Bethesda Magazine and the Bethesda Urban Partnership are partnering to sponsor a short story and essay contest.
The following are the contest details and rules:
Short Story Contest
Deadline: January 25, 2013
Eligibility: Residents of Montgomery County, MD and Upper NW Washington, D.C. (ZIP codes 20015 and 20016) are eligible.
Categories
Adult (18 and over) High School (grades 9-12) (Writers must specify whether they are entering the young adult or the adult contest.)
Requirements
Short stories both categories must not exceed 4,000 words. Submissions must be sent via the online form below. Please upload the story at the bottom of the form in one of the following formats: doc, docx, txt or pdf. On the first page, please put the category at the top (e.g. Adult Short Story), followed by your name, mailing address, phone number and email. Please include a title for your story, single space your document, do not use paragraph indents and include an extra line of space between paragraphs. Please do not include any personal information on the pages of the story. Only one short story per entrant (you may submit one short story as well as one personal essay). Submissions that do not conform to these guidelines will be disqualified.
Eligibility: Residents of Maryland, Washington, D.C. and Virginia are eligible.
Categories
Adult (ages 18 and over) High School (grades 9-12)
Requirements
Essays must not exceed 500 words. Submissions must be sent via the online form. The writer’s full name, mailing address, phone number and e-mail address must be in the email and on the cover page of the essay itself. Please do not include any personal information in the body of the essay. Only one essay per person may be submitted. Submissions that do not conform to these guidelines will be disqualified.
First place: $500 and the winning short story and essay will be published in the July/August issue of Bethesda Magazine.
Second Place: $250
Third Place: $150
Honorable Mention: $75
The first-place winners will also receive a gift certificate to The Writer’s Center. Each winning, second, third and honorable mention short story and essay will be published on the Bethesda Magazine and Bethesda Urban Partnership websites. All winners will be honored at a special event during the Bethesda Literary Festival.
Young Adult Category
First place: $250 and the winning short story and essay will be published in the July/August issue of Bethesda Magazine.
Second place: $100
Third place: $50.
The winning, second and third place, and honorable mention short stories and essays will be published on the Bethesda Magazine and Bethesda Urban Partnership websites.
8th Annual Theatre InspiraTO Festival, Toronto, Alumnae Theatre, May 30 - June 8, 2013
We are excited to bring you a new format: creative challenges to choose from. You have an opportunity to write a ten-minute play based on three options. Participate in a full process of creative exploration.
There are three options.
Option One and Two are part of Theatre InspiraTO's Playwriting Contest and are open to everyone without age or geographic restriction. You can only submit one play and apply to only one option. Option three is only open to Canadians. There are no submission fees.
Theatre InspiraTO's Playwriting Contest
Deadline to submit a play: Dec. 17, 2012 (midnight E.S.T.)
Option One
Submit a ten-minute play where the first line of dialogue in the play is: "I see a rabbit".
OR
Option Two
Submit a ten-minute play where at least one of the character in the play must leave their home in the next hour and never return.
Attach your script in a WORD document or in a PDF file. Hit "submit". The WORD document must be compatible with Window XP. (Note: Vista & Mac formats are not compatible).
The cover page should have the title of the play, the playwright's name and the list of characters. The pages should be numbered.
We accept previously produced plays. The playwright must own the rights to the play up to the end of June 2013 (i.e. plays cannot be owned by a publisher). Any style is acceptable except musicals.
Only those playwrights whose plays have been selected will be notified by January 20, 2013. The plays will be selected by a committee from the Toronto theatre community.
If selected, your play will be performed in Toronto, Canada in May/June 2013. Twelve ten-minute plays will be selected and performed. 1st Prize: $500 CDN.
Should your play be selected for inclusion in the festival, you are giving the non-exclusive right to Theatre InspiraTO to produce and perform the play (at least 4 performances) in the 8th Annual InspiraTO Festival (Toronto Canada), in the May/June 2013. The InspiraTO Festival will find the cast, crew and market your play.
The submission must be a play.A ten-minute play is distinct from a sketch, or a skit; it is a compact play, with a beginning, middle and an end. You need a character facing obstacles in pursuit of some specific goal. You need rising action, conflict, and a climactic moment. Your play must tell a complete story.
The submission must be 10 minutes. Generally speaking scripts (including the stage directions, character names and dialogue) that are over 1,900 words are more than ten minutes long on stage. This does not mean that all plays under 1,900 words are under ten minutes. So be wise - use Word Count. It also helps to read the play out loud and time it (keeping in mind all the pauses). You don't want your hard work rejected because it was too long.
Authors retain copyright and full ownership of their plays.
Deadline to apply: Dec. 17, 2012 (midnight E.S.T.)
This is open to Canadians only who have written a play and wish to fully explore the power of the ten-minute play. You do not have to have written a ten-minute play. There are no registration fees. Please note: if you apply to the Mentoring Project you may not apply to the Playwriting Contest.
Fill out the submission form. In the biography section also state why you feel the Playwrights' Mentoring Project is ideally suited to your playwriting aspirations. Submit a sample of a play you have written (not more than 15 pages). Click on the link for the submission form:http://inspiratofestival.ca/write-a-play2.php
Attach your script in a WORD document or in a PDF file. Hit "submit". The WORD document must be compatible with Window XP. (Note: Vista & Mac formats are not compatible).
Twelve Canadian playwrights will be selected and work with a dramaturge and director to create and develop a ten-minute play from scratch (i.e. not a play they have done or worked on). Their plays will be performed at the 8th InspiraTO Festival in May 2013. The playwrights must attend a one-day workshop on January 12, 2013 in Toronto ( 9 am to 4 pm). They will also attend a half day workshop while the plays are in rehearsals (some time in May 2013). There are no fees. Applicants will be notified by January 4, 2013 if they have been selected. We are happy to be partnering with Pat the Dog Playwright Centre who will be providing some of the mentors.
Do you want to know how to write a ten-minute play? Read a Q & A with Dominik Loncar, Artistic Director of the InspiraTO Festival -- click here. Read his blog on the creative impulse. Click here.
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By DIANA OLIVA CAVE
Nov. 26, 2012
Imagine being in Frida Kahlo's childhood home and opening up a closet that has been locked for decades. Inside are hundreds of personal items – personal photographs, love letters, medications, jewelry, shoes, and clothing that still hold the smell of perfume and the last cigarette she smoked.
That is exactly what happened when Hilda Trujillo Soto, the director of the Frida Kahlo Museum opened the closets that had been locked since the Mexican artist's death in 1954. Inside were over 300 items belonging to Frida Kahlo, and now, a wide array of what was found is on display at the Casa Azul, the Frida Kahlo Museum in the Coyoacán neighborhood of Mexico City.
The exhibit, Appearances Can Be Deceiving: The Dresses of Frida Kahlo, a collaboration between the museum and Vogue Mexico, brings to an end an elaborate 50 year scheme to keep private the intimate details of Kahlo's life. It started when she died in 1954, as a distraught Diego Rivera, the famous Mexican muralist and Frida Kahlo's husband, locked the doors to her closet and never let anyone enter for fear that the contents would be mishandled and ruined.
When he died in 1957 the task of protecting its contents went to a dear friend and patron, Dolores Olmedo, who promised him that the closet would remain unopened until 15 years after his death. She kept her word. In fact, she decided to keep the closet locked until her own death. And she lived a long life, passing away in 2002 at the age of 93.
Eventually, museum personnel decided it was time to look inside. And what a discovery. Art historians and fashionistas already knew Frida was unique and ahead of her time. But, what the items in the exhibit show are that despite the disabilities, the monobrow, and the violent depictions of the female anatomy in some of her paintings, Frida Kahlo was a bit of a girlie girl who wore makeup, used perfume and dressed up her prosthetic leg with a red high-heeled boot. Her clothing aimed for style and self-protection but it also made a statement, both political and cultural.
This was especially true of the Tehuana dresses Kahlo wore like a "second skin," said Circe Henestrosa, the exhibit curator. Colorful and carefully made by indigenous artisans, they were a tribute to the matriarchal Tehuantepec society whose women were traders, considered equals with the men. Tehuana's long skirts were also the perfect way for Kahlo to hide her ailments, including a polio-deformed leg she would eventually have amputated.
