Bungtje Breathes Some Stories

Saw Jungle By Night’s amazing performance at the end of Writer’s Unlimited. The video does no justice to the awesomeness of these wonderful young boys — who happened to be cute as well! (pretty much a treasure — cute Dutch boys are rare!)

Kuli dziko lam’ntendere kutsidya ilo lanyanja ndikokulitu m’ntendele
    (there is a peaceful land on the other side of the lake and there is freedom)
Ukokulibe nkhondo kulibe usiwa kuuli mpumulo
(where there is no war we going to rest)
Oh Africa woloka
(oh africa crossover)

Tisiye kusakhana mitundu ku sakhana zipembedzo tikafike kutsidyako 
(let’s stop discrimination, rescim and let’s all get there)
Siyani zida za nkhondo pansi tikafike kutsidyako tikapeze mpumulo
(put down the weapons of war and let’s all get there )
Oh Africa woloka
(oh africa crossover)

Aye mama woloka Africa 
(aye mama crossover africa) 

—— Woloka Africa by Mafilika

“This guy is better than Jimi Hendrix!” Marcelo Soares of Brazil shouted during Mafilika’s performance in the BeursKafee, Brussels, Belgium, last week. His finger pointed on Ernest Ikwanga, the lead vocal and guitar of the band consisting of five great musicians of Malawi.

Paul Chawinga handled percussions, Samuel Mkandawire was on keyboards, Jizammy Lingani sticked to his Bass Guitar, while Amos Mlolowah was busy with his drum.

I have to confess that I don’t really understand music. I can’t play any instrument, I don’t know a single chord of guitar or piano, I don’t really know about Jimmy Page nor Yngwie Malmsteen, which one is better, well I don’t care anyway.

My definition of good music is simple: something that can move me to sing (or at least hum) along and dance. And damn, Mafilika’s doing it GOOD.

The BeursKafee wasn’t full, the whole crowd count might be only 60-something. But Mafilika was certainly able to raise the temperature. It was hot cause we just couldn’t stop enjoy their music.

I think none of the audience understand Chichewa, the language Mafilika’s using. But hell, music does transcend any language and cultural boundaries indeed.

Marcelo danced, I saw Deogratias Munishi really enjoyed the night and danced, I danced, we danced, the crowd was crazy for Mafilika. 

I didn’t count how many songs Mafilika performed, but everyone was shouting, “MORE! MORE! MOOOOORE!” when Mafilika reached their final song. And they were so kind they decided to play another song for us.

Two days later, still in BeursKafee, Mafilika along with Katya Emmanuel and I-Voice performed a new song written for the anti-corruption movement, titled “Together Against Corruption.” It was great.

But even greater was their performance that night, on a stage in front of St. Catherine, in the Brussels Jazz Marathon. They moved audience, not only us the Global Youth Anti-corruption Forum herd, but other music lovers as well, to dance our hearts away.

“I feel like I’m fifteen again! When I grow up, I want to be like them!” Marcelo shouted again that night, grinning, sweating after dancