, to bring the Kenyan filmmaker and actor/actress right in the middle of this global game. But Riverwood remains a pale shadow of Nollywood, which is a pale shadow of Bollywood (but not in Nigeria), which is a pale shadow of Hollywood (but not in India).
Riverwood pales, to near invisibility, before them all. It is a late, late comer to a game that it should have gotten into several decades ago. As Kenya slumbered, Nigeria (which has rich and deep roots in African theatre) soared in the world of film-making, through its homegrown Nollywood. Kenya must play catch-up.
Yet all is not lost. Early afternoon yesterday (Saturday, March 11th, 2017), I chanced upon an article in Kenya's Saturday Nation, written by Kingwa Kamencu, about Mwaniki Mageria and the rise of Riverwood Ensemble -- which incidentally was hosting its fourth annual academy awards ceremony that evening. I was amazed by all that she made known to the wider public, and certainly to me, about Riverwood's evolution. Kenya's top trending topic of the day on Twitter was, appropriately, #KFCBRiverwoodAwards2017 -- which took place later last night. I watched most of it on K24 TV. Alas, there was too much TV material in the list of award winners. There was too much KFCB all night, too!
[An Aside: I think KFCB should get off Riverwood's and independent film producers' backs. It's a stifling force. Its calculated inclusion in the above hashtag was demeaning and distasteful. No one wants to hold hands with the executioner, or chukdari]
There are certain important events and milestones in Riverwood's winding path through time that I want to highlight from Kamencu's narration:
1. Riverwood Ensemble, as an umbrella organization of some 240 to 300 Kenyan filmmakers (no one seems to know the exact number), did not even exist in 2010.
2. The filmmakers who were to be at the very core of Riverwood, eventually its raison d'être, were already working their trade in diverse places in Nairobi when Mageria's interest in movie-making awoke. Their preferred meeting place was Timboroa, on River Road.
3. In 2010, Mageria, who was already a vendor of, I surmise, foreign films, had a meeting with Mr. Wachira Waruru, the CEO of Kenya Film Commission at the time, who, in response to his queries, advised him "to go to River Road and see what the producers there were doing" (Mageria's own words).
4. In 2011, Mageria had a meeting with Patrick Quarcoo, CEO of Radio Africa Group, who offered, on a trial basis, a daily one-hour slot on Kiss TV to the River Road filmmakers. It is not clear if, and for how long, this offer was actually made use of. Other media houses soon showed interest, such as: Njata TV, Inooro and Three Stone Media. But how these offers were dealt with, Mageria did not say. Be that as it may, these contacts, looking increasingly purposeful, marked the beginning of the Riverwood Ensemble Filmmakers' Association.
5. The association is currently working on the launch of Riverwood Channel on Bamba TV, based in Kenya (Riverwood TV already has a Twitter handle).
More can be added, as follows, to that portion of the Riverwood chronology which I have gleaned from Mageria/Kamencu:
2014 (Saturday, March 15th): The first annual Riverwood Awards event was held, in Nairobi (Here is the List of Winners).
2015 (Thursday, March 28th): As Kei reported, the Riverwood Ensemble organized a Movie Night in Nairobi to showcase English language movies produced by its members. It was an optimistic move intended to be the first in a series of shows scheduled for the last Thursday of every month.
2015 (Saturday, March 14th): The second Riverwood Awards conducted at Alliance Francaise (Here is the List of Winners)
2016 (Saturday, March 12th): The third Riverwood Awards ceremony took place (Click to see the Full List of Winners).
2017 (Saturday, March 11th): The fourth Riverwood Awards night was held at KCC -- Kenya Cultural Centre, previously known as Kenya National Theatre (see full list of Nominees and Award Winners). It is noteworthy that Kizingo, a Swahili comedy, won in this year's best feature film category.
Here is a selection of tweets that were dedicated earlier in the night to the 2017 awards day:
- KFCB has done away with additional taxation on artists from county governments. This will encourage young artists #KFCBRiverwoodAwards2017
Arnoldi @arnoldi254
- It's a shame that Kenya consumes 40% of Nigerian film content while good Kenyan movies don't air #KFCBRiverwoodAwards2017
- Top Services Digital Television broadcasting promises to help the creative industry to generate even more income #KFCBRiverwoodAwards2017
- We celebrate film makers tonight #KFCBRiverwoodawards2017 @InfoKfcb @K24Tv @TufilamuPicture @glangiri @mediamaxke
- @InfoKfcb Board has barred County Gov'ts from issuing filming licenses to protect filmmakers from double taxation. #KFCBRiverwoodAwards2017
- Multiple licensing will discourage youth who want to venture into the industry #KFCBRiverwoodAwards2017 @EzekielMutua @NellyMuluka
- The film industry currently generates ksh 7.2b every year thus creating employment to more than 100, 000 people #KFCBRiverwoodAwards2017
- #KFCBRiverwoodAwards2017 film industry creating direct employment to more than 100k people, according to the Pan-Afri Federation of film
UPDATED: March 12-13, 2017
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