Latest issue of Mexican Vogue celebrates the exhibit.
"This dress symbolizes a powerful woman," Henestrosa said, adding: "She wants to portray her Mexicanidad, or her political convictions, and it's a dress that at the same time helps her distinguish herself as a female artist of the 40s. It's a dress that helps her disguise physical imperfections."
Frida painting her dad Guillermo's portrait in 1951.
It is a fashion exhibit built around those two themes – disability and ethnicity. The highlights include several of the Tehuana dresses, corsets that Kahlo wore to keep her damaged spine straight and fancy embroidered satin shoes. Her cat-eye style sunglasses and a baguette clutch purse are among the surprising personal items displayed in a glass cabinet.
In order to elevate the exhibit from simple costume into a fashion exhibit in collaboration with Vogue, the show also includes examples of how her style has influenced modern design. There are the corsets from Jean Paul Gaultier and Comme des Garçon's collections. And in the Givenchy dresses on display, designed by Riccardo Tisci, there are Kahlo-inspired flowers, white lace and cotton, reminiscent of a few key elements often found in her paintings.
Several other artists were brought on board to contribute to the exhibition including Dai Rees who created a leather corset inspired by those worn by Frida Kahlo and Angelo Seminara who used dyed hemp (using Frida's favorite colors) to create hair designs for the nine faceless mannequins wearing her clothing.
It's a small exhibit with the Casa Azul having just five rooms to show Kahlo's personal belongings. And it's a shame since the items that are shown spark a curiosity and hunger to know more about what Frida chose to wear and the style that has lived on so long after her passing. What else was in that closet?
Perhaps to satisfy that curiosity, the curators are planning on rotating parts of the exhibit in five months to show more of the items. The mannequins in one gallery will be switched into new looks and the cabinet of personal items that now includes shoes and jewelry will also be changed.
We can only guess which items they will choose to display – will we get to see all the photographs and love letters? – but ultimately it's the small items that are the most potent offerings: they are what bring her to life, and take us beyond the now familiar image of her self-portraits. From nail polish to medicine, the show's power comes from humanizing an icon and making her a woman we can all relate to.
Frida circa 1926, photo taken by her dad Guillermo.
Appearances Can Be Deceiving: The Dresses of Frida Kahlo, a collaboration between the Frida Kahlo Museum and Vogue Mexico, opened on November 24th, 2012 and will run for a full year.
Couldn’t make out to Facing Race 2012, our national conference? Or want to share your experience? Here’s the last of our three plenaries at the gathering, the full 70-minute video. Check out the other two plenary videos and more from the conference in our Facing Race 2012 hot topic.
A note on audio: since this is a recording of a live event in front of a real audience, there are a few quirks with sound quality. We’re working to get text transcripts available of this and the rest of our plenaries — stay tuned!
FACING RACE 2012
http://arc.org/facingrace Author Junot Díaz, recipient of the Pulitzer Prize and the Macarthur Foundation 'Genius' Grant, delivers the keynote at the Facing Race 2012 conference in Baltimore, Maryland on November 16, 2012.
For legal reasons, we can only show you the first 25 minutes of his 90-minute talk - please enjoy!
I like the look and feel of this. It has an ethereal quality to it that's engaging. The subject matter is also of interest.
Titled Forerunners, the film explores what it means to be black and middle class in South Africa today.
At the frontier of unprecedented social change, Miranda, Mpumi, Martin and Karabo are part of the first generation of black South Africans to rise from poverty and join the country’s ‘middle class’. They delicately balance the traditional views of their childhood with the western consumerism that rules their professional lives, selecting and discarding elements from each world to forge a new legacy for their descendants.
The film continues its film festival circuit tour, since its world premier at the Cannes Pan-African Film Festival last year, winning acclaim along the way; it last screened in London, making its UK premiere at the London International Documentary Festival, in May.
No word yet on where it'll screen next, or potential distribution around the world.
It's only screened once in the USA, so I'd say this could be a nice pick-up for any stateside festivals looking to fill their lineup next year.
