Similar displays have caused an uproar with some people feeling that it is inappropriate for women to dance topless. Others however, feel that it is no more than a display of African culture.

I figure Mardi Gras must be something like this!

Every day we wake up to the sound of vuvuzelas in the streets. It is like a clarion call for all football fans to wake up to another day of electrifying games. South Africa has been swept away by the vuvuzela tide. Always the radical, I promised myself that I would not conform to popular culture. I detested these vile, offensive noise makers. But eventually, I let my hair down and puckered up. Still, many shops here now advertise great deals on ear plugs or “anti-vuvuzela devices”. Read full story here.

Ghanaians cheering at the 2010 World Cup.

I like story telling. When it is done right, it involves and resonates with an entire audience no matter their race and origins.

My favourite memories from school, and they are few, were from my literature classes. We would read through different story books each semester and the process of relating stories to present day and personal experience was always extremely thought provoking though often tiring.

I wonder if children in traditional cultures really had to sit by the fire every night and listen to their elders tell stories of war heroes and animals and naughty children. I wonder if the children looked forward to these stories or if they thought it was a drag having to subject themselves to clouds of smoke while listening to an old fart go on and on. And today, can I sit by the fireplace with my children, on a Friday evening and narrate stories about the big pigs in the castle on the hill, who ate the nation’s entire crop and watched all the other animals at the bottom of the hill die and kill each other for scraps? Or do I have to buy tickets to a storytelling festival and let someone else do it for me?

Stories can be for entertainment but also, they can mirror behaviours or situations in society which allow us to see ourselves more clearly, sometimes we even laugh at ourselves or at least pretend to as we break into cold sweats from guilt as we shift uncomfortably in our seats. I think being conscious of the stories makes it easier to rethink our behaviour and our place in society. We may not have story telling around bonfires anymore, but we do tell stories everyday on the evening news or in the newspapers and we do laugh at our politicians stoning wananchi and naked lovers being frog matched to the police station. Yes, we still listen to stories and laugh at ourselves.

rappers and hip hop

A light, entertaining an meaningful performances that takes a satirical look at the systems from the educational to the judicial to the political that continue to browbeat the Kenyan society.
Moderated by Mwafrika/ Mshai Mwangola/ Mikhail Gromov

Kazi kwa vijana, malipo kwa wazee…au sio?

The audience for this performance was made up of a younger generation. I was probably among the older people there. There was a lot of sheng; terms I couldn’t really understand, but I did recognize the key words; corruption, disillusionment, politicians, murder. And at the end of the day, that is what matters; that the message is communicated to the people who need to hear it.

I loved the message in the rhymes; what do you expect when the teachers charged with shaping us, disillusion us instead? What do you expect when the youth cannot get jobs because experience is measured in age? Our judicial system is murder. We listen to empty promises from politicians so whose fault is it when they do not deliver and what are we going to do in 2012? Will we ever get to that corruption free zone?

If this is the message being relayed to the youth, then maybe we are not so badly off after all.

Thursday began with a two hour session of Swahili poetry with Ahmed Nassir, Ahmed Sheikh Nabhany, Amira S. Msellem, Mahmoud Mau and Abdilatif Abdalla.

Abdilatif Abdalla- lecturer in Kiswahili Language and Literature at the Institute for African Studies, University of Leipzig, Germany. Photo by Jerry Riley

Abdilatif Abdalla was the last Swahili poet for the day and his is an interesting story. He was a member of the Kenya People’s Union which was an opposition party in the 1960s. In 1969 he was arrested and charged with sedition for his publication entitled “Kenya Twendapi?”, which loosely translated means, which way is Kenya headed? While in prison at Kamiti, he wrote on toilet paper to begin a collection of poetry, which would later be published as “Sauti ya Dhiki”.

Asked about the three years spent in solitary confinement, Abdilatif said that they only strengthened his resolve in what he believed in; that he needed to be a voice in the fight against corruption and dictatorship of African leaders. Unfortunately he says, this unacceptable style of leadership has haunted Africa for years as history continues to repeat itself.

I salute Abdilatif and other Swahili poets who use this art to teach and highlight our history and society. But as Abdilatif says, we need to learn our history and then learn from it. History he says, only repeats itself because we did not hear it the first time.

