By Ogova Ondego
Published January 24, 2016

Saturday, January 23, 2016. The day may have begun like any other weekend in Kenya. But it gradually grew grimmer among them that monitor website readership performance.

We at ArtMatters.Info realised something was wrong with the sort of search terms–‘Salim Junior’ and ‘Dead’–that led numerous readers from all over the world to the portal’s music section. Almost every reader appeared to have developed interest in a macabre subject. And over the first three or four hours of the day. The specific search phrases used were ‘salim junior dead’ (3008 times); ‘salim junior biography’ (4000 times); ‘is salim junior dead’ (378 times); ‘salim junior dead?’ (5663 times); ‘is salim junior dead?’ (200 times); and ‘salim junior kenya dead’ (562 times).

Even without being told, something appeared not to be sitting well with Kenya’s 40-year ‘one-man guitar’ entertainment movement; it had lost a valiant foot soldier. That is how the death of Paul Mwangi whose stage name is Salim Junior, was announced to the world on January 23, 2016.

RELATED:New Compilation Retraces Kikuyu Popular Music

And so we write this article; not to praise Salim Junior, but to pay tribute to the artist whose one-guitar-man performance style of both gospel and secular remixes drew music lovers to entertainment joints in droves. Indeed, no cultural celebration—birthday, wedding, fundraiser–in Nairobi and its environs is ever complete without ‘Mugithi’; this is the name of the style of music that Salim Junior practised.

Described as a hard-working musician who did not disappoint at a concert, Mwangi was born into a musical family led by a dad–‘Salim’ Kamau–who sang Christian music; it is popularly known as ‘gospel’ in Kenya. This family is credited with having been among those that pioneered the ‘Mugithi’ or one-man-guitar style of entertainment. Tha late Mwangi’s siblings—Mighty Salim, Sarafina Salim and Salim Young–are also popular ‘mugithi’ musicians.

Mwangi’s ability in remixing or recreating traditional Gikuyu secular songs and Christian choruses and hymns endeared him to many. His remix of veteran Gikuyu musician Joseph Kamaru’s hits–Ke Ngwitikirie, Wendo wa Chebe Chebe, Mutondo wa Wendo, Certificate ya Maisha, Kaba utinie kiara, Nindarega, Muti Uyu Mukuona, Kindu kia munai–was well received. This saw him entertain his fans both at home and abroad, especially in the Kikuyu Diaspora in United Kingdom (UK), United Arab Emirates (UAE) and United States of America (USA).

Salim Junior’s gospel remixes included Huria Ria Keri, Jesu Niwe Murithi Wakwa, and Menyaga Wega.

RELATED:Theatre in vernacular crawls onto stage in Kenya

Born Paul Mwangi in Subukia within Rift Valley Province, Salim Junior was based in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi.

The late musician’s brother, Njuguna Salim, said the former died on January 23, 2016 at Nakuru’s War Memorial Hospital where he had just been admitted for treatment.

The post Tribute to Popular Kenyan ‘Mugithi’ Musician appeared first on ArtMatters.Info.

By Iminza Keboge
Published February 2, 2016

A film about an 18-year-old Afghan refugee living in Iran has won two awards at Sundance Film Festival.

SONITA, directed by Rokhsareh Ghaem Maghami, has won the Grand Jury Prize and the Audience Award in the World Cinema Documentary Competition.

RELATED:New York City’s Museum of Modern Art Honours Filmmaker Kim Longinotto with 14-Film Retrospective Exhibition

Inspired by Michael Jackson and Rihanna, Sonita dreams of becoming a big-name rapper. But to her family, she’d bring in US$9000 as a bride.

Director Maghami poignantly shifts from observer to participant, altering expectations as Sonita’s story unfolds in an intimate and joyful portrait.

“Sonita’s beats are as solid as stones, her rhymes are fierce, and her videos are a piercing howl against the constant injustice, fear, and sexism women must endure,” writes the Sundance Jury. “SONITA highlights the rarely seen intricacies and shifting contrasts of Iranian society through the lens of an artist who is defining the next generation.”

SONITA was made with the help of Women Make Movies (WMM), a media arts organisation and distributor that assists women directors with their productions from concept through completion.

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Two other films supported by WMM have also been awarded in the US Documentary Competition: WEINER by Josh Kriegman and Elyse Steinberg won the Grand Jury Prize. TRAPPED by Dawn Porter won the Special Jury Award for Social Impact.

SONITA’s awards continue WMM’s winning streak. DREAMCATCHER by Kim Longinotto, won Best Director at Sundance 2015 in the same category. DREAMCATCHER aired on Showtime. It is now streaming on Netflix. CITIZENFOUR, the 2015 Academy Award-winning Best Documentary, was produced with the assistance of WMM’s Production Assistance Programme.

RELATED:Successful Filmmaking is Driven by Cultural Authenticity

WMM says it was founded in 1972 as a feminist filmmakers’ collective; it has since grown into an industry-leading nonprofit media arts organization and distributor. It has for more than four decades helped in changing “the landscape of filmmaking for women directors and producers, bringing the issues facing women around the world to screens everywhere. Now, with more than 550 films in our catalog, including Academy®, Emmy®, Peabody and Sundance nominees and award winners, WMM is the largest distributor of films by and about women in the world. Women Make Movies. By Women. About Women. For Everyone.”

The post Women Make Movies-Supported Film Wins at Sundance appeared first on ArtMatters.Info.

By Ogova Ondego
Published February 5, 2016

South Africa’s Mother City, Cape Town, shall not host its annual Infecting the City Festival in 2016.

Africa Centre (AC), the not-for-profit organisation that has presented the event since 2008, says the cancellation is due to ‘funding constraints’.

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Saying “Raising money for the Festival is always a 12-month occupation”, AC says it hasn’t secured enough resources “to hold the Festival in its traditional format” despite having “done an exhaustive search for funders” in 2015.

This scenario, the organisers say in a Press statement, has unfolded despite the fact that “Every year since its inception in 2008, audience attendance, artist participation and media attention has increased, as the Festival emerged into one of Cape Town’s signature artistic events.”

Audience numbers may have “peaked in 2015 with over 38,000 people, but unfortunately this popularity has not translated into fundraising success,” AC says.

However, not all is lost for Infecting the City festival. At least not yet.

RELATED:Lola Kenya Screen Marks Five Years with Critical Writing and Creative Documentary Film Workshops

AC says it plans “to launch the Infecting the City series”, thanks to the support from the City of Cape Town.

The planned series “will include a range of large and small monthly public art interventions that take place in the City’s shared spaces. The series will start in March and the full schedule will be released in the next three weeks,” AC says.

The plight of Infecting the City festival mirrors that of many donor-funded creative and cultural events across Africa. From South Africa in the south to Somalia in the east; and from Senegal in the west to Morocco and Tunisia to the north; and all the other places in between, creative and cultural initiatives that depend on ‘donors’ are in trouble over ‘lack of funds’.

Like South Africa’s Infecting the City, Kenya-based Lola Kenya Screen (LKS) movie festival, skills-development programme and marketing platform for children and youth in eastern Africa has since 2011 had to scale down its programmes; if only to stay afloat.

RELATED:Zanzibar’s Sauti za Busara Cancels Annual Festival, Cites Inadequate Funding

The not-for-profit organisation began its austerity measures by focusing on its core programmes—weekly school outreach, fortnightly mobile cinema, monthly film forum, quarterly internship, annual festival—while freezing staff allowances (not salaries), reducing the number of staff and then stopping staff allowances altogether. While some staff members left, this enabled LKS to remain alive for a while.

While Cape Film Commission (CFC) of South Africa is closing shop on February 12, 2016 citing ‘lack of operational funding’, Zanzibar’s Sauti za Busara music festival has been cancelled in 2016.

RELATED:African Artists In Residency (AIR) 2015 Programme Awards Announced 

In cancelling the music festival that has run every February over the past 13 years, Yusuf Mahmoud, founder and Chief Executive Officer of Busara Promotions (BP) that presents the event, noted the cancellation was due to “shortage of funding.”

In a media statement issued on August 20, 2015, Mahmoud had noted that BP had “no funds to start working on the next edition [of the music festival].”

The Cape Town-based CFC says it is closing its doors after 15 years “due to the lack of funding and support the organisation has received from local and provincial government in recent years. This lack of operational funding has made it impossible for the business to continue.”

CFC, in a lengthy media release, says it is a ‘not for profit company’; it is ‘the only official film commission in South Africa and one of only three in Africa (as recognised by the Association of Film Commissioners International (AFCI)’; Denis Lillie, its CEO, is the ‘only officially qualified film commissioner in Africa (as recognised by the AFCI)’; yet CFC is closing down due to “lack of operational funding”.

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Coming hot on the heels of CFC’s winding up, the cancellation of the Infesting the City festival drove me into mourning. I work full time in the ‪‎creative and cultural sector‬ of Africa. I am disturbed when artistic initiatives close shop or suspend programmes citing things like ‘‪‎lack of funding‬’, ‘‪‎funding constraints‬’, ‘‪‎lack of support‬’, ‘inadequate resources’ and ‘‪‎lack of operational funding‬’. Many creative initiatives I know aren’t even sure if they will still be open for business tomorrow morning. Why is this happening to well meaning, focused and hard-working entrepreneurs, professionals‬ and social transformers across Africa‬?

CFC says its ‘core mandate’ was “to promote Cape Town and the Western Cape for local and international filming” and that this role was served “through relationships with the Department of Trade and Industry, the International Emmys, the Association of Film Commissioners International (AFCI), the South African Consulates in various territories, the Department of Home Affairs and the film industry.”

Did CFC do a good job? Has Infecting the City lived up to expectation? Just why is South Africa not bailing CFC out of this untimely death? A similar question could be posed to the governments of Tanzania and Kenya over the plight of Sauti za Busara and Lola Kenya Screen, respectively.