Although it may appear that it's early to start talking about Carnaval as the event doesn't actually start until late February, but in reality, the preparation occurs behind the scenes for many months in advance. But the controversy has already begun. Back in February, BW of Brazil discussed a type of "Brazilian apartheid" that's on display every year during Carnaval in Salvador, Bahia, a city known as the "Black Rome" due its 80% black population and its reputation as the African cultural center of the country. Unfortunately during Carnaval in Salvador, Afro-Brazilian singers and groups are consistently excluded from the prime-time media exposure and the big money financial endorsements of the big banks and beer companies that are usually given to white artists. On top of all this, much of the Afro-Brazilian Axé music featured during Salvador's Carnaval are songs written by black artists and songwriters and appropriated by the same white artists who get the endorsement deals and the vast media exposure leaving the black artists in the cold.
Back in August, a controversial idea to give more exposure to Salvador's black Carnaval groups was idealized by leaders of these groups and, as can be expected when the topic is black empowerment, exposure and access, accusations of reverse apartheid were immediately spewed. Interestingly, it seems that this idea will cause a rift between some of the black blocos. No one knows how the idea will work out, but here's an introduction to the background of the story. We will feature more about the situation surrounding Carnaval and Afro-Bahians in coming weeks and months.
Carnaval starts with controvery of blocos afros in Salvador, Bahia
Nelson Barros Neto
The blackest city in Brazil will debut next year a new Carnaval circuit exclusively for afro blocos (1). The new route in Salvador, Bahia is generating controversy and a label of the “apartheid effect”.
Called “afródromo”, the route has been approved by the city and will have 2.5 km, in the Cidade Baixa (Lower City section of Salvador). Bringing participants from the shore front and from the the city’s downtown, from where the more traditional bands parade through the crowds, the project has created a rift between about 200 entities of African matrix of Bahia’s Carnival.
On one side are six groups who requested the change and popular musician Carlinhos Brown. On the other, the “poor cousins”, less famous, with the support of Olodum, historically the most popular bloco of international fame.
João Jorge, president of Olodum
“This will confirm an elitist, white and predatory determination, with respect to the larger circuits [Barra and Campo Grande areas]. It was to have our presentation in front of the Iguatemi shopping mall (2),” says João Jorge, president of Olodum.
The Unafres (Union of Afoxés, Afros, Reggaes and Samba of the State), representative of 76 blocos, spoke of “Carnavalesque Apartheid.”
While larger blocos have sponsorships of beer companies and banks, smaller ones allege that they survive on donations. To Carlinhos Brown (3), the visibility of participants will increase, since the parades will occur during prime time, with more opportunities to appear on TV.
Singer/songwriter Carlinhos Brown
“Eighty percent of the Axé (4) hits come from us. But we are always at the margins of the business (end). It’s time to deal with it ourselves,” he said. Brown also refutes accusations of segregation and says all the blocos are invited.
The coordinator of the Center for Afro-Oriental Studies, UFBA (Federal University of Bahia), views the initiative with caution. “In the case of quotas, there was a prediction that it would generate more racism. I think that that has not happened yet,” said Jeferson Bacelar.
But he ponders: “Why only one group, without the blocos of less media attention? There is already a ridiculous Carnival model that discriminates against the poor population and benefits few artists and politicians.”
Know more about blocos participating in Afródromo
Filhos de Gandhy: Founded in 1949 in the historic Pelourinho district. Older than the trio electric, the group appeared in films recorded in Bahia such as “O Pagador de Promessa” (1962) and “Dona Flor e seus Dois Maridos” (1976). According to tradition, the necklace of the group is worth a kiss.
Ilê Aiyê: Founded in 1974 in Liberdade area of Salvador. The name means “house of the blacks” and it’s located in the neighborhood with largest African descendant population of Brazil according to the entity.
Muzenza: Founded in 1981, in the Pelourinho. Some of the compositions of the bloco found great success in the voices of singers like Maria Bethania (“A Terra Tremeu”), Gal Costa (“Brilho Beleza”) and Daniela Mercury (“Swing da Cor”).
Malê-Debalê: Founded in 1979 in the Abaeté region. Considered the biggest “balé afro” (Afro Dance) in the world, they have 2,000 dancers in their parades. The name is an homage to the Revolta dos Malês (Revolt of the Malê), an uprising of black Muslims that happened in 1835 in Salvador. Recognized as the greatest slave revolt in Brazil’s history, the term Malê refers to a Muslim slave.
