Monday, 22 August 2016

Oliver Mtukudzi lights it up at EA Vibe Concert'16

Twitter: @CarolAnande Instagram: @CarolAnande Facebook: @CarolAnande


“Make your song be good for that man, walking in that street there. Impress that one and reach, touch his heart. That’s the man who is very important, but you can only touch his heart when you’re Tanzanian, if you’re not Tanzanian then you’ve got a lot of competition…And you’ll always be secondary because you’re going to sound like R. Kelly, you’re going to sound like 50 Cents, cause you’re trying to be them.

Eric Wainaina at the EAVC
stage on the 6th of Aug
at Nafasi Artspace
Tuku as he's known, on stage doing his thing
at the EAVC concert this year at Nafasi Artspace
in Dar es Salaam
They’ll say she sounds like so and so and if you sound like so and so, where is you? Who you are is the best thing, is the reason why you’re on earth because God had discovered the world is missing this thing-‘so let me create an Eric to cover this space’…

That’s what has made me survive, I don’t compete with anyone I come up with a song and give it, that’s all it is and the competition falls away, common sense.” -Oliver Mtukudzi on the 5th of August this year at Music Mayday-MUDA grounds in Dar es Salaam, where he was talking to young artists from Tanzania on the merits of being authentic.

The Black Spirits Band at the EAVC concert with Tuku
inside Nafasi Artspace grounds in Dar es Salaam recently
Personally I had never met the man, who to date has 65 albums to his name. The organisers of the East Africa Vibes Concert (@EAVC-2016) made this possible. They brought Zimbabwean Super Star, Oliver Mtukudzi to Dar es Salaam also Kenyan Music Icon Eric Wainaina. Both were scheduled to perform on the 6th of August at Nafasi Artspace for EAVC. 

Prior to the concert, there was a master class for musicians from Tanzania to come learn from Oliver as well Eric on matters music industry. Eric encouraged the artists present to diversify their work, to think of doing more than playing one instrument, something that has helped him. What with being involved in producing scores for theatre and film. 

At the end of the session, Oliver got on stage with his Black Spirits Band. Tuku as he’s better known is 63 years of age. Yet when he performs, you’ll think his bones are still in their prime. Present at this workshop were no more than 60 people, so you can imagine the privilege of seeing & hearing him perform live. 

Eric (left) bumping into
Mrisho Mpoto (TZ Poet & Actor) minutes before
the Master Class inside MUDA school grounds
A week ago at CDEA (Culture & Development in East Africa) premises, the NGO who are the major sponsors of this event.  Was the public screening of ‘Shanda’ a documentary that highlights Oliver Mtukudzi’s life in relation to his music. It’s here that I learned that the man has been in the music industry since the early 70’s. Before long, we were at the EAVC concert, on the 6th of August. 


Tuku giving a closed set for the musicians
invited to the Master Class by CDEA & MUDA
in DSM during the EAVC festivities this year 
The event was sponsored by CDEA, Music Mayday-MUDA, The Swiss Embassy, Nafasi Artspace where the venue was held, as well Samaki Samaki & E-FM among others. It attracted a different crowd to the artsy grounds of Nafasi, with various middle class Tanzanians present as well a slew of Zimbabweans living in Dar.

The event was graced by other artists who curtain raised for the two super stars, namely Wahapahapa Band from Tanzania, Jemimah Sanyu from Uganda, Cocodo Band from TZ, Slim MC from UG, Carol Anande (yours truly) from TZ and Zuhura Seng’enge from TZ.

Eric Wainaina (left) with his base guitarist Ted Mwangi
at the EAVC stage this year
The concert which is in its second year is aimed to be an annual event, bringing together live musicians from East Africa. The theme for this year was ‘Vuka Boda’. Translating ‘cross the border’, to highlight the diversity & importance of keeping the East African sounds.