The unveiling

Uzinduzi or ‘Unveiling’ is a play by Vaclav Havel. The translation was done by Alena Retova and Abdilatif Abdalla. I take my hat off to Alena Retova who is a Czech national teaching Kiswahili at the University of London. Swahili is not an easy language to learn; I tried for close to twelve years and now I can barely put together a coherent sentence. My use of the language rarely goes beyond trying to get a loaf of bread at the kiosk. So much for the 8-4-4 system; but that’s another blog post.

The play was directed by Guy Lenoir assisted by Sammy Mwangi. It was performed in Kiswahili by Caroline Tharau, Victor Ber and Ken Waudo from Heartstrings Kenya.

The organisers paid attention to detail and included music by Juma Tutu and Rahab Said as well as costumes by John Kaveke. I remember Juma Tutu from that comedy show with that guy from the radio. John Kaveke is a leading clothes designer and watching Vera prancing around the Jukwaa in his design eventually won me over.

The play highlights how people deprived of their right to political expression and life in freedom, tend to cocoon themselves within a family environment and resort to gathering possessions, often resulting in erosion of human identity and values. Talk about effective use of irony and satire!

I loved the play. It is a true representation of our society and the pressure to keep up with societal standards. We lose sight of our own individuality in a fight to keep up with acceptable values. We are afraid to break out of the mould and shape our individualities because it is unacceptable and will likely cause ripples, which we feel ill-equipped to deal with.

The acting was awesome. It was definitely better than what I have seen before. I thought Kenyan theatre was dead but turns out I was hanging out in the graveyard. There is hope for us yet! Amen!

So this play written by a playwright from the Czech Republic is translated into Swahili and suddenly becomes very relevant to us in our society. Amazing. The crowd was in stitches from start to finish but we laughed at ourselves. We saw ourselves in Vera and Michael’s characters; needy and pretentious. We are Ferdinand bound by societal standards; insecure; unwilling to break barriers. And when all is said and done, we all just get caught up in a rat race, shuffling along with the lost in a complacent, unforgiving world; idolising material wealth and obsessed with public perception of our lives.

Slam dunk
What a way to cap off the night! Vina na Misamiati. Slam poetry battles and free-style battles. The energy was amazing. Even though I had no idea what Dalibor Markovic was going on about, I just wanted him to keep going. The ambience created was intense; almost trance like.
The battles were battles to the death. Only the strong survived.

I have to say, I was impressed and I am excited about what the rest of this festival has to offer. Storytelling, poetry and free verse tomorrow.

See some of the free style clips i took here.

Read more about Jukwaani! here, here and here.

geothe-institut by Jerry Riley

Jukwaani! Is a project by Goethe-Institut and Alliance Française in association with the Kenya Cultural Center. It is a joint initiative supported by the special fund for cultural projects established by the Ministries of Foreign Affairs of both France and Germany created on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the Elysée Treaty sealing reconciliation and friendship between the two countries. The festival is held in conjunction with the conference “Swahili poetry in performance” organized by Bordeaux and Bayreuth universities and IFRA at IFRA-BIEA.

Some of the hottest poets, story tellers, dancers, actors and hip hop acts.

There is something contagious about the words and actions used to express the wisdom in presentations. They radiate vibrancy and honesty and courage. And when you immerse yourself in the glow of the truth to be had you have to change the way you think, act and even speak.

We turned in, off a tarmac road, to a steep, narrow maram road, which led us downhill passed shacks and stalls on either side of the road. Men, women and children looked on as the big SDV Transami and Kenya Bureau of Standards staff buses cautiously made their way down. The sides of the narrow road had trenches and as if that was not enough, men and women sold their wares on the road while children ran all over the place. There was a deafening silence on our bus. Once in a while someone let out a nervous laugh but that did not quail the anxiety.

No one could hide their relief and joy when we finally got to our destination. We unloaded our gifts and made our way to the shelter where the group waited for us. We delivered enough food stuff to ensure that each member of the group received a month’s supply of maize meal, beans, cooking oil and sugar.