Cortejo Afro: Founded in 1998 in the Pelourinho. Born in the Ilê Axé Oyá terreiro, one of the most traditional houses of Afro-Brazilian religion in the city.
Timbalada: Founded in 1991 in the Candeal region. Created by one of Brazil’s biggest hitmakers, Carlinhos Brown, the group revolutionized how the timbau, a type of atabaque or Brazilian congo, instrument) is played
Afródromo
What it is: A street circuit for blocos afros
Where: Avenida da França of the Mercado Modelo (5) up to the Feira de São Joaquim
When: Carnaval 2013
Mercado Modelo in Salvador, Bahia
ØIt will have bleachers to seat 20,000 people
ØAraketu and Didá are a few of blocos afros invited
ØThe groups promise to choose one of the days in the week of Carnaval to parade their groups in their old location routes
1. Blocos Afros are Carnival blocos or groups which celebrate cultural manifestations of African origin. The rhythms od the music usually have a basis a Brazilian musical style known as samba-reggae. The outfits are also African-inspired
2. Located in the upper crust neighborhood of Pituba in Salvador, Bahia
3. Grammy nominated artist and one of Brazil's top hit makers having crafted hits for a number of Brazilian singers.
4. Popular music genre that fuses numerous national and international musical styles. See more here 5. Opening in 1912 and situated in the district of Comércio, Mercado Modelo is one of the oldest and traditional commercial areas in Salvador and constitutes an important tourist attraction. Facing the Baía de Todos os Santos (Bay of All Saints) it neighbor’s the famous Lacerda Elevator and the Historical Pelourinho area. Source: Wikipedia
• November 30, 1912 Gordon Roger Alexander Buchanan Parks, photographer, musician, poet, film director, and activist, was born in Fort Scott, Kansas. Parks bought his first camera at the age of 25 and began to work as a freelance portrait and fashion photographer. In 1941, an exhibition of his photographs of Chicago’s South Side won him a fellowship with the Farm Security Administration. After the FSA was disbanded, Parks photographed fashion for Vogue Magazine and in 1948 became the first African American to work at Life Magazine where over the next 20 years he produced photos on fashion, sports, poverty, racial segregation, and celebrities. A self-taught pianist, Parks composed “Concerto for Piano and Orchestra” (1953) and “Tree Symphony” (1967). In 1989, he composed and choreographed “Martin,” a ballet dedicated to Martin Luther King, Jr. In 1963, Parks wrote “The Learning Tree” which in 1969 he adapted into a film of the same title, making him Hollywood’s first major black film director. He subsequently directed “Shaft” (1971), “Shaft’s Big Score” (1972), and “Leadbelly” (1976). In 1997, the Corcoran Gallery of Art mounted a career retrospective on Parks, “Half Past Autumn: The Art of Gordon Parks,” which has been exhibited at a number of museums, including the Detroit Institute of Art. In 1972, Parks was awarded the NAACP Spingarn Medal and in 1988 received the National Medal of Arts, the highest honor bestowed on an individual artist by the United States, from President Ronald Reagan. Parks died March 7, 2006 and in 2008 an alternative learning center in Saint Paul, Minnesota was renamed Gordon Parks High School. A number of books have been published about Parks, including “Gordon Parks: Black Photographer and Film Maker” (1972), and “Gordon Parks: No Excuses” (2006).
Is Prince coming back around to the Internet? Five years ago, he went on a crusade against YouTube, threatening lawsuits against that site and others that made his copyrighted material available without permission. In 2008, he made sure every recording of his cover of Radiohead’s “Creep” was taken down from YouTube—even afterRadiohead asked that the recordings be put back up. In 2010, he declared the Internet “completely over,” like MTV.
But now he’s got a new music video, his first in a few years, and he’s put up an official version of it—on YouTube. Whatever the man’s feelings about online communication, he sounds great. The song is called “Rock and Roll Love Affair.” No word yet on whether a new album is imminent. Watch below:
In recent times, Babaa Maal has spent more time on stage than in the studio but he is not complaining; his passion is sharing Africa with the world. After curating the successful Africa Utopia, a month-long festival of music, theatre, film, literature and debates, he took to the stage with the legendary Hugh Masekela and Angelique Kidjo to celebrate African music with Londoners, and toured the British isles as part of African Express. Despite his busy schedule, Maal sat down to This Is Africa to talk about what Africa has to offer the world.
TIA: You have been busy, what compelled you to curate Africa Utopia?
Baaba Maal: The idea came about because the people from the Southbank Centre had seen my shows, and every show they saw was diverse. I always included elements that made it more than just my band and I, and they saw that this way of presenting music meant you were also presenting different aspects of culture. So, when we sat down to talk, I said to them, it is good for Africa not just to perform but to also talk. Talk to different people and places, we need to hear women and young people, writers and intellectuals talk about Africa in a way that people can pick up and share with others.
What was the story that you wanted the festival’s debates and talks, literature and music to tell the world about Africa?
I want them to see that Africa, more than any part of the world, has the ability to use culture to talk about itself, bring people together and discover important things. That we can use culture to project ourselves in terms of the future and maybe seeing how we want to be via culture can bring change where the continent is concerned. Yes, we have challenges, but at the same time there’s an energy in Africa that is more powerful than the problems and bring solutions, otherwise we would have fallen down a long time ago.
Africa Express - Euston Station (Babaa Maal front/centre behind Afrikan Boy. Credit - Simon Phipps & Africa Express)
You were involved with a number of events over the summer, from Africa Utopia, the BT Music River Festival and Africa Express – Why should a cultural capital like London embrace African artists and art from the continent?
I lived in Paris when it was the platform of and for African music, but what is interesting about England, especially London, is that it allows everyone who comes from different parts of the world to bring their art and be together without fighting with each other. It’s really an organic combination of people, it’ s like everyone is itching to learn more from each other. I think it presents a good opportunity because it’s the only place where people can come from different parts of Africa – Francophone, Anglophone and even the Portuguese-speaking parts – and find a way to be together. Everyone is excited to discover their neighbour, and sometimes you don’t have that on the continent. It’s very difficult for someone from Namibia to be connected to someone from Kenya, even though they are so close to each other on the continent. But in London, it can happen, and people can say “Yes! We are Africans. Yes, we have our culture, our knowledge and yes, we want to share it with the rest of the world, and yes we have to do it together”.
You have always been clear about your work transcending music and about your duty as an activist, you take on issues others might walk away from – from lending your voice to the HIV-Aids crisis to poverty, illiteracy and women’s rights. Have you ever been concerned about its impact on your musical career?
It always has an impact but what can you do when you are an African? You inspire yourself, add your talent and when you become known all over the world, you must ask yourself what you can bring back to benefit African people. Because if people are not emancipated, if they are not free from hunger and corruption, then I cannot say I have achieved anything when I am back there, because that’s where I live. I started doing my work before I met these big organisations. The name of my band is Daande Lenol, which means “Voice of the people”, and my community, which is in the north of Senegal, is where we started. It grew as we performed on stage after stage in different villages. The money we get was used on projects in the local school to buy tables for the classroom among others. We started little by little and people started to see the connection between culture, music and development, between music and standing up for good things, and we could not run away from that because I come from this community and they are proud to say he is one of us and his music is something that we live with, now what can we do with it? So that’s how it started. And I’m so happy to do it because when I go back I feel very proud to see that what people are giving back is much deeper and interesting than money or the recognition that I’m getting outside.
How, and in what ways, can more African artists, especially the men, join you and other artists like Oumou Sangare and Angelique Kidjo in promoting women’s rights?
We do (he laughs). For example, during Africa Utopia, we created a panel where people could talk about women’s concerns. We had one with Angelique Kidjo and some great women from Africa, and we brought them on board specifically to talk about women’s leadership on the continent. I have songs dedicated to women on my last album. One is A Song for Women and the other Tindo Quando, but it is also to say that we should not be afraid to let the women lead because right now, we can see that women on the continent have a greater ability than men to gather, be together and respect that fact. I don’t know why, but it’s what I see. And we should not be afraid to let women lead when it comes to politics, economy and culture.