When Oliver Mtukudzi came on stage, a few sound issues got dealt with first, as usual we still have to groom proper sound engineers in our country. Thankfully this was quickly sorted to a descent sound; all through the ‘Black Spirits Band’ which accompanies Tuku. Were very professional already getting into the spirit of their performance, Oliver being at the forefront busy chatting up the fans ‘We’re Tanzanians from Zimbabwe…’

As soon as the music was sweet and churning off their instruments, it slipped into the veins of the audience. Leaving many dancing, even those who were at the VIP section seemingly unaffected by earlier performances, such now they were on their feet. His set was riveting with numbers like ‘Ndima Ndapedza’, ‘Todi’, ‘Neria and others.  

The slick guitarist Benjamin Kabaseke from Kenya with
Eric Wainaina on the EAVC stage this year
When Eric Wainaina stepped on stage he stepped up to the plate of his predecessor. Performing crowd favorites like ‘Ritwa Riaku’ and ‘Nchi ya watu wadogo’, he blew my mind with a song from his upcoming album called ‘Can we fly away together’. The lead guitarist ‘Benjamin Kabaseke on his band is one cat to watch out for.

Dr Oliver Mtukudzi giving wise words at
Master Class for musicians inside MUDA
school grounds in Dar on the 5th of Aug
The talented guitarist Norman Bikaka
at the EAVC stage this year with
Wahapahapa Band from TZ
Dr Mtukudzi left sitting next to Carola Kinasha current principal
of MUDA music school which hosted the Master Class
Lead singer for Wahapahapa band Paul Nduguru
on the EAVC stage this year

Members of the Black Spirits Band with Tuku (right) Alice
Muringayi (middle) and Rodwell Roda
Tendai Sam Mataure the Drummer for
Black Spirits Band
doing his thing at the EAVC
stage in DSM recently,
he's also Tuku's Manager
Tanzanian songstress Grace Matata greeting
 Poet Slim MC from Uganda
 at the Master Class event
Eric Wainaina sharing his thoughts
on the Music Industry at the
Master Class inside MUDA

Eric Wainaina and his musicians on the EAVC Stage 

Tuesday, 9 August 2016

The brave female voices at ZIFF’16



Twitter: @CarolAnande Instagram: @CarolAnande Facebook: @CarolAnande


Unfair Game


A stil with Thuli Makama the Environmental Activist
 Lawyer from Swaziland in the doc film ‘Unfair Game’
 
When a grown man recounts with the ghost recoils of horror and shame, how he was woken up in the middle of the night. Dragged to the bushes and beaten by game rangers until he pisses and shits himself, then made to eat the same. Something deeply stirs in your sternum, at the ZIFF film festival this year on 12 of July around 8pm, at the Ngome Kongwe amphitheatre in Zanzibar. The documentary film ‘Unfair Game’ was presenting this cold scene.

‘Unfair Game’ by director John Antonelli from USA, has footage since the late 1990s till last year, shot in the game reserves of Swaziland and Zambia with a few scenes from Congo. The story centres on the efforts of two activists, a lawyer from Swaziland Thuli Makama and a farmer from Zambia Hammer Siminga; who in the politics of poaching wild animals are fighting for the rights of the indigenous people surrounding these game reserves.

Left-Documentary film maker John Antonelli
 at a press conference in ZIFF answering on his
two doc film presented at the festival
 (right) Festival Director of ZIFF-  Dr. Martin Mhando
In the case of Hammer he was once a game ranger, who worked for the Owen’s a family from the USA. They back in the 1990s, owned land in Zambia’s game reserves. During their stay they noticed a serious decline of elephants in their camps over time, due to poaching and knew they had to do something. By realising it’s the surrounding villagers that partook in the actual killing of the elephants, they knew ultimately they had to place the villagers on their side. They then peacefully engaged with the villagers through Hammer, who is also a native of the area.

It’s here that they learned, that the villagers took to poaching as a means of survival, their crops were failing and they needed the money from poaching to get food and other necessary amenities. It’s here that the Owens with Hammer’s help, began a project that oversaw the implementation of sustainable agriculture methods for the villagers. The project did very well and soon results were obvious, many of the villagers stopped poaching animals for the poaching cartels in Zambia.