Some of the children performed some poems for us. Their performance was humorous but at the same time thought provoking as they talked about not bowing to peer pressure and lies from people who want to take advantage of us. After this, the leaders spoke briefly to share with us what exactly their support group was all about; providing a pillar and encouragement for people living with HIV and AIDS. Listening to these people you had to admire the structures that they had put in place.

It was soon time to leave but we knew that this was one initiative we wanted to be a part of in future. The positivity of these people left us elated. Though we went there to encourage them, we left uplifted and thankful for the good people of Kenya Youth AIDS Ambassadors group for their great work and the hope that they radiate to the communities around them.

Our next stop was the National Spinal Injury Hospital which is Kenya’s specialised centre for treatment and rehabilitation of citizens with spinal cord injuries and resultant disabilities.

We organised a cleanup of the wards and administration block, and cleaned the grounds using equipment and detergents bought using funds donated by Bamburi Cement Limited and SDV Transami. We also donated a week’s supply of non- pharmaceuticals to the hospital.

This is not the first time that the Bamburi Rugby Super Series and its sponsors have visited the National Spinal Injury Hospital, in fact, we have been doing it for several years now but each time one can’t help but empathise with the patients there. Spinal injuries, we have learnt, most times happen within a fraction of a second. One minute you can walk and feed yourself, the next minute you cannot. It is a lot to take in for patients and their families. There are a lot of changes to come to terms with and we could only admire the patients and staff for their faith and hard work.

By the time we were done at the National Spinal Injury Hospital, we were all physically and emotionally exhausted. We were thankful for the experiences and time shared at the hospital.

The Bamburi Rugby Super Series 2009 thanks Bamburi Cement Limited, SDV Transami and Kenya Bureau of Standards for their immense support in making the tournament’s 2009 Corporate Social Responsibility initiative a success.

Here is the transcript:

Hassan Damn! Iz Chris Brown the new version of Ike Turner??? 08:03 –

Eddy ‘Ras’ Mamboleo at 08:04 11 February via Facebook Mobile
Wacha msichana afunzwe adabu the african way

Eugene Omolo at 08:10 11 February via Facebook Mobile
Research shows tht 85% of women suffr frm some form of hearn disordr…Mean’n tht talkn isnt always the most effectv means of comm’ctn…

Nekesa Were (at 08:29, on 11 February)
@ Eddy. It’s not the African way. It’s the cowards way.

Hassan Liwali (at 08:46, on 11 February)
@ Eddy and Eugene – Jus hope your jump offs ain’t reading your posts. There’s something called a 1-900 number. . .

@ Nekesa – Question: Would you forgive him or get back with him??

Eddy ‘Ras’ Mamboleo at 08:59 11 February via Facebook Mobile
Hassan n Nekesa quit folowin thos westernised trendz,cant u notice ol tha damage theyve caused us?Stick 2ur roots.It ain bein a coward but a disciplinarian…

Eugene u got it ol ryt

Nekesa Were (at 09:25, on 11 February)
@ Hassan. I would forgive him but i would not get back with him. Then again, it’s very easy for one to say that but love makes us do ridiculous things and truthfully, if one was desperately in love with the guy, it might not be such an easy decision to make.

@Eddy . There is nothing “western” about respect for a fellow human being. In fact, African cultures are well known for the great respect given to men AND women.

That you regard a woman as an inferior being who needs to be disciplined speaks to your own insecurities as a man, which you really should take time to deal with, so that eventually, you will find that there are other ways-proper ways-to define your manhood. And hopefully then you’ll realize that you can take pride in your different achievements and the respect that they earn you as opposed to resorting to tactics which only serve to shield you from the truth, which is that you are unaccomplished,frightened and insecure in your own masculinity.

Eugene Omolo at 10:58 11 February via Facebook Mobile
@Nekesa, u do knw tht ths iz a status update… Naat a thesis paper!!

Lorraine Onduru (at 11:05, on 11 February)
Nekesa: you are so on point.

First of all, wife beating has nothing to do with African tradition, it’s a man’s insecurities. And why is it that only the so-called traditions that demean women, are the ones that people(well mostly men) are quick to say need to be upheld? Wife beating is abuse plain and simple.

sheesh, shame on Chris Brown!