The post ‘Lack of Funding’ Kills Africa’s Creative Economy appeared first on ArtMatters.Info.

By Irene Gaitirira
Published May 24, 2016

Voting for nominees of the 11th annual Groove Awards for Gospel music nominees shall end on May 31, 2016 and winners announced at a Gala Awards ceremony the following day.

Fans are invited to vote by either dialing *811# and following the prompts or via the grooveawards.co.ke website.

RELATED:Kenyan Gospel Artists’ Mimicry Puts God to Sleep

Charles Kairu, Chair of Groove Awards Panel, speaking at Nairobi’s Kenya National Theatre on April 27, 2016, said the announcement of the nominees “follows a rigorous process of reviewing and evaluating entries; we are excited to be unveiling the list of contenders for the 11th edition of the Groove Awards with Safaricom. We are truly honoured to be in a position to recognise and celebrate today’s talented artistes and their contribution to the growth of the gospel music industry.”

On her part, Sylvia Mulinge, Safaricom’s Director in charge of Consumer Business Unit, noted, “Through this platform, we have been able to not only reach out to the youth with positive messages that harness the power of music, but to promote the gospel music industry in Kenya, the East African region and further afield. We are proud to be supporting these awards, because we have seen how wholesome music is transforming the lives of Kenyans everywhere by giving inspiration and hope, and uniting us against various divisions.”

RELATED:Kenya’s Groove Awards 2015 Announces Winners

Groove Award nominees were announced on April 27, 2016 and Regional Groove tours to publicise and drum up support for the event kicked off four days later. The tour brings nominated artists traversing Kenya to meet their fans, perform and seek their support for their bids to win in their nominated categories.

The theme for Groove Awards with Safaricom 2016 is ‘Come as you are’ that, the sponsor says,”focuses on the message of God’s love, grace and forgiveness and encourages unity in the face of divisions that threaten to divide the nation.”

So who are the nominees?

Founded in 2004, Groove Awards with Safaricom, its organisers say, “seeks to promote gospel music as a message of hope and an avenue to address issues affecting young people across the African continent with a key focus on its main objective – Shaping culture through positive content and entertainment.”

Groove Awards organisers say the Safaricom-sponsored and Mo Sound Events-produced scheme has seen more than 2000 artists nominated and 400 statuettes presented to musicians in Kenya and East Africa region over the past decade.

RELATED:Music Awards Fail Kenya’s Burgeoning Gospel Music Sector

Sponsor Safaricom, that provides voice, data, TV, financial services and enterprise solutions, pioneered commercial mobile money transfer globally through M-PESA, one of the most successful such service anywhere in the world. M-Pesa was launched in March 2007 as a money transfer service. Currently, it is said to have more than 22 million customers and more than 90000 Agent outlets within Kenya.

The post Groove with Safaricom 2016 Nominees appeared first on ArtMatters.Info.

By Iminza Keboge
Published May 26, 2016

A music streaming platform introduced in Tanzania by a telecommunications operator known as Tigo in January 2015 is already bearing fruit for local musicians.

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“Music streaming is growing rapidly globally and it’s the second most popular mobile phone feature in sub-Saharan Africa,” says Tigo Tanzania that sells itself off as a a ‘digital lifestyle brand’.

The telecom , that says it introduced its Tigo Music Platform to market the work of Tanzanian musicians locally and abroad, says is committed to supporting local music talent; that it has over the past year supported more than 20 artists.

Tigo has partnered with Deezer, a France-based international music streamer to provide Tanzanians with the service it calls “unlimited music experience that offers access to about 36 million music tracks worldwide.”

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Some of the beneficiaries of Tigo Music Platform say it is marketing their work far and wide and that their music is not only getting known but that the online streaming of their music makes it possible for fans all over the world to access their work.

“Through exposure to international audience, I am now able to promote my music and earn extra money from my songs,” says Christian Bella, a Congolese Bongo Flava musician in the commercial capital, Dar es Salaam.

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“Tigo Music Platform has helped me to be known at locally and internationally,” says Tanzanian David Genz alias Yangdee. “The platform is redemption to young musicians in the country as it has bought us from ‘underground’ to international level.”

Christian Bella is in fulsome praise of the platform, saying that Tigo has ‘shown a keen interest in genuinely supporting Tanzanian artists.”

Tigo Tanzania says it introduced the service with the aim of “supporting the music industry of Tanzania by helping local artists to earn more money from Music sales and exposure into the international markets’ through Tigo branded Digital platforms.”

Saying artists are free to sign directly with it or via its registered third party partners, Tigo says its support for Tanzanian musicians is “through the launch of Tigo Music Platform, payments to artists for their sales, sponsorship to their various music releases, and participation in Tigo-related activities.”

RELATED:Popularity Poses Dilemma for Tanzanian Gospel Musician Rose Muhando 

“We will continue to invest in supporting the local music industry by ensuring local artists are exposed to the international markets through our available digital platforms,” Tigo says.

The post Bongo Flava Artists Embrace Music Streaming appeared first on ArtMatters.Info.

By Ogova Ondego
Published May 27, 2016

We have caught up with science teacher and gospel musician Geraldine Akinyi Oduor, six years after she won a Groove Award for gospel music. We capture her thoughts on music, commerce, technology, and spirituality ahead of the 11th Groove Awards with Safaricom gala ceremony on June 1, 2016.

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ArtMatters.Info last wrote about you in 2010; what have you been up to since then?
I am grateful to ArtMatters.Info for the opportunity to share my views on its platform. This far the Lord has been so faithful and true to His word. I have so far seen His love, grace and mercy in my ministry and do confidently say that I am not the lady I was six years ago. The Lord has kept me in the faith.

How many more albums have you recorded and released since then?
In 2010 I only had two albums consisting of 10 songs each; a total of 20 songs. I have recorded three more albums, bringing the number to five albums and 50 songs; each album consists 10 songs. The challenges I have so far gone through in life and in the Christian ministry have made me stronger and better focused.

What challenges are these you have gone through in life and in ministry, and how have they made you stronger and better focused?
The challenges are many. There’s lots of pressure from both within or without. People’s expectations of one sometimes are also too high. At times you may feel so vulnerable. This makes one to rely more on God’s grace; not personal abilities. The more one goes up, the more one is likely to get so engrossed in ministry that one neglects the basics of salvation like prayer or one’s original local assembly.

The gala ceremony of Groove Awards with Safaricom shall be held on June 1, 2016; what do you see as the place and role of initiatives such as Groove Awards in Kenya?
Groove Awards has helped expose and bring up many new, young, up-and-coming talents on the gospel music scene. It has also offered a platform for national awards in the gospel scene which hadn’t been there before.

RELATED:Alice Kamande’s Gospel Music Album Oozes Youthful Contemporary Tunes and Choreography 

You once won a prize in Groove Awards for Gospel music; when was this?
I won a Groove Award for Nyanza Counties in 2010.

But you surely are a Nairobi, not Nyanza, artist; how did you come to be considered a Nyanza region musician?
The Award was Nyanza-based. I may not know much because the voting was done from all over the country. My music is 80% done in Kiswahili and not in mother tongue. God however used it for good and gave me a good startup in Nyanza where I don’t reside but trace my roots from.

How much prize money did you get?
Around that time there wasn’t any monetary attachment to the awards or any tangible reward save for the glass trophy which I keep as a reminder of the same.

What did that win mean for you?
It was a humbling and exciting experience at the same time since it was my first ever award. I thank God and the people who voted for me. I would however advise this generation and fellow musicians not to dwell so much on awards as that’s not our ultimate goal and prize, much as in whatever we do in life, it’s good to be recognised and appreciated. Let the Awards never bring rifts, enmity and strife among artists. We gospel musicians are all equal and complement one another in ministry. It doesn’t mean that if you are awarded then you are better than the rest. After all, awards come and go, but the gospel of Christ continues.

RELATED:Singer Geraldine Oduor Speaks About Her Work

Are you suggesting that gospel awards cause ‘rifts, enmity and strife’ among gospel musicians? How is that?
Rifts or enmity depend on the spiritual maturity of the artists. That’s why I advocate for gospel musicians to start ministry from the grassroots in their local church. In such church groups, people are trained to mature up in the ministry such that by the time one comes to the national limelight, such squabbles, scandals and rifts would be greatly reduced, if not avoided. It also helps musicians to be directly accountable to spiritual authority or pastor. This helps in instilling in us morals as well as providing checks and balances.

How many more times were you nominated for Groove Awards, and in which categories?
I was nominated for three consecutive years. I however wasn’t too keen on the same any more.

Why weren’t you keen on winning again after your victory in 2010?
Just over the years, we learn and outgrow certain things. The Bible says, “Seek ye first the kingdom of God and its righteousness and all these other things shall be added unto you.” It’s a bit risky for the ministry side of gospel music to focus your attention on gospel awards. Much as it isn’t evil either, the ultimate prize-giver is Christ after we have won the race. If the awards come, let them come and find you labouring in the Lord’s vineyard!

You haven’t featured again among nominees over the past two or three years; why is that?
I haven’t featured in the past few years, yes; I thank God for that. There’s a time for everything. The main aim of the award is to expose emerging talent. Right now I mentor hundreds of young people in the industry at so many levels who are very promising and must also get a chance to grow. It would be ridiculous to keep hustling for votes with the same people who look up to you for advice and refer to you as ‘mum’.

Which albums have you recorded and released since then?
By 2009 I had the albums ‘Damu Ya Yesu’ and ‘Mungu Wa Biblia’. Towards the end of 2011 I released an album titled ‘Neno Lako’ in which I featured Dan Shilla and Christina Shusho of Tanzania. Around the same time I also did a 10-track album in Dholuo (Luo language) called ‘Dongo Dongo’. In late 2015 I again started working on my latest album, ‘Alfa na Omega’, off which I have so far done three videos: ‘Hakuna kama Wewe’, ‘Watosha’ and ‘Roho Mtakatifu’. I have featured Mireille Basirwa, a Congolese-born, Belgium-based singer, in the videos.