Press & Audiences at the ZIFF festival press conferences
It seems the head of these cartels are powerful people, for soon the Owens were kicked out of their land and returned to USA, where to date they’re not allowed back in Zambia. Thankfully Hammer, continued the project despite threats and to date, he’s continuing to help feed the lives of the villagers in the communities surrounding the game reserves Zambia.

The case with Thuli in Swaziland is more fragile. “Then two years later I met Thuli Makama in Swaziland and like a lot of people I think. Particularly from the USA, we have this picture of ‘What is a poacher?’ you know what does that mean, to be a poacher and everything that we see in the media is about the elephant poacher and the rhino poacher and the horrors of that.

And it is horrible but then I actually saw in the very first part of the story, which I shot in the Congo. There was a man who had been arrested for poaching and we were going to go to try and interview him and get a shot of him…Something clicked for me, because I saw this man and I saw that he was just a poor villager who seemed you know, not like an evil person…

A still with Hammer (left) teaching his fellow
villagers in Zambia on sustainable
agricultural practises in the doc film ‘Unfair Game’
He looked like a real person, I had compassion for him and didn’t know why at the time. And it slowly evolved for me that there was this whole other side to poaching that I learned about when I met Thuli in Swaziland.”-John Antonelli at a press conference after the airing of his documentary at ZIFF

Large areas of Swaziland are protected as game reserves or parks.  A private company, Big Game Parks (BGP), which is owned and operated by the Reilly family, manages three of these protected areas, including the Hlane Royal National Park. In Unfair Game, we see Thuli trying to file a case with the government, to ensure that game protection laws in Swaziland are administered by a government ministry, not a private company (BGP) as it stands right now. Where the Game Rangers from these parks, threaten bully even murder with no due process the surrounding villagers of the parks for ‘poaching allegations’.

Hammer Siminga towards in the documentary 'Unfair Game'
expressing his wish at seeing the Owens someday
“Both years we submitted this film to the Swazi film festivals and both years, they said I don’t know, they lost it or something happened and they wouldn’t show it.  Then we were going to do a private screening for just the people in the film in Swaziland and that got shut down too. The place where we going to have it, the Reilly’s exerted some pressure so it never happened.

I was going to go for that, Thuli advised me not to come cause I might end up in jail. You know when I was there filming the police commissioner and the assembly members they pulled me in before the commissioner. When I was all done filming and they tried to confiscate the interviews, but I had sent them out of the country already and they didn’t get to do that…”-John Antonelli

Thuli has not yet succeeded in her case but she’s slowly gaining international support, what with winning the Goldman Prize in 2010, from the Goldman Environmental Foundation.



Zanzibar Soccer Dreams




A still with Nassra J Mohammed, Tanzania
National Women’s football team head coach
in the doc film ‘Zanzibar Soccer Dreams’
Against the backdrop of strict muslim edicts, brave women like Feiruz Ally Amiri and Nassra J Mohammed, decided to pursue the game they loved, Soccer. Despite their society decreeing it a man’s game, this was back in the 1980s. They formed a team called ‘Women’s Fighters FC’ which exists to date as Zanzibar’s women national football team.

Their efforts piqued the interest of a visiting Prof from UK, who is a native of Cameroon-Florence Ayisi. She was moved by their story and shot a documentary film of the team titled, ‘Zanzibar Soccer Queens’ this back in 2007. It went on to feature in many international film festivals, getting rave reviews such that Women’s Fighters FC got invited to Germany by the women’s national team. Since then the club’s morale has been boosted and they’ve travelled for matches within and beyond the continent.