A young generation of African music artists, from Nigeria to Mali all the way to South Africa, are on the rise internationally - we have the likes of D’Banj and Fatoumata Diawara, who was also part of Africa Express. What excites you about these new voices and at the same time what concerns you?
I’m proud and happy to see this development, especially the young women – like Asa from Nigeria. I see her and others coming after her and they all play instruments, which is very good for all African women because they were not allowed to touch these instruments before. And they speak different languages – English, French, and Spanish - and they know African music because they can talk about Fela, Salif Keita among others. At the same time, they are open to RnB, hip-hop and other contemporary styles, and they know what is going on in the US, and they are not frightened to work with anyone else in the world because they are equal to them. This is good because it means they are on the frontline. But at the same time, I would advise that they have something others don’t have – we have African elements that work for us – for example, we have images, colours and ceremonies that no one else has, which is something to think about when shooting videos. They should think about what things are uniquely African when they shoot. If they don’t do this, someone else will go there and pick up on these things, which is even easier now thanks to the internet. These artists must be conscious about preserving it because it’s their legacy.
What excites you about the current state of transitional leadership in Africa and what worries you about the continent’s political challenges?
As an African, I’m proud of what Senegal achieved, but at the same time frightened because of what can go wrong, despite our achievements. Mali comes from a great empire, and was a good example of a functioning democracy. Now if Mali is going through this kind of turbulence, I can’t say that we are really safe in Senegal because what’s happening in Mali is affecting people [Malians and Senegalese], and it’s not nice to see. We want to be proud and say yes, Africa is moving forward. But to see a country like Mali, which was not supposed to be caught up in this situation, experiencing what’s happening now, you say "Ah, maybe I’m safe this time but what happens next time?"
Earlier this year, you called on the world, in your role as an ambassador for Oxfam, to take action of over the food crisis in the Sahel region. Can you elaborate on the state of the crises you witnessed when you visited the region?
I thought I knew this region but I didn’t. When I went with Oxfam to some of these places, I was shocked. There were a lot of small villages where people are really suffering. I saw a woman called Halima with four children; she was quite young, so she may have married very young. Her husband is not around, so she is on her own with the children – I cannot call the place they live in a house - between them and the bush, there’s nothing. I asked if her children go to school and she told me the school was nearly two kilometres away, and said “I’m not interested in that. I’m more interested in finding something to feed my children and when they are sick, to try and find a solution to help them get well again.” That’s how desperate they are, and she was not alone because in every village, 70 percent of the population are vulnerable families, and if you don’t help them, if there is no rain, I think something bad is going to happen.
The last night of Africa Utopia was the crowning glory with your energetic and infectious performance. It was the same at the BT River of Music Festival and Africa Express. What’s the message and new narrative about Africa that you hope and would like audiences to take away the African-focused cultural events you helped to create and were part of in 2012?
That culture is leading the continent and we can see some good changes. We know that we are passing through some turbulence but we can move on from that. Africa still has a lot of things to offer and people should not be afraid to come and share with Africa, but they also need to support what we are trying to achieve in Africa.
Thank you.
Tune in to African Classics Radio and enjoy music by Baaba Maal and other African rare grooves from the 60s, 70s, 80s and 90s.
Vanderbilt University Workshop “The Age of Emancipation: Black Freedom in the Atlantic World” April 26-27, 2013 Robert Penn Warren Center for the Humanities
Vanderbilt University’s Sawyer Seminar “The Age of Emancipation: Black Freedom in the Atlantic World” invites applications from senior graduate students and junior scholars to participate in a two day workshop on the topic. The workshop will provide a setting for participants to present their work in an interdisciplinary setting. Applications must be submitted by December 15, 2012. For more information, see our website: http://vanderbilt.edu/rpw_center.
Hillery Pate Activities Coordinator | Robert Penn Warren Center for the Humanities Vanderbilt University PMB 351534 | 2301 Vanderbilt Place Nashville, TN 37235 Phone 615.343.6240 | Fax 615.343.2248
Africa Express - Euston Station (Babaa Maal front/centre behind Afrikan Boy. Credit - Simon Phipps & Africa Express)