Have you featured Basirwa in all the three videos?
I have featured the worshiper in the song “Roho Mtakatifu” that talks about the Holy Spirit. I have also featured another Congolese musician, MassMasylia, in another song, “Unaweza”.
With my music mentor, Mary Atieno, I have done two songs. One is a Kiswahili worship song called “Utukuzwe”. She and I co-wrote the song. I was keen to learn from her how she writes songs, her skills having amazed me over the years. Her songs are Bible-based and scripturally-sound.
The other song we did, “Hono”, is in both Dholuo and Kiswahili. It talks about the miraculous God we serve. The song starts in Dholuo in the first two verses but is summed up in Kiswahili towards the end.
I have also done yet another song with Dan Shilla Ngosso, the one with whom I did another song, “Msaada Wangu”, in my earlier album. Like “Msaada Wangu”, I also wrote “Alfa na Omega”, and only featured Dan Shilla Ngosso in the singing.

Has your manner of work changed in any way over the past six years?
I have had more responsibilities but God’s grace so far has been sufficient. The ministry has grown with its demands too. I travel more often for missions and it’s been humbling to witness what the Lord is doing in the lives of people.

What is the status of Gospel music in Kenya now?
Quite a lot has changed. The Lord has raised many more people. The era of doing albums is almost gone as most people now prefer to do single songs and videos. Many more people rely on the internet to download songs as opposed to buying of full music albums as was the case before. Many more people are also struggling to up their game in terms of doing high quality productions.

Say something about this new way of music business: music streaming, ring tones, etc. How many Kenyans are using it? Have you, also, adopted it?
The online music streaming business is yet to pick up and benefit the Kenyan musician but we are hoping to reap from it soon. The music is uploaded online mostly by registered companies. Whoever wants to download does so at a cost then the companies are supposed to pay the musician a certain percentage of the income. It’s however been quite a challenge for the musician to ascertain the exact amount of income one is entitled to as most of these companies don’t avail the statistics/figures of the downloads.
We also have ringtones and ring back tones which is sales through mobile phones. This has also been slowed lately by the squabbles between the Music Copyrights Society of Kenya and the content providers. The artists are yet to benefit fully. We are hoping that all will be well soon.

What sort of music videos are artists in Kenya making?
The videos have gone a notch higher in terms of quality to be able to keep up with the growing technology.
The bottom line for me, even as I struggle to keep up with the quality of productions, is to keep true to the message of the gospel I have sang over the years.
Mary Atieno has taught me that songs sang under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit will touch lives for many generations to come. That the MESSAGE in the song is of the essence; it precedes everything else.

Are artists in Kenya as competitive as their counterparts in, say, Nigeria and South Africa?
The Kenyan artists are trying. Gospel music is about the gospel message which must be inspired by the Holy Spirit depending on the needs of people as God deems fit. It would therefore not be fair to start comparing ourselves so much with other. The gospel of Christ remains one. The method of delivering it may differ from nation to nation, all to God’s glory.

But music is surely much more than just the gospel; it is an industry; a big business?
There’s the business side of the music industry and the ministry side of it for those doing gospel music. It’s important to balance between the business and ministry sides.
Gospel musicians can be paid for performances but that shouldn’t be the ultimate aim because gospel is about spreading good news. If it was about money all the way, then some of us wouldn’t have heard of the good news or received salvation. This is because we didn’t have any money at all to have been capable of paying a musician. So many people have testified of giving their lives to the Lord through our songs. The balancing act between message and commerce should be done wisely.

RELATED:Music Awards Fail Kenya’s Burgeoning Gospel Music Sector 

Would you say mass media–radio, television, newspapers, websites, blogs–are interested in, and are supportive of, Gospel music in Kenya?
Yes and No. For those who remain true to the word and call of Christ, God has a way of advertising whatever little effort they are making. A day’s encounter with God’s favour in terms of marketing and publicity is worth more than millions of shillings invested in media coverage. God inspires the gospel and delivers it across at the most appropriate time.

What challenges do Gospel musicians in Kenya face?
The challenges are so many ranging from lack of funds, piracy to jostling for space in the mainstream media. It’s becoming extremely difficult for young talents to breakthrough due to the high cost of quality production.

RELATED:Angela Chibalonza-Inspired Singer Brings Gospel Festival to Nairobi’s Eastlands 

What solutions would you suggest for such challenges?
If it’s in the gospel music ministry God has called you to, He’ll make a way for your work to get to the target audience. Be wary of quick fixes and faster rise to fame. Wait on God to uplift you for when He does, nobody can bring you down. Young people need to be taught that ministry begins in the local church, not the broadcast studio. Sing and be a blessing in the local church choir/worship team. The government should also put measures in place to curb piracy so that musicians can get a good return for their labour.

What are you focusing on now?
More than just singing, I want to live to inspire somebody. I desire to impact the lives of people and make a lasting investment in terms of bringing change through spiritual nourishhment. Fame comes and goes. But people whose lives are changed are for eternity. My ultimate aim is to see the fulfillment of the dream God gave me: ushering people into His presence through worship.

Where are you likely to be in, say, two-to-five years from now?
I see myself establishing a foundation where young people or those struggling with life can get help. Many people, from what I read in my inbox daily, want to come out of the mess that is homosexuality, lesbianism, sexual immorality and the stigma of HIV & Aids. I want to teach this generation to submit to the principles of God’s word in its simplicity.

The post Singer Speaks About Awards, Commerce and God appeared first on ArtMatters.Info.

By Iminza Keboge
Published June 1, 2016

The gala ceremony of Groove Awards 2016 for gospel music was held at Moi Sports Centre-Kasarani in Nairobi on June 1, 2016. Those announced as winners were:

Male Artist of the Year: LJay Maasai
Female Artist of the Year: Mercy Masika
Group of the Year: Kelele Takatifu
New Artist or Group of the Year: Mash Mwana
Song of the Year: Mercy Masika – Nikupendeze
Worship Song of the Year: Evelyn Wanjiru – Nikufahamu

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Reggae or Ragga Song of the Year: JFAM & Omari – Wave
Hiphop Song of the Year: Maluda (Feat Juliani) – Easy
Album of the Year: Mercy D. Lai – Emmanuel
Afro-Pop Song of the Year: Magic Mike & Kris Erroh
Collabo of the Year: Everlyne Wanjiru & Vicky Kitonga – Tulia
Video of the Year: Size 8 – Afadhali Yesu

RELATED:Singer Speaks About Awards, Commerce and God
Skiza ringback Tone of the Year: Mercy Masika – Mwema
Songwriter of the Year: Pitson
Audio Producer of the Year: Saint P
Dance Group of the Year: Jims and Dims
Video Producer of the Year: Sammy Dee
Outstanding Contributor of the Year: Rap Community
Song of the Year Rift Counties: Pst.Samuel Somorei – Ashe Mpapa

RELATED:37th DIFF Announces Opening Night Film
Song of the Year Coastal Counties: Faith Mwikali – Ushindi
Song of the Year Eastern Counties: Stephen Kasolo – Ngai Niwukilasya
Song of the Year Western Counties: Timothy Kitui – Njingula
Song of the Year Central Counties: Phylis Mbuthia – Githe Tiwe
Song of the Year Nyanza Counties: Fenny Kerubo – Abasani B’ Omusunte
East & Central African Artist of the Year: Christina Shusho – Tanzania
Western Africa Artist of the Year: Sinach – Nigeria
Southern Africa Artist of the Year: Joyous Celebration – South Africa

The post Groove Awards 2016 Winners Crowned appeared first on ArtMatters.Info.

By Ogova Ondego
Published June 8, 2016

We live in an age of Artificial Intelligence—digital games, self-piloting planes, self-driving cars and dancing robots—such that it is difficult to tell whether Raiderz 3D Crew dancers are humans or machines in virtual reality.

Want to hear more?

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Joy radiates from the shiny faces of the performers whose every pore oozes with enthusiasm. The skins of the three dancers–Claus Osanya, Chris Mchanji and KevinLihanda–glisten with sweat. The audience gathered at Moonlight Academy in Ng’ando Village, Dagoretti sub-County in the Kenyan capital—Nairobi—sit still; eyes not leaving the almost attention-arresting moves on the floor.

At the end of the attention-gripping, energy-filled show, the Master of Ceremonies asks the dancers whether they are human and if so, what do they eat to make them dance like computerised digital games or robots in a well choreographed show?

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Courtesy of Elsa Oguya of Elsteel International PR, I am among the journalists, critics and talent scouts and managers invited here to participate in a day-long artistic activities presented by budding talent in Nairobi.

Cautiously, I approach the three digital dancers. And discover, to my delight, that they are not robots but ordinary young people who dance for a living. What’s more; they are from an informal settlement.

Hey, I don’t feel like telling a story I am not part of. So I shall ask Claus Osanya, the leader of the group, to carry on.

Please introduce yourself.

My name is Claus Osanya. Flex is my artistic name.

RELATED:French Dancer Lights Up Kampala’s Dance Week

How and when did your group come into being?

Raiderz 3D Crew came into being on August 10, 2012. Its purpose was to nurture dance talent among the youth.

Where, in Nairobi, is the group based?

We are based in the ghetto of Kawangware and consists of six committed dancers. Eight other members are still learners.

Who are the learners in your group?

We recently decided to focus on female dancers to try and change people’s perception about the crew being an all-male affair. Many of them are still in secondary school.

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What type of dances do you specialise in?

We specialise in dance hall, contemporary dance and hip-hop.

Who arranges the dance moves–choreography–for Raiderz 3D Crew?