A still from ‘Zanzibar Soccer Dreams’
with Feiruz Ally Amiri, one of the
founders of Women Fighter’s FC and a pioneer
of Zanzibar Women’s football in ZNZ
“What kept us going despite the social taboos and discrimination was our love for the game. It’s in our blood, when you love something you stick with it plus this game is a good thing. We ourselves have had successes with this game, we’ve travelled even went on to play in Europe…for the young up coming girls in this game. I know they face challenges, you can’t easily sway parents to let go of their beliefs.

Girls in Secondary schools in ZNZ now able to enjoy football
thanks to the efforts of Nassra 
But I’d like to tell the parents that football for girls isn’t a bad thing,  it’s a very good thing because when a teenager or child participates in this sport. They avoid getting caught up in street activities that waste their time or put their future in danger. Instead they go to practice and at the end of the day, they’re exhausted with little time to waste plus their minds are made more the sharper from tge physical exercise…” Feiruz Ally Amiri one of the founders of Women’s Fighters FC the first women’s football team in Zanzibar.

Zanzibar Soccer Dreams, is a follow-up of this earlier documentary focusing on the efforts of Nassra J Mohammed, who is the current head coach of the National Women’s team ‘Twiga Stars’. In lobbying the government of Zanzibar to include soccer training for girls, as part of their education in schools. This was a long fight and she had been at it for over 20 years. Culminating to 2010, when Zanzibar’s government added soccer training for girls as part of the curriculum.

Girls from Langoni primary school airing their
delight at now being able to play football
 thanks to the efforts of Nassra Mohammed
and her team at Women’s Fighter’s FC
“Honestly I was very happy because when the sport wasn’t formalised for girls in schools, there was no formal training, for us female sports teachers. Since it was formalised we got the chance to participate in coaching seminars. We went to the ‘women leadership in sports Dar’ seminar, through the sponsorship of the British Council. On returning we then went on to teach, I’ve been teaching for six years now. In that time there’s been progress and so unlike in the footage of the film, my girls now wear track suits to the field.” Mgeni Suleiman Abdallah, a football Coach at Langoni Primary School in rural Zanzibar

The documentary shows an inter-school football bonanza for girls, the first of its kind on the island with some parents present cheering their girls. It was very heartwarming to see this journey and it’s obvious big things will result from the humble and persistent efforts of Women Fighters FC and Nassra J Mohammed in years to come.



Sea Change




A still from the documentary 'Sea Change' with Ikal Angelei
the native Turkana Activist who is fighting to help the tribes
of the Omo River to keep enjoying their river & Lake Turkana
John Antonelli features another brave woman this time from Kenya, in his second Documentary Film shown at this festival, namely ‘Sea Change’. The documentary follows Ikal Angelei. who is also a recipient of the Goldman Environmental Prize-2012. She is the founder of ‘Friends of Turkana’ a movement registered in 2009. To help protect the endangered ecosystem of the Turkana Lake in Kenya, which is the largest desert lake in the world.

It’s currently under threat due to the controversial construction of Gibe III Dam on the Omo River, which is in it's final phases in Ethiopia . The river and the lake which co-exist are the sole source of livelihood for many indigenous communities stretching from Ethiopia to Kenya. Namely the Samburu, El Molo, Turkana, Rendille, Gabra and Dassanach from Kenya. as well the Dassanach, the Mursi, Nyangatom, Bodi, Hamar from Ehiopia and others like the Bodi, Kwegu, Chai and Suri tribes who together culminate an estimated 500,000 people.

A still of the native tribes around the Omo River
& Lake Turkana taken in the documentary 'Sea Change' as
shown at the ZIFF festival in July'16
Initially ‘Friends of Turkana’ managed to get some milestone in stopping the construction, with the help of the UN World Heritage Committee. Where then the African Development Bank and European Investment Bank pulled out of possibly funding Gibe III Dam. The world bank followed suit, but later they caved by funding the credit of a major transmission line to the dam. Together with the funding from The Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, the dam construction is underway.

Sea Change, reveals what will probably be one of our gross errors against humanity in this century as East Africans, for all these people now have their lives in dire peril. Despite warnings that have been issued by hydrologists and experts for years.

“In terms of the water table in the region — it is a dry area. So we really depend on groundwater, because we can’t depend on rainfall alone... With the lake receding, the water table of the lake goes down. It dramatically affects the groundwater across the basin. So even people who are not naturally fishermen or directly dependant on the lake, they depend on the groundwater for survival..” Ikal Angele in an interview by Christina M. Ruso of Yale Education

Sea Change helps put a human face, to the people on this strip, revealing a resilient  self reliable bunch who have survived their tough environment for eons until now. Richard Leakey (Chair of Kenya Wildlife Service Board); who was a mentor to Ikal growing up, is the one who called Ikal back to Kenya, to help give a voice to her people as she was living in the USA at the time.

He was featured in Sea Change and recently in a four part documentary series broadcasted by the Kenya Broadcasting Corporation (KBC), on the ‘update of Kenya’s dwindling Lake Turkana as Ethiopian Dam begins operation’.

A native on the Omo River as shot in the documentary
'Sea Change' by John Antonelli
“If the Ethiopians complete their schemes, Lake Turkana will virtually disappear. It will be an old lake with nothing to show,” predicted Richard Leakey…“I think Lake Turkana is going to be the second Aral Sea. It is one of the worst environmental disasters you can imagine.”—by Haodan Heather Chen-newsecutirtybeat.org

Sea Change, was first aired publicly in East Africa at this ZIFF festival. Really every East African should watch it and learn more on this atrocity and what you can do to help the communities. By visiting survivalinternational.org; you can learn more of the horrors like illegal land grand grabbing that these people have endured and are still going through.



Leeches




The short film ‘Leeches’ is the last film that piqued my interest in this festival. Shot in Hyderabad India, by Director Payal Sethi. It follows a young muslim woman in Hyderabad (played by Preeti Golacha), who learns that her mute sister is about to be married off to a man she’s never met. The man comes from the Middle East,  Preeti smells a rat and she was right as the marriage is a ‘contract marriage’; so she forges a plot to save her little sister.

The film is unorthodox in its portrayal of a strong female lead character, in this deeply conservative and poverty afflicted world. Who owns her sexuality a lot like a city girl, with no cultural anchoring. A trait that is perhaps prevalent in our third world communities but rarely given the limelight.

“It was very uncomfortable for me to talk to these women who are so conservative in this old city, so I asked Jameela Nishat. Who is the head of the NGO that helped with the research for this film. They were like ‘oh yea, we have other tricks…’ they have this ‘alum stone’ which they use, which tightens the vagina it’s really bad. Over repeated use it kinds of leads to uhmn, all kinds of diseases and problems…this obsession with virginity has led to many tricks and this was the most disturbing one we could find.”-Payal Sethi in an after screening interview with her audience.

The film though touching on grave issues was still very entertaining to watch, as the cast particularly Preeti gave a wonderful performance. As well the sequencing of the shots were gripping, for they sat with the human story rather than the factual traits of ‘contract marriages’.

A still from the Short Film 'Leeches' with lead actress
Preeti Golacha as shown at the ZIFF festival
in July''16
“They call them ‘Mutha’ marriages in Hyderabad…there’s this tradition in Hyderabad, when a girl reaches puberty, they put up a white flag on the house. So these aunties go to these very poor neighbourhoods, they make friends with the mothers, they’re very sweet to them…They really work hard to become good with the family, then when the time comes. They say there’s this man in town why are you suffering so much, why do you want your daughter to live like this?

Leeches director Payal Sethi
of  FilmKaravan, at the ZIFF festival in 2016
Later they would throw her out of the house in that country, mind you she has no passport. So there’s a street called Hyderabad, in one of these (Middle Eastern Countries.) Where all these women brides who were thrown out, live as prostitutes. Then they passed a law there that an Arab man can’t bring back a non-Arab wife. So now those aunties make the parents sign divorce papers adjacent to the marriage papers and many times the parents are illiterate as is the case in the film… ”-Payal Sethi in an interview with her audience after the screening of Leeches at ZIFF

The NGO that gave Payal the background information for this film is ‘Shaheen Women’s Resource’ which is run by women in India from Hyderabad.

I was very moved to see the strong women in this year’s ZIFF from Thuli, Ikal, Nassra and female director Payal. Their fights for social justice is admirable and congrats to ZIFF for shining light on their works.

This article was first published in the East African newspaper on this link http://www.theeastafrican.co.ke/magazine/Brave-female-voices-at-Zanzibar-International-Film-Festival-2016/434746-3332444-item-2-arg8nz/index.html

Wednesday, 3 August 2016

Ashimba, Fid Q, Juma Nature, Matona ndani ya ZIFF'16



Twitter: @CarolAnande Instagram: @CarolAnande Facebook: @CarolAnande



Afro folk singer from TZ, Ashimba akitumbuiza ndani ya ZIFF
mwezi wa saba, pale ZNZ.
This year's ZIFF, gave us amazing films. The awards night saw many East African films scooping prizes. Including Rwanda's 'A place for Myself' and Kenya's Watatu by director Nick Redding, and Zawadi by director Richard Card. Also Tanzania's Aisha, scooped Best Actress, Best Editor and Best Director from the awards in ZIFF sponsored by AZAM. For a full list of awards visit www.ziff.or.tz

Pia mada ya mwaka ujao kwa tamasha hili la filamu, itakuwa 'Kusaka Furaha' na litaanza kuanzia tarehe 18 mwezi wa saba 2017. Kama kawaida tamasha hili huwa laambatana na maonyesho ya muziki. Mwaka huu tuliona wanamziki mwanana wakipanda jukwaani ndani ya viwanja vya Ngome Kongwe pale mjini Zanzibar. Akiwemo Ashimba, Fid Q, na Juma Nature na wengine wengi. Jionee mwenyewe kwenye picha hizi...
Traditional Gogo musician
accompanying Mohammed Matona
with his Irimba during the ZIFF festival
this year

Fid Q doing his thing on the16th of July at Nogme Kongwe grounds
during the ZIFF festival this year-picha kwa hisani ya ZIFF

Left-Gora currently learning the Canoon at DCMA and right-Mr Abel
one of the teachers at DCMA and an experienced Bassist in ZNZ doing
their thing behind Mohammed Matona at the ZIFF festival this year

Klia-Juma Nature akitumbuiza mambo yake pale jukwaani pa Ngome
Kongwe ndani ya tamasha hili la ZIFF mwaka huu
Mzee hatari wa vyombo vya muziki 'Mohammed Issa Matona' akiwa
na chombo chake mathubuti 'Violin'. Ndani ya tamasha
la ZIFF mwaka huu 
Background dancer & Vocalist
 for Ras Katongo at the ZIFF
festival this year

Snoop Lee- naye alipanda jukwaani ile tarehe 16/07 ndani ya
Hip-Hop night pale Ngome Kongwe ndani ya tamasha la ZIFF

Dabo the reggaton artist, naye alipanda
jukwaani kwenye tamasha hili
kwe mbwembwe na shamra
Mash Marley from ZNZ, was very energetic
at this year's ZIFF giving his audience a lively
performance
Kikundi cha modern taarab-Buzzi kiliwakilisha vyema pale
Ngome Kongwe ndani ya tamasha la ZIFF mwaka huu
Percussionist Kauzeni Lyamba
working alongside Ashimba and the G
Cliff Band with Matona at the ZIFF
festival this yea
r
Ras Katongo doing his thing during
reggae night on the 13th of July at the ZIFF
festival this year

Mdogo wake Mohammed Matona wa kikundi cha 'Music Dell'
Buzzi Modern Taarab-Kasim Matona adding his melodious
voice to the contents of ZIFF festival this yea
Mzuka Acrobats doing their thing at the ZIFF festival this year
Musicians backing Dabo the Vampire a the ZIFF festival this year