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SIDE 40 SIDE 41

Af Signe Trier Informationsmedarbejder på Center for Kultur og Udvikling under Africa Now

Den spinkle senegaleser fylder ikke meget på barstolen, men tag ikke fejl af det. Lige nu prøver hun at overtale bartenderen til at lade være med at lukke. Klokken er kun elleve lørdag aften og den var altså ikke gået i Dakar, pointerer hun med et grin. Hun deltager sammen med 27 andre vestafrikan-

ske kunstnere i Africa Now, som skal give danskerne indblik i, hvad der rør sig på den vestafrikanske kunstscene. Og det er der en hel del, der gør, viser det sig.

Allerede fredag formiddag var der hiphop og pulserende rytmer til de morgenfriske med filmen ’Fang Africa’ om den populære rapfestival i Burkina Fasos hovedstad Ouagadougou. Filmen skildrer en ny generation af vestafrikanske unge, som tager

ønsket om en bedre fremtid i egne hæn-der og bruger musikken til at råbe resten af samfundet op. Det kunne danske unge måske lære noget af, konstaterer en af de gymnasieelever der blander sig i den efter-følgende debat.

KAN SELV VIL SELV

Det er de to unge kvindelige rappere Priss’K

og Nash der for alvor åbner ballet i Musik-husets foyer samme eftermiddag. Her er et broget publikum af officielle repræsentanter, gråsprængte mænd og kvinder, børnefami-lier og selvfølgelig unge. Men de formelle rammer forhindrer ikke de scenevante rapdivaer i at levere budskabet - vi vil selv og kan selv.

Når man lytter til filmproduceren Charles Igwe fra det nigerianske Nollywood, hører man det samme budskab. Manden må være knapt to meter høj, og hans ambitioner end-nu højere. Han har været med til at forvandle Nollywood til verdens største filmmaskine. Opskriften er blandt andet at lade være med at kopiere Hollywood og koncentrere sig om hjemmemarkedet. Og det der sælger er historier om hverdagen i Afrika, produceret af afrikanerne selv.

For resten hedder den rapmundede sene-galeser i baren N’goné Fall. Hun er kurator og laver udstillinger med afrikanske kunst-nere over hele verden. For nylig blev hun kontaktet af det berømte forlag ’Taschen’ der udgiver kunstbøger. De ville hyre hende til at skrive en artikel om afrikansk kunst til en kommende udgivelse. En stor anerkendelse ja, men alligevel afslog hun. Honoraret var simpelthen urimeligt lavt. Beklager, men der skal altså mad på bordet, siger hun med et skuldertræk.

Nu er bartenderen ikke åben for mere forhandling. Han skal vist nok videre til en privat fest og har allerede misset den plan-

Ejner, og alle de andre på bænken under bøgen i Århus, kunne sidste week-end opleve en bid af Vestafrika. Der var hårdtslående rappere, eksperimen-terende billedkunstnere og ambitiøse kulturkøbmænd med store visioner på programmet under Africa Now og konferencen ’Vestafrikas subkulturer og frodige festivalscener’.

Om Africa Now:Festivalen ’Africa Now’

fandt sted i Århus fra 14. –

19. august 2009Hensigten var at nuancere

billedet af Afrika ved at

introducere danskerne

for den dynamiske og

progressive kulturscene

i Vestafrika. CKU havde

inviteret 28 musikere, bil-

ledkunstnere, kuratorer,

festivalledere, filmin-

struktører og teaterfolk til

at deltage i konferencen

’Vestafrikas subkulturer og

frodige festivalscener’ som

forløb over tre dage.

Africa Now blev til i sam-

arbejde mellem Center

for Kultur og Udvikling,

Oplysningscenter om den

3. verden og VisitAarhus

Events.

Læs m

ere: ww

w.cku.dk/dccd/cku.nsf/doc/africanow

?OpenD

ocument

Omkring midnat tager Xuman over og det udvikler sig til et euforisk dj-jam

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By Signe TrierInformation officer at Danish Center for Culture and Development during Africa Now

The slight Senegalese doesn’t look like much on the bar stool, but don’t be misled. Right now she is trying to persuade the bartender not to close for the night. It is only eleven o’clock on a Saturday night, nothing like that would happen in Dakar, she points out with a grin. Together with 27 other West African artists, she is participating in Africa Now, which is intended to provide Danes with an insight into what is happening on the West African art scene. And quite a lot is happening, as it turns out.

Already Friday morning, there are hip hop and pulsating rhythms for the early birds with the film ‘Fang Africa’ about the popular rap fe-stival in Burkina Faso’s capital Ouagadougou. The film portrays a new generation of West African youngsters who take the wish for a better future into their own hands and use music to make society aware of them. Something that might inspire Danish youngsters, as one of the pupils from a Danish high school participating in the debate points out.

WE CAN DO IT, WE WILL DO IT.

Two young female rappers, Priss’K and Nash, start things off in the venue’s foyer that afternoon. There is a mixed audience of official representatives, graying men and women, families with children and, of course, youngsters. But the formal surroundings don’t stop the experienced rap divas from getting the message across– we can do it, and we will do it.

Listening to the film producer Charles Igwe from Nigerian Nol-lywood you get the same message. He must be at least two meters tall, and his ambitions even taller. He has been the driving force in making Nollywood the world’s biggest film machine. The way to do it is not to copy Hollywood, but to concentrate on the home market. What sells are stories about everyday life in Africa produced by Africans themselves.

By the way, the flippant Senegalese sitting in the bar is called N’goné Fall. She is a curator and organises exhibitions with African artists all over the world. Recently, she was contacted by the famous publisher Taschen, which publishes art books. They

wanted to engage her in order to write an article about African art for a future edition. A fine acknowledgement, yes, but she turned the offer down all the same. The pay was unreasonably low. Sorry, but I’ve got to earn a living, she says with a shrug.

By now the barman isn’t open to further negotiations. It seems he is going to a private party and has missed the scheduled bus already. We say ‘cheers’ one last time and head for our hotel rooms. In com-parison, there was more of a party atmosphere in the air on Friday night when Priss’K and Nash gave a ‘real’ concert in the Music Café together with the towering superstar Xuman from Senegal, who had travelled for 48 hours. But that didn’t keep him from stepping on it.

FRENCH WORDS AND STEAMING BODY FLUIDS

The ceiling is low in the Music Café, but the bass is loud and threatens to rip off the roof. Priss’K and Nash take control of the stage with a sense of energy that quickly spreads to the rest of the room. They

sing in French about the respect of women, of men who are too spine-less and of standing together. Around midnight, Xuman takes over and it turns into a euphoric DJ-jam. I surrender to a mix of French words, steaming body fluids, and arms that are enthusiastically thrown into the air. Even the Burkinian ambassador seemed to be tapping his feet to the rhythm. On Saturday morning I get the chance to say hello to Priss’K and Nash at the elevator before they continue on their tour around the country. Even though I know that they are hard core power girls and icons for many young women in West Africa, they remind me, more than anything else, of two sweet little squirrels as they stand there. Later that night they conquer Vollsmose at a completely sold out concert for 400 people.

STORIES OF EVERYDAY LIFE

When I close my eyes, I can still hear the sound of drums from the open space in front of the venue. But then I open my eyes and catch sight of Charles Igwe. We are on the train on our way back to Copenhagen after three intense African days in Århus. Charles wants to show us the rest of the Nigerian blockbuster film ‘Fore-ver’, of which we had a taster the day before. It runs for three hours.

The sound track is drowned in the noise from the train, but Charles Igwe explains the plot as we go along. We experience a woman who desperately throws herself onto a sofa. Her husband shouts in an excited manner and gesticulates a lot. His anger is due to a message from the doctor explaining that his wife’s rare blood type is the cause of her many miscarriages. The man is convinced that the woman is an evil-blooded witch. Therefore he threatens to send her back to the village. It’s a story from everyday life, Charles Igwe explains. There are millions of stories in Africa. And they are just waiting to be told.

RAP!DIVAS AND NOLLYWOOD KINGS " WEST AFRICA HAS IT ALL Ejner and everybody else sitting on the bench under the beech tree in Århus had the opportunity to experience a touch of West Africa last weekend. Hard hitting rappers, experimental artists and ambitious culture merchants with gran-diose visions were on the programme for Africa Now and for the conference ‘The subcultures and vigorous festival scenes of West Africa’.

The festival ‘Africa Now’ took place in Århus 14-19 August 2009.The purpose was to present a more varied picture of Africa by introducing the Danes to the dynamic and progressive cul-tural scene in West Africa. CCD invited 28 musicians, artists, curators, festival leaders, film directors, and theatre people to participate in the conference ‘West Africa’s subcultures and exuberant festival scenes’ over the course of three days.Africa Now was the result of a cooperation between Danish Center of Culture and Develop-ment, Educational Center of the Third World and visit Aarhus Events.

lagte bus. Vi skåler en sidste gang og sætter kurs mod hotelværelset. Så var der mere festformat over fredag aften, hvor Priss’K og Nash gav en ’rigtig’ koncert i Musikcaféen sammen med den tårnhøje superstjerne Xuman fra Senegal, der havde været 48 timer undervejs. Det er tilsyneladende ingen hindring for at give den max gas på scenen.

FRANSKE GLOSER OG DAMPENDE KROPSVÆSKER

Der er lavt til loftet i Musikcaféen, men bassen er høj og truer med at blæse taget af. Priss’K og Nash indtager scenen med en energi, der lynhurtigt forplanter sig til resten af lokalet. De synger på fransk om at respek-tere kvinder, om mænd der er for slappe og om at stå sammen. Omkring midnat tager Xuman over og det udvikler sig til et euforisk dj-jam. Jeg overgiver mig til en cocktail af franske gloser, dampende kropsvæsker og arme der begejstret kastes i vejret. Selv den burkinske ambassadør sad, så vidt jeg kunne se, og vippede lidt med foden.

Lørdag morgen når jeg lige at hilse på Priss’K og Nash ved elevatoren, inden de ta-ger videre på turné rundt i landet. Selvom jeg godt ved, at de er nogle seje powerpiger og ikoner for mange unge kvinder i Vestafrika, minder de mig mest af alt om to små søde egern, som de står der. Senere samme aften erobrer de Vollsmose ved en totalt udsolgt koncert for 400 mennesker.

HISTORIER FRA DAGLIGDAGEN

Når jeg lukker øjnene kan jeg stadig høre lyden af trommer nede fra pladsen foran Mu-

sikhuset. Men så åbner jeg dem igen og får øje på Charles Igwe. Vi sidder i toget på vej tilbage til København efter tre intense Afri-kadage i Århus. Charles vil gerne lige vise os resten af den Nigerianske blockbuster film ’Forever’ som vi fik en smagsprøve på dagen før. Den er tre timer lang.

Lyden drukner i larmen fra toget, men Charles Igwe forklarer handlingen under-vejs. Vi ser en kvinde, der fortvivlet kaster sig ned på en sofa. Hendes mand råber ophidset og bruger store armbevægelser. Hans vrede skyldes en besked fra lægen om, at hans ko-nes sjældne blodtype er årsagen til hendes mange aborter. Manden er overbevist om, at hun er en heks med ondt blod. Derfor truer han med at sende hende tilbage til lands-byen. Det er en historie fra dagligdagen, forklarer Charles Igwe. Der findes mange millioner historier i Afrika. Og de venter bare på at blive fortalt.

Read m

ore: ww

w.cku.dk/dccd/cku.nsf/doc/africanow

?Opendocum

ent

Around midnight, Xuman takes over and it turns into a euphoric DJ-jam

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