I choreograph contemporary dance; we share ideas for dance hall and hip-hop,

Where do you perform?

We dance at weddings, road shows, corporate events, school tours and at live concerts.

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Any plans, dreams or wishes for the group?

My aim as the leader of Raiderz 3D Crew is to open a dance academy in the future with the aim of teaching, motivating, and creating platforms for dancers out there to ensure up-and-coming dancers don’t have to struggle like we did.

How can you be contacted?

Through my cell number 254 792513277; our Raiderz 3D Crew group on Facebook or by visiting Dagoretti Social Hall next to Riruta Stadium; this is where we train.

The post Meet Nairobi’s Latest Dancing Wizards appeared first on ArtMatters.Info.

By Ogova Ondego
Published June 12, 2016

On this bright and sunny day, a group of about 20 youth have gathered not just to sing, dance and act; they are here to showcase their performance prowess to members of the public; to announce that a new era for the arts has dawned and that they are in the arts not as a hobby but a sustainable career of choice; to create income-generating opportunities for the youth. By taking over Kenya’s arts sector.

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So the youth from Kawangware, Dagoretti Corner, Racecourse, Ng’ando and Kibera within Kenya’s Nairobi County sing, dance and act; as if their very lives depended on it.

After a day-long feasting on dance, music and drama presented by the hopeful youngsters—the majority of whom are either 19 or 20–I seek to find out a little more about the individual trees in the forest known as Geatrics Production whose chair is Gordon Odhiambo, artistic director Victor Layson and chief executive officer Hempstone Fron Malonze.

Founded in December 2013, Malonze says, the main goal of Geatrics Production that is based in Dagoretti sub-County, is to turn “the arts in Kenya into a reliable source of income and career choice for the youth; something that youngsters will be proud to study in colleges and universities.”

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So far these youth who write, act, sing and dance say they have already recorded eight songs and a music video even as they continue to act, sing and dance on stage.

Wanja Mwangi, who says she joined an Olympic (Kibera)-based group known as Changamka Africa as an actor in 2015 after “completing high school ,” takes the lead role in Nalia (I cry), a Geatrics theatre production.

“It is my passion in acting that propels me on stage,” she says. “My all time goal is to become the best acting talent in the world.”

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Daniel Githinji, who says he has been on stage “for just four month s,” says he is “motivated by Academy-winning Kenyan actress, Lupita Nyongo, who has proved that no matter your background, you can fulfill your dream if you believe in yourself.”

“I was born and raised in Kibera.I have attended school in Kibera and generally all my background is based in Kibera,” says Walter Mwori. “When I think of that situation I am just forced to work harder.”

“Once I get to that level of being recognised as a great actor,” Mwori says, “I will come back to Kibera to help those with talent but almost no opportunity to shine; there are so many such people here.”

CEO Malonze says he specialises in acting, script writing, theatre-directing and music.

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Describing his acting roles as ‘versatile’, Malonze says his journey into the arts started in 2008 in western Kenya while still in secondary school.

“I do poetry, music and acting,” he says.”I started professional acting in 2011 when I joined travelling theatre groups in performing set books in secondary schools .I have had the privilege of working with some of the best set book performers in Kenya.”

Malonze says he joined a group known as Wassani Arts Theatre in 2012 before moving to Usmobilux as a director and actor a year later.

“When Geatrics Production was born in December 2013, I joined it as a director and actor. I have written and directed more than 10 plays between 2012 and 2015.

Malonze say he has over the past five years been involved in the performance of poetry and music.

“I have seven years of stage experience as an actor and four years as a director,” Malonze says.

But what drives him?

“My love for the arts has made me persevere in the sector through thick and thin and the fact that some of the people I found in the arts have now made it to the national television screen also makes me all the more determined to succeed,” Malonze says.

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Geatrics Production is divided into three departments—acting, singing and dancing.

The music team consisting of Top Notcher (Salimsaul Owiti), Fronxiaz (Hempstone Malonze) and Hezeclah (Hesbon Ombuna) has recorded a hip-hop video titled Gini Wasekao; it features Alvina Gachugu.

“Geatrics family is a talented hip-hop group that is here to bring about change in the arts industry,” the group says of its music team. “Gini Wasekao means ruling or taking over.”

And Geatrics says it is not just taking over musically, but lyrically as well.

“We have what it takes to be the ruling hip-hop group in Kenya,” the group, whose music is downloadable on mdundo.com portal, says.

The post Youth Set on Taking over Kenya’s Arts Sector appeared first on ArtMatters.Info.

By Bamuturaki Musinguzi
Published July 4, 2016

He came on stage shortly before 9:00 PM. Plucking a 21-stringed west African traditional music instrument called the Kora, the young Afro-fusion Ugandan musician who performed Africa Express, Bulungi, Lusejera, Empale Ya Kadde and Nakato off his latest 2015 album, I Speak Luganda, serenaded his fans with his trademark soulful vocals for 82 minutes.

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Accompanied by two Congolese guitarists–Charmant Mushaga and Musenge Mwatshy–and a drummer–Roy Kasika–Joel Sebunjo also performed Afro, Jarabi, Toumaranke and Amina off his earlier two albums–Ganda Mande Crossroads and Heart of a Griot–to the delight of the audience who demanded two encores before he finally bowed out at 10:15 PM during a Joel Sebunjo Live in Concert performance.

The fans had waited for this concert that took place June 9, 2016 at Sheraton Hotel in Kampala for 36 months; and it turned out to be a memorable event.

The concert featured Malian musician Aly Keita, one of the best balafon players in the world, as a special guest. Playing the magical West African balafon with virtuosity, Keita performed his 2010 song, Farafinko, with spectacular and enchanting African polyphonies.

The curtain raisers were: guitarist and crooner Kenneth Mugabi with Naki and Kibun’omu; Giovanni Kremer Kiyingi with Mandela, Buddu and Nkwesunga; and vocalist Sandra Nankoma alias Sandy Soul with Ssemusajja and Balibabambuza.

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As to the importance of holding this concert, Sebunjo told ArtMatters.info: “I had not announced a concert in Kampala since 2013. I have been playing elsewhere in the world but not Kampala. It was just timely as this is also the tenth year of my music career.”

Sebunjo is one of Uganda’s most recognised young music exports. He is a singer/songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, specialising in the kora and an eight-stringed traditional Ugandan bow lyre known as endongo. He blends African and Ugandan music with jazz, R&B, funk and other modern musical influences and rhythms.

Sebunjo’s instrument repertoire also includes the akogo thumb piano, endingidi tube fiddle, amadinda xylophone, engoma and kalimba.

Sebunjo, who appears obsessed with West African sounds–even his band is called Sundiata–unleashes a repertoire that has been described as a Ganda-Mande Music crossroads. He delivers the sound with instruments such as the kora, endongo, kalimba, calabasse, djembe, guitar and bass, fusing the sounds of Africa with folk, jazz, blues and pop from around the world.

Sebunjo has already performed in Addis Ababa (Ethiopia), Kigali (Rwanda) and Goma (Congo-Kinshasa) in the first half of 2016. He says he is in July 2016 headed to the Czech Republic to play at Colours of Ostrava Festival that is billed as being one of Europe’s biggest music events.

Born on August 20, 1984 in Kampala, Sebunjo has played Ugandan Ganda music since the age of six. He later went into apprenticeship under Busulwa Katambula, a renowned folk musician, poet and arts master at Makerere College School in Kampala.

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Between 2006 and 2008, Sebunjo performed at the annual Lola Kenya Screen movie festival for children and youth in eastern Africa. It was while here that he met Antonia Ringbom, an animation instructor for children with whom he worked in Nairobi, Europe and West Africa.

Sebunjo studied the kora with Manding greats such as Alagi Mbye and Jalibah Kouyateh in the Gambia. At the moment, he is said to be one of the very few exponents of Djeli music cultures, particularly, kora in sub-Saharan Africa.

Sebunjo says he has performed alongside legendary African musicians like Salif Keita, Miriam Makeba, Yossou N’Dour and Oliver Mtukudzi, among others.

Malian balafonist Keita was born in 1969 in Abidjan, Ivory Coast in a musical family. From an early age, he was initiated in the playing of this musical ancestor of the xylophone and the marimba, by his father, himself a balafon player. Since generations, the Keitas continue the traditions of the griots.

While growing up in Abidjan, he met jazz musicians like Georges Makinto. This led him to a fusion of his traditional style and jazz.

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Keïta makes his own balafons and plays them continually in order to excel alongside the very best. Now living in Germany, he has played with jazz masters like Omar Sosa, Rhoda Scott, Paco Sery, Etienne M’Bappé, Paolo Fresu, Joe Zawinul, Tiken Jah Fakoly, Amadou and Mariam.

Keita’s passion for the balafon catapulted him into the spotlight in the 2009 film called ALLY KEITA AND THE MAGIC BALAFON. His two music albums are Akwaba Inese (2006) and Farafinko (2010).

“I want my music to be alive and energetic, full of hope and love, music that I can share with the public and through which the public and I can share our joy,” Keita says at the end of the concert at which revelers have parted with US$30 and US$59 for for ordinary and VIP ticket, respectively.

The post Afro-Fusion Artist Leaves Fans Crying for More appeared first on ArtMatters.Info.

By Ogova Ondego
Published July 15, 2016

Exactly seven days ago, ArtMatters.Info received a Press Release from Germany on the subject, “The Arts in Crisis over Copyright?”.

Though the statement, announcing the launch of a fair, conference and network hub called THE ARTS+ at the Frankfurt Book Fair (October 19-23, 2016) set me thinking about ‘copyright’ and how it facilitates or hinders creativity, I did not process it immediately. After all October is three months away.

But can the issue wait any longer when we see news publishers assaulting the eyes of consumers with their ‘AEIOU’, ‘ABC’ and ‘123’ names across their photographs and videos? Like British singer Adele scolding a fan for filming her during her performance as she did in the Italian city of love, Verona, on May 29, 2016? We in the media and information field only know too well that we may be stopped at any time, without notice, from taking still photographs and videos at some public events. Mostly over copyright.

So THE ARTS+, a five-day fair and one-day conference that is touted as being the ‘first international marketplace for the business of Creativity’, shall be launched at the world’s largest book fair in the German town of Frankfurt in October.

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Held on the theme, ‘The 4th Industrial Revolution’, the inaugural event is expected to focus on new business potential for the creative and cultural industries fueled by the latest digital technologies, including 3D printing, artificial intelligence (AI), augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR).
Among the speakers lined up are what THE ARTS+ describes as “international artists, architects, museum curators and directors, copyright specialists, IP lawyers, industry experts and pioneers from tech start-ups and certification providers.

According to the Press Release sent out on July 8, THE ARTS+–a partnership between media entrepreneur Christiane zu Salmand the Frankfurt Book Fair–shall focus on the benefits of digital technologies for art and culture and discuss intellectual property issues.

As already alluded to above, ‘copyright’ is disrupting the way we create and consume music, print and film in this our digital age.

Among issues to be tackled will be whether art ownership will become a phenomenon of the sharing economy, the role of crypto-currencies and cloud-based data storage, whether virtual reality programmers will be the architects of tomorrow, smartphone owners be the new film producers and who can benefit from these technologies.

Well, don’t blame me; I am just trying to keep as close to the statement of THE ARTS+ as much as possible (for copyright’s sake!?).

“Signs of the digital revolution can be seen at all levels of the international cultural economy,” THE ARTS+ says. Here, “participants will discuss new business models and synergies between the arts and technology.”

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“The kind of disruptions that affected the music, film and publishing industries are now reaching the art market and other cultural sectors,” says zu Salm, a media entrepreneur. “In almost all areas of creativity there is a need to renegotiate intellectual property. This brings uncertainty but also exciting business opportunities which can benefit even established players.”

Zu Salm, an art collector who is said to have ‘spent many years investing in innovative business models for the media industry’, says it is time for the “international creative economy” to have a place where questions related to the business of creativity can be discussed.

“THE ARTS+ will have more than 2,000 sq m of exhibition space to make this subject matter tangible,” says Holger Volland, Vice President of the Frankfurt Book Fair. “Visitors to the area can experience virtual reality or 3-D art; they can visit the Museums Hub or the Creative Hub, and learn more about digital platform providers. Over the five days there will also be workshops, labs and presentations. We are especially proud of the high-profile line-up for our conference, when we’ll discuss important topics such as intellectual property, and examine the specific applications of digital technology in art. We’re looking forward to contributions by the renowned collector of media art, Julia Stoschek, and by Bas Korsten, the creative director behind ‘The Next Rembrandt’, as well as keynote speeches by bestselling author and web futurist, Jeff Jarvis, and star architect and MIT professor, Carlo Ratti. There will also be lectures by the multiple award-winning media artist Joachim Sauter, and by Robert Norton, the former CEO of Saatchi Online who now uses blockchain technology to certify artworks at his start-up in California.”

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The Frankfurt Book Fair, that is reported to receives at least 270000 visitors and about 10000 rights traders from the film, games, online and publishing industries.

The post ‘Copyright’ Mania Throwing the Arts in a Crisis appeared first on ArtMatters.Info.

By Iminza Keboge
Published August 31, 2016

Some 400 musicians represented by 40 groups from Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Mozambique, South Africa, Ghana, Guinea, Cameroun and Ethiopia are expected to participate in Zanzibar’s Sauti za Busara music festival in February 2017.

Busara Promotions, who organise the festival, say they have picked the groups to perform from among 600 who applied for the opportunity to perform in the festival.

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“The main aim of Sauti za Busara is to bring people from different backgrounds together, to celebrate the richness and diversity of African music,” says Yusuf Mahmoud, Festival Director of Sauti za Busara.

Mahmoud says Sauti za Busara “showcases live music that’s original and innovative, with positive messages for society that will bring energy and excitement on stage. Whether it’s more acoustic or electric, the festival gives priority to music with cultural identity.”

“Africa is vibrant and rich in its many cultures and expressions,” Mahmoud says. “We need to build bridges of peace and unity across Africa through the universal language of music.”

Busara Promotions says it is “offering half-price tickets for all visitors with African nationalities” on its website “to prove [it is] serious when it comes to uniting Africa through music.”

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“Further discounts,” Busara Promotions says in a media release, “will be available only for Tanzanian citizens or East African residents.”

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Mahmoud promises what he terms as ‘more fire’ to Stone Town during Sauti za Busara’s comeback festival in Zanzibar that shall run February 9-12, 2017 on the theme, “Africa United.”
Busara Promotions says it “guarantee[s] February will see the hottest line up of African musicians ever brought together in the East Africa region.” On the basis of its selection of musicians.

Details of artists performing at Sauti za Busara 2017 will be announced in October 2016, Mahmoud says.

The post Zanzibari Festival to ‘Unite Africa’ in 2017 appeared first on ArtMatters.Info.

By Andrew J Eisenberg
Published September 4, 2016

Renowned Kenyan taarab singer, multi-instrumentalist, poet, composer and bandleader, Zein l’Abdin Ahmed Alamoody, passed away in Mombasa’s Old Town on the East African coast on June 27, 2016.

Referred to locally with the honorific Ustadh, Zein was a central figure in the genre of sung Swahili poetry known as taarab for more than six decades.

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The Arabic (kiarabu) style of taarab that Zein cultivated since the 1970s drew from earlier creative adaptations of Arab music throughout the history of the genre, including the work of the legendary Zanzibari taarab artist Siti Binti Saad, East Africa’s first music recording artist. Most famously, perhaps, Zein was a virtuoso of the Arabic oud (lute), an instrument with a long history in Swahili music that has nonetheless become scarce on the Swahili coast in recent decades.”Zein’s approach to this instrument—and, by extension, to musical composition and improvisation—was broadly “Egyptian”. His approach was shaped by immersion in 20th century music and musical films from Cairo. He also borrowed creatively from Kuwaiti and other Gulf styles.

Zein’s stylistic synthesis was beautifully idiosyncratic, a product of a lifetime of passionate engagement with musical sounds that moved within the transnational and cosmopolitan circuits of the Arab and Indian Ocean worlds.

Zein was born in 1939 on the northern Kenyan island of Lamu, in a village just south of the historic Swahili port town of the same name. Though already in decline, Lamu was still an active trading centre during Zein’s early childhood. Ships would arrive at port with fish in their holds and leave with boriti (mangrove poles used in construction) destined for locations in the Arabian Gulf. Sometimes they would also carry a different sort of cargo: musicians.

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Among the local hosts for these musicians was Zein’s father. Though he made his living as a clerk at the port, Zein’s father was an amateur oud player and a music patron who would host musical gatherings in his sitting room, under a wall-mounted kibangala (a 19th century Swahili string instrument similar to, and presumably derived from, the Yemeni gambus). Among the guest musicians at these gatherings were Zein’s maternal uncle, Ali Baskuta, Lamu’s finest oud player of the time, and Kuwaiti musicians brought in by a local shipping magnate Zein’s father had gotten to know through his work.

Zein’s early exposure to his father’s musical gatherings instilled in him a desire to play the oud, and a life-long love of the rhythmically exciting style of Kuwait song. Just as formative, however, was his exposure to radio broadcasts and recordings of Egyptian music by the likes of Umm Kulthum and Mohammed Abdel Wahab, as well as early Swahili taarab recordings that his father had collected.

After his father’s death in 1951, Zein came to Mombasa to live with an uncle, where he attended school until 1954. As a result of family disagreements, Zein returned to Lamu briefly before coming back to Mombasa, where he would take up a job as a clerk at the port. It was during this time that he began learning to play the oud.

“Zein was never formally taught by anyone,” ethnomusicologist and record producer Werner Graebner writes in his liner notes for Zein’s 1989 Globestyle recording Mtindo wa Mombasa. “He learned by seeing, listening to and asking other oud players questions. He often went to the home of the tailor, Omar Awadh Ban, a well-known oud player of the time (who recorded for the Jambo label in the late 40s), and stayed whole nights playing and discussing music.”

Zein also learned by studying recordings. The advent of consumer magnetic tape recorders in the 1960s enabled him to create a reference library for his studies which included BBC Arabic music broadcasts, according to Graebner’s notes. Zein’s most essential reference recordings were oud improvisations by Farid el-Atrash and Riad Al Sunbati, two giants of the 20th century Cairo scene. From listening to and copying these masters, Zein internalized the workings of the Arab Maqam system of melodic modes, as well as idiomatic phrasing and ornamentation on the oud. The virtuosic playing of Farid el-Atrash was especially influential, and inspirational, for Zein. Zein called Farid his “mwalimu” (teacher) and kept a picture of him—tattered and aging by the time I first saw it in 2004—on his wall. It seemed to me that Zein even modeled himself personally on Farid, channeling the star’s suave demeanor in performance and everyday life.

At the time when Zein first picked up the oud in Mombasa, the town’s music scene was dominated by sharply dressed, all-male taarab orchestras. These groups would perform at local weddings, social events and on radio shows. The groups would sometimes record for the Mzuri label owned by Assanand and Sons Records. In 1956, Zein joined the famed Jauhar Orchestra, which had developed a fascinating Swahili style redolent with Arab and Latin (and a touch of Indian) sounds. Zein’s tenure with the club was short: after the orchestra’s leaders declined to include him in an historic performance for the Sultan of Zanzibar, he resigned.

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Zein next worked with Lamu poet and musician Ali wa Lela, who had learned to play the oud at Zein’s father’s house in the 1940s. But Ali wa Lela soon left Kenya, chasing a job opportunity in the UAE. Left on his own, Zein slowly grew into the role of an independent artist.

Graebner traces Zein’s development as a recording artist and star of the wedding circuit from the 1960s: “After a first recording with the Arrow label in the early 1960s, Zein joined Mzuri Records, Mombasa’s main taarab outlet at the time. He recorded a host of singles up to the mid-1970s, occasionally featuring other singers with his band, at weddings and on records. Maulidi Juma and Zuhura are among those who sang with his group. In the second half of the 1970s, Zein recorded for Mbwana, a thriving cassette store in Mombasa’s old town.”

Early on in his solo career, Zein followed the trend of the day by working in an ‘Indian’ style, setting his Swahili poetry to the melodies of popular Hindi film songs. However, he realized that this was not going to be a path to success. As Zein put it decades later, he came to believe that people appreciate music more when it is anchored on the performer’s own culture.

Zein’s turn toward cultural authenticity – if that is how he truly saw it at the time – involved a recreation of “utungaji wa zamani,” the old style of composition. This meant the style employed by Siti binti Saad and her contemporaries. While binti Saad’s music was stylistically eclectic, it bore a strong Egyptian influence.

Zein’s version of Arabic taarab found a waiting audience in Mombasa in the 1970s consequently launching him to taarab stardom. His success was also due to a general expansion of the local audience for taarab as well as the influx of Hadhramis (Arabs from Hadhramaut, in southern Yemen) to East Africa in the 1960s to escape violence and instability back home. The large number of Hadhrami-Swahili weddings created natural opportunities for music sung in Swahili (and therefore accessible to all) but performed kiarabu, in an Arab style.

Some newly arrived Hadhramis preferred to hear only Yemeni popular music at their wedding celebrations. Seizing the opportunity, Zein got this repertoire under his belt as well.

As it happened, Zein traced his paternal lineage to Hadhramaut. But his forefathers arrived in Kenya many generations ago. His Swahili identity and accent made it difficult to compete with local Hadhrami musicians like oud-singer Ahmed Bin Brek, but his remarkable oud skills won him many Hadhrami fans. Indeed, when the Saudi-based Hadhrami luminary Abu Bakar Salim Bilfageeh[iv] visited Mombasa in the late-1970s courtesy of a wealthy Hadhrami family, it was Zein who was tapped to perform with him.

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Throughout the 1970s, Zein worked to develop his Arabic taarab repertoire into something that would set him apart from other local taarab musicians, ‘Arab’ and ‘non-Arab’ alike. Toward this end, he collaborated with Swahili poet and scholar Ahmed Sheikh Nabhany, a native of Lamu based in Mombasa. Zein and Nabhany worked together to set their own poems to music and revive poems from early-20th century Lamu. The resulting repertoire arguably includes some of the finest examples of Swahili expressive culture.

Most of Zein’s commercial recordings – dozens of “volumes” on cassette – are only available in Mombasa, from Mbwana Radio Services or until his death, from Zein himself. But a good sampling of Zein’s most popular songs have been released internationally on two full-length albums, Mtindo wa Mombasa (1989, Globestyle) and The Swahili Songbook (2000, Dizim Records) and a smattering of compilations (including John Storm Robert’s classic Songs the Swahili Sing, first released in 1980).

In the last few decades of his life, Zein continued to make part of his living from wedding gigs and cassette sales, but came to rely more and more on occasional performances at beach hotels, special events and festivals. He also had a few engagements abroad, in Europe (courtesy of Werner Graebner) and the Gulf.

About the Author:
Andrew J Eisenberg is an ethnomusicologist with an abiding interest in the sounds of urban Kenya. He received his doctorate from Columbia University in 2009 and is currently Assistant Professor of Music at NYU Abu Dhabi. Much of his published research concerns the musical and nonmusical sounds of social life and politics on the Kenya’s Swahili coast. In recent years he has been researching the recording industry in Nairobi. He has spent a number of years conducting fieldwork in Kenya, supported in part by the US Fulbright-Hays programme, the Social Science Research Council, and the European Research Council under the auspices of the “Music, Digitization, Mediation” project at Oxford University.

The post Tribute to Kenyan Taarab Legend appeared first on ArtMatters.Info.

By Irene Gaitirira
Published September 6, 2016

This week’s arts diary sees a sculptor introduce his village, a music band launch its debut album and Africa mark a decade of food revolution with a photographic exhibition.

Let’s begin with Shared Success: An Agriculture Transformation @ 10, a collection of photos on farming communities across Africa that opens at Nairobi National Museum on September 6, 2016.

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The exhibition features photos shot in Kenya, Burkina Faso, Mozambique and Tanzania and, according to Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) and Rockefeller Foundation, “showcases the triumphs of the men, women, and communities that have benefited from the steady transformation taking place in Africa’s agricultural sector.”

This exhibition of photographs that runs through September Commemorates 10 years of AGRA’s “journey of working to catalyse transformation across the agricultural value chain in Africa.”

As you continue to celebrate the food revolution, Alliance Francaise brings you a music concert-cum-album launch on September 10, 2016.

To be launched is The Force of Gravitti that is described as a “distinctively reggae debut album” by a band that has for years been backing various musicians—Iddi Achieng, Zippy Akoth, Makadem, Olith Ratego—but without ever having released its own album.

For Sh3000 (VIP) and Sh2000 (regular) ticket per head, you shall be admitted to the launch by Gravitti band that comprises Jacob Okello, Tindi, Ms Okinda, Jah Lyric, Big Charlie and Mathewmatix Rabala. The Force of Gravitti, the band says, tackles “social issues affecting Africans. It celebrates legends and pioneers and promotes peace and love.”

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Coming to Goethe-Institut on September 8, 2016 is Music Policy in Kenya and Kenyan Music’s contribution to the economy discussion.
This second discussion will bring together panelist from key segments of the industry to explore the commercial potential of Kenyan music, realities, challenges, opportunities and industry’s contribution to the Kenyan economy.
On the panel shall be Mike Strano (Founder, Phat! Entertainment), Tim Rimbui (Producer & Founder Waabeh.com), June Gachui ( Artist and IP Lawyer) and George Gachara (Managing Partner, HEVA Fund).

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Then comes stone sculptor Robin Okeyo Mbera, all set to introduce his carving village.

“Bomware village is located off Migori-Nyachenge Road on you way from Kisii town to Isebania on the Kenya/Tanzanian border. An all-weather road diversion on the left before Rongo town leads to Tabaka, the home of Kisii soap stone in in Kisii, one of the 47 administrative units known as counties in Kenya. The town is littered with Soapstone curio shops. A road that leads to the quarry passes through Tabaka, where my studio, MberArt is situated.”

And Robin Mbera does not fail to surprise you.

“The name Bomware, loosely translated, means the village of people who are as dirty as foxes. The term was invented to denigrate my people. It is because the people of Bomware were always covered with white dust from soapstone from which they earned–and still earn–a living.”

The post Celebrating Carvers’ Village, Music and Food appeared first on ArtMatters.Info.

By Iminza Keboge
Published September 21, 2016

A group of five musicians whose journey into entertainment began when they met as students at Nairobi’s United States International University are set to launch their debut album on September 24, 2016.

The rock band, known as Rash, shall launch the album, titled Only a Few Survivors, at Alliance Francaise in the heart of Nairobi CBD. The group, that fuses African rhythms with metal music and combines English and Kiswahili in their lyrics, calls its music Swahili Rock.

The themes in Rash’s songs touch on contemporary cultures, bringing out what could be described as the good and bad the habits of the times.

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The band that comprises lead guitarist Maximiliano Filardi (Max), lead singer Samuel Warui (Sam), drummer Samuel Gakungu (Gakosh), bassist Maina Makundu and rhythm guitarist Abed Kariuki, has performed in several festivals in Kenya and Uganda, including OktoberFest, Rift Valley Festival, Sondeka Fesitval and Nyege Nyege Festival in Jinja.

Rash has been featured in two documentaries: UN MONDE DE METAL by Olivier Richard for France Télévision and MY AFRICA IS by Nosa Garrick that it says seeks to “changes the world’s view of the African continent by highlighting young people living and thriving in various African capitals.”

RELATED:Dream, Travel and Enjoy Art

Meanwhile, Royal Dutch Airline, better known as KLM, has introduced what it calls ‘Dream Deals’. Travellers are offered a 30% discount on many of the destinations KLM flies to in Europe and North America.

The special fares are available till September 30, 2016 for travel by December 31, 2016.

The KLM offer comes at a time when analysts say air travel is on the upswing in black Africa, with Kenya (14.9%) being ahead of the pack: Mauritius (11.6%), South Africa (11.4%),Tanzania (10.6%), and Ethiopia (9.6%) during the first eight months of 2016.

ForwardKeys, a company that predicts future travel patterns not only refers to East Africa’s air travel growth as ‘exceptional performance’, but that it has surpassed the continental growth rate of 5.6%, with North African countries like Algeria, Egypt, Morocco and Tunisia seeing little growth or even a decline.

RELATED:Etihad Offers Discounts, Travel on Upswing

Olivier Jager, CEO of ForwardKeys, says, “We are seeing a tale of two Africas, with North African countries suffering from political instability and terror activities and Sub Saharan African countries powering ahead.”

The post Swahili Rock Music Launches as African Air Travel Grows appeared first on ArtMatters.Info.

By Bamuturaki Musinguzi
Published September 29, 2016

As the stage lights up with video graphics and sound, it reveals a bespectacled man clad in black Jeans trousers, under shirt, black leather jacket and sneakers leads an eight-member band.

“I say, Kampala, make some noise,” the man shouts and receives a thunderous welcome cheers from the floor hosting several young women holding placards that read: ‘Marry Me Maurice’, ‘I Love You’, and ‘Kirya for President’, among others.

“I am excited to see my fans again. Are you ready to party?” the man says.

As the fans respond in the affirmative, the man brings on music, doing the lead vocals and infecting the excited fans who dance away the night as they sing along.

Welcome to Kirya Live 2016 Show at Kampala Serena Hotel’s Victoria Hall where Uganda’s award-winning Afro-soul guitarist and crooner, Maurice Kirya, is serenading his fans with his Mwooyo (Luganda word for Soul), a blend of Afro-soul, hip-hop, gospel, R&B and traditional Ugandan rhythms.

He steps on stage at 8:58 PM on July 29, 2016. The fans of the song-writer and composer who sings both in Luganda and English, have waited three years to enjoy his live performance. That’s why the 90-minute wait for the concert to begin has not been a bother. And Kirya doesn’t disappoint as he serenades them with his old and new Mwooyo music.

RELATED:Ugandan Music Train Sings, Dances, Storytells

Kirya plays material off all his three albums Misubbaawa (2009), The Book of Kirya (2013), Mwooyo (2015), and in-studio new material to the fans who had last watched him live on stage in 2013.

“I am excited to get my fans again,” he says again. “Are you ready to party?”

And so the party goes on late into the night, with Kirya mainly doing the lead vocals and dancing, playing a string of songs which includes: Don’t Wanna Fight, Beera Naabo, Njagala Ggwe, Angels Carried Me, Horses In The Sky, Misubbaawa, The Blue Dress Song, Wooye and Boda Boda.

Guitarist Myko Ouma joins him on Nkulinze, I Will Sing and Ugandan Girl.

The young guitarist Kenneth Mugabe plays a fusion of his two hit songs, Kibuno’omu and Naki as a guest artist during the interlude of the Kirya Live 2016 Show before Kirya returns with Die For You and Mulembe Gwa Kirya.

Off his next album, Maurice Kirya samples Love Me Now, Get Up Again, Pay The Paper and Young Blood through an a cappella performance.

Strumming his guitar as he plays Hold On, Kirya does not miss playing Maama We Made It, a tribute to his late mother, Sophie Baguma, who passed away in 2015.

Edwin Ruyonga , a rapper, joins him on Ghost.

As he signs out with Never Been Loved at 11:08 PM, Kirya’s play list has also included If My Lungs Don’t Fail Me, Binadamu, Nkooye, and Busaabala.

It is then time for the musician whose last live gig in Kampala was in 2013 to give an exclusive interview to ArtMatters.Info.

“It’s been a while since I held the Kirya Live Show, and with all the new material and high demand from the fans, it was inevitable, I was happy to do it,” he says.

RELATED:Ugandan Music Festival Serves Fresh Rhythms

Opining that the Ugandan live band music scene is on a steady growth path, he says,“It’s not like the time when I started out; it was harder then because so many people weren’t accustomed to it.”

On how much he has refined and promoted his Mwooyo music style Kirya notes, “My music genre is recognised worldwide and it’s nice to see many new upcoming Ugandan artistes and bands composing in a similar style, it makes me very happy.”

And how does he rate his performance during the Kirya Live 2016?

“I loved every moment; I loved the fans; I wouldn’t change a thing,” he responds.

RELATED:Leading Ugandan Poet Gets Published

As to when his fans can expect his next album, Kirya says: “This very year. I will be dropping a lot of new material. They can also expect a song I shall release with my big brother, Vampino.”

Kirya became the first East African to win the prestigious 2010 Radio France International (RFI) Discoveries Music Award after entering his 2009 debut soulful album, Misubbaawa. He also won a career development grant and embarked on a year-long African tour.

At the eWorld Music Awards that took place on February 12, 2011 in Los Angeles (Carlifornia), USA, preceding the Grammys, Kirya won the Best Indie/Progressive and Best World Music awards. These awards showcased up-and-coming, unsigned musical talent, while recognising the decentralisation of music distribution.

Kirya’s other accolades include: KORA All-Africa Music Awards, Museke Music Awards (New York, USA), Kisima Music Awards (Kenya), and Pearl of Africa Music (PAM) awards (Uganda).

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Kirya, who was born in 1984 into a musical family, grew up listening to Afrigo Band and Philly Bongoley Lutaaya of Uganda and Stevie Wonder and Michael Jackson of the United States of America.

The post Uganda’s Live Band Music Scene on Steady Growth appeared first on ArtMatters.Info.

By Kevin Kriedemann
Published October 6, 2016

An African music star has released a video that is hailed as being an-all Africa affair.

The music video is for One Source, a track South African motswako star, Khuli Chana, premiered at the MTV Africa Music Awards (MAMA) Nominee Announcement on September 21, 2016 in Johannesburg, South Africa.

The video not only features Los Angeles (California)-born Kenyan songwriter/singer Victoria Kimani alongside Ghana’s Sarkodie and VVIP but it was shot in Ghana, produced in South Africa and directed by Zimbabwean-born, South Africa-based Sunu Gonera.

“Collaboration is the fire that takes you to the next level,” says Khuli Chana, who’s currently nominated at the MAMAs for Best Collaboration for his work on Baddest with AKA, Burna Boy and Yanga. “When you have different styles with different energies, that always sparks something magical.”

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One Source is the first track from Chana’s upcoming concept album, a musical collaboration with the greatest from Africa.

“I’m reinventing myself,” says the multiple South African Music Awards (SAMA) winner who believes pan-African collaboration is long overdue. “I’m traveling the continent on a search to find something new, to make something meaningful, a game-changer. We’re doing what we should have done a long time ago, owning who we are as Africans and coming together and breaking these boundaries for good, for the better. It’s been an amazing journey. I’ve grown by connecting with other trailblazers. Each has their own unique style but a shared passion to put a spotlight on Africa.“

This appears to resonate with Gonera who says, “I wanted this music video to be a celebration of our African-ness, to show the creative flame burning across the continent.”

RELATED:Why Kenyan Music Videos Are Wanting

Sunu Gonera embraces the spirit of collaboration driving the project, bringing in the Afrofuturism of Kenyan digital artist and photographer Osborne Macharia and the vibrant colours of Ghanaian street artist Moh Awudu as examples of how Africa is redefining its image.

In the build-up to the MAMAs, MTV is flighting four short documentaries about the intense creative process behind the making of One Source. These documentaries also feature Kgaugelo “KG” Choabi and Nigeria’s The Venus Bushfires.

RELATED:Uganda’s Live Band Music Scene on Steady Growth

The campaign is a follow-up to 2015’s Africa is Absolut campaign, which also featured Khuli Chana and won Silver for Native VML and Arcade Content in the Change category at the 2016 APEX Awards.

“It’s been a dream job, which felt like it was written specifically for me,” says Gonera. “Khuli, Native VML and Absolut all share my vision to show the world a different side of Africa, so it’s been a true collaboration and an amazing experience. This is my love letter to Africa. For the first time since I started in this business, I finally feel like I’ve found my voice.”

The post New Music Video ‘Redefines’ Africa’s Image appeared first on ArtMatters.Info.

By Bamuturaki Musinguzi
Published October 11, 2016

Mafikizolo, a multi-award-winning duo from South Africa have put up a sizzling performance to the delight of their fans in the Ugandan capital, Kampala. So satisfied were the fans–it appeared–that they did not call for any encore as they usually do for outstanding live gigs in Uganda.

Mafikizolo play a fusion of afro-pop, kwaito, kwela and marabi, among other rhythms, is made up of lead singer/composer Nhlanhla Sibongile Mafu Nciza and songwriter/composer/singer Theo Kgosinkwe.

Accompanied by their band Kgosinkwe and Nciza dazzled their fans with their songs, dance and stage antics in a marathon stage presence as the crowd sang and danced along. The band’s three dancers were outstanding for their energetic well-choreographed performance.

As the main act at the 14th edition of Blankets and Wine Kampala at the Lugogo Cricket Oval on September 25, 2016, Mafikizolo kicked off their one-hour gig at 9:34 PM with their 2002 popular hit, Ndihamba Nawe, which has become an anthem in every show of theirs.

RELATED:Uganda’s Live Band Music Scene on Steady Growth

After, Kgosinkwe, the male member of the duo, said: “We are so pleased and excited to be in Uganda for the third time.”

Then Nciza, the female member of the kwaito group, chipped in by asking: “Can we adopt Uganda as our home?” “Yes,” the excited fans responded.

Then the fabulous Mafikizolo performed, among others, Udakwa Njalo, Good Life, Emlanjeni, Tchelete and Meet Me At The River.

It is only when they played their most popular hit in Uganda, Khona, that the fans went wild with cheers, surging towards the stage and dancing themselves lame.

Mafikizolo crowned it all with the song Happiness at 10:30pm. When Nciza said: “Thank you Kampala,” the audience that had parted with USh100000 (US$29) each as the entrance fee and had endured a late afternoon light rain was awe-struck and did not ask for an encore.

Mafikizolo, one of South Africa’s most popular music groups, have produced several albums such as the debut self-titled Mafikizolo (1997), Music Revolution (1999), Sibongile (2002), Van Toeka Af (2004), Kwela (2003), Gate Crushers (2008), Reunited (2013) and Best of Mafikizolo (2015). Their 2008 album, Six Mabone, has tracks such as Miriam Makeba’s classic Walila, Flowers and Khululeka, among others.

Mafikizolo won two prestigious awards for the album Sibongile in the South African Music Awards (SAMA) in April 2003 by taking the Best Duo or Group and Best Afro Pop Album categories. They also took the Best Album, Best African Pop, and Best Group awards at the Metro FM Music Awards in November 2003.

RELATED:Tribute to Ramadhani Mtoro Ongala-Mungambi, Eastern Africa’s King of “Bongo Beat”

The local afro-fusion artists that also performed were: Qwela Band, Giovanni Kremer Kiyingi, Levixone, and Kenyan DJ Saint Evo.

With Joe Kahirimbanyi on vocals and guitar and Maureen ‘MoRoots’ Rutabingwa on vocals and sax, Qwela Band opened their gig with an instrumental, Sita Tafa.

Off their forthcoming album, Qwela performed I am Local and I like It, Simple Song, Ndakwikundira and Never Lose Yourself.

Qwela also played Eija Nkutwara and Okello off their Afrotopia album, among others. Qwela’s music is played over a fusion of Western and traditional instruments.

Kiyingi, a folk musician and multi-instrumentalist whose unique sound is defined by rich instrumental textures and rhythmic influences from Africa and beyond, performed Ssekanolya, Buddu, Happy, Groove, Aminangojo and Everything, among others. His latest album is titled Amakondeere.

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Accompanied by Janzi Band, Levixone played his urban reggae, R&B and gospel songs like Victory, Kangende Noono, Nonya Omu, Shuga, Niwewe and Samanya (featuring Jackie Akello).

Nairobi-based DJ and music producer, Saint Evo,  provided an exciting experience with his afro fusion electric club music.

“It was such a massive experience. And we had to prepare really well because the expectations were very high. If you are on the same stage with Mafikizolo all the acts that were very energetic and entertaining so you have to measure up,” the Qwela band leader, Joe Kahirimbanyi told ArtMatters.info.

RELATED:New Music Video ‘Redefines’ Africa’s Image

Sponsored by Tusker Malt Lager, the quarterly event has relocated from its proverbial home at the Uganda Museum Grounds to the Lugogo Cricket Oval so as to accommodate more of their ever growing numbers.

“The 14th edition of Blankets and Wine was remarkably different from the others. This edition was at a new venue Lugogo Cricket Oval. Having Mafikizolo the finest acts on the continent has shown how we have grown. Our consumers got a new experience and indeed enjoyed, Ugandan musicians like Giovanni Kiyingi, Qwela Band and Levixone who performed alongside them created that much loved afro-based music fusion,” Alex Tusingwire, Brand Manager of Tusker Malt Lager.

The post South African Singers Thrill Fans in Uganda appeared first on ArtMatters.Info.

Report by Boera Bisieri
Photos by David ‘Kiki’ Kariuki
Published October 12, 2016

Kenya’s film classification board has hurriedly convened a meeting to cool down rising tempers of artists, legal experts and rights activists over a contentious bill it has drafted to ‘regulate’ what is created, performed, exhibited, distributed, and consumed in Kenya.

During the meeting that was held at Nairobi National Museum on October 11, Ezekiel Mutua, the Chief Executive Officer of Kenya Film Classification Board (KFCB) said the proposed bill, that is to replace the current Films, Stage Plays and Publications law (Chapter 222 of the Laws of Kenya), aims to “lower the high cost of rating of film which now stands at Sh100 [US1] per minute.”

George Gachara, who represents The Nest Collective, said the proposed law would destroy art in Kenya; that it would increase costs of filmmaking, raise the amount of fines, curtail the creation of art and protect KFCB from prosecution.

Wambui Kairu of One Boy Production denied Mutua’s claim that she had been involved in the drafting of the contentious bill.

RELATED:Three African Film Directors Discuss Censorship

Also speaking in the meeting that was held in the Louis Leakey Auditorium at Kenya’s house of culture was Angela Wachuka of Kwani Publishers. She expressed concern that the proposed bill seemed to be geared towards crippling rather than supporting the growth of the creative sector through censorship and not classification. She cautioned KFCB to confine itself to classification of films and not seek to regulate the whole creative sector.

A participant informed the gathering that players in the movie sector had in 2012 drafted a film bill that could be used as the basis of reviewing Cap 222.

The meeting–that drew participation from movie-makers, distributors and exhibitors; Kenya Bloggers Association; Gay and Lesbian Coalition of Kenya, Screenwriters Guild; Kenya Publishers Association; The Creative Economy Working Group’ Kisumu Actors Union; among others—unanimously called upon KFCB to ‘trash’ the proposed Film, Stage Plays and Publications Bill 2016 as a sign of good faith and that there should be a return to the discussion on the film policy by the stakeholders to set the stage for further action on this issue.

But KFCB’s aversion to the call not only led to unrest in the room as participants shouted angrily, but to premature ending of the meeting at 11:45 AM instead of the scheduled 5:00 PM.

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Charles Ouma of Kenya School of Law who had been contracted by KFCB to take the stakeholders through the draft and ensuing discussion, lost control of the meeting. But not before he had acknowledged that stakeholders had not been actively engaged in the bill. He said the document was not a draft bill—though that is how it is saved on the KFCB website—but a starting point to begin the discussion that would lead to the review of Cap 222. He further noted that “The idea is to make the current law more responsive to the present environment.

No sooner had Mutua publicly stated that KFCB had agreed to withdraw the draft bill than the meeting ended.

Sally Mshai Mwangola, a performance scholar who had on the eve of the meeting sent out e-mails inviting people to ‘Stakeholder’s meeting on Tuesday October 11th 2016 at the National Museum of Kenya’s Louis Leakey Auditorium from 8:30am’, had said she had “absolutely no official role to play in this process, except as an invested citizen.”

Dr Mwangola had noted that “The title of the bill is somewhat deceptive. This is not only about films, stage plays and publications as it is indicated above. It would be bad enough if it was . But it also includes everything else from drawings and posters to online content. It regulates what is created, distributed, imported, exhibited or performed; what you can have at home.”

RELATED:How to Circumvent Pervasive Internet Censorship in Africa

Were the draft bill to become law in its present form, Mshai Mwangola, had said, the functions of KFCB will be to:
(a) Monitor and enforce compliance with the provisions of this Act
(b) Classify films, broadcast and online content, stage performances, gaming applications, publications and related promotional materials;
(c) Impose age restriction on viewership
(d) Register local and international filmmakers, agents, distributors and exhibitors.
(e) Develop standards, regulations and guidelines for the film industry;
(f) Advice the government on the regulation of the film industry;
(g) Develop a national catalogue of classified films;
(h) Protect children from exposure to disturbing and harmful materials and from premature exposure to adult experiences;
(i) Prevent the use of children in pornographic productions;
(j) Prevent the exposure of children to all forms of pornography.
(k) Prevent
(i) The creation, exhibition and distribution of films and stage performances
(ii) The exhibition of broadcast or online content, outdoor advertising and games that not reflective of national values and aspirations of the people of Kenya.

RELATED:‘Lack of Funding’ Kills Africa’s Creative Economy

While musician Valentine Kamau (Valentine Ziki), in a post on Facebook cautions: “Ezekiel Mutua is  seeking to make censorship of stage plays, events, literature, the internet one of KFCB’s mandate,” Cajetan Boy of Et Cetera Productions, also in a Facebook post, calls upon players in the movie sector to “Get into a guild. Make sure the house is in order. Get registered. The next move is to lock out individuals not in guilds and non registered guilds. And KFCB is planning follow up meeting soon with ‘legitimate’ stakeholders.

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KFCB may have held the meeting, but the controversy its draft bill has generated is yet to be put to rest. Artist are now calling for the repeal of Cap 222 and the disbandment of KFCB.

The post Film Board Convenes Stakeholders’ Meeting, Withdraws Contentious Bill appeared first on ArtMatters.Info.

By Abdi Ali
Published October 14, 2016

The names of authors, illustrators, oral storytellers and reading promoters nominated for the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award (ALMA) for children’s and youth literature 2017 shall be presented at the Frankfurt Book Fair in Germany on October 20, 2016.

The Nomination programme shall see USA’s Meg Rosoff, the winner of the ALMA 2016, presented with her SEK5 million (about US$6 million) prize.

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Professor Boel Westin, chairman of the ALMA-jury, will then present the nominated candidates.

ALMA, the world’s largest award for literature for children and youth, was founded by the Swedish government in 2002 and is administrated by the Swedish Arts Council. It is given annually to a single laureate or to several.

The Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award is said to be founded on the United Nation’s convention of Rights of the child. A jury of experts selects the laureate(s) from candidates nominated by institutions and organisations all over the world.

Meanwhile, Nairobi’s Kenya Museum Society (KMS) is preparing to host its annual Affordable Art Show.

Selected artwork will be exhibited and sold for the purpose of supporting National Museums of Kenya (NMK).

KMS says the exhibition–set for October 29-30, 2016–“will showcase the diversity and richness of the creativity of Kenya’s artists with a range of experience.”

RELATED:Kenya’s Affordable Art Show Invites Entries

Coming up at Kenya National Theatre in Nairobi November 23-24, 2016 is the 8th annual Broadcast, Film & Music Africa (BFMA) conference and exhibition.

AITEC Africa, who organise BFMA, say the theme of the event is ‘The Digital Edge: Explore, Encounter, Exchange.’

The event, AITEC Africa says, shall:

• give members of the public the opportunity to collaborate with industry leaders to create a network of creative & innovative professionals
• provide a platform that addresses the cultural gap that exists in local and international related markets in the Broadcast, Film & Music industry, and
• reinforce Africa as a destination for creative and innovative professionals through exposure, education and empowerment.

RELATED:South Africa’s PRAESA Wins 2015 Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award for Children’s Literature

AITEC Africa says 8th BFMA is expected to “bring together thought leaders of Africa’s booming creative arts and digital media industries including; Innovators and Professionals from TV, Radio, Film, Music, Mobile tech, Telkom, Advertising, Animation and Gaming, Regulators, Academics, Policy Makers, Content Providers, Script Writers among other industry professionals.”

Based on the attendance during the previous gathering, AITEC Africa says the two-day event is expected to bring together at least 1500 delegates.

The post Nairobi Showcases Art, Broadcast, Film & Music as Frankfurt Unveils Children’s Literature Prize Nominees appeared first on ArtMatters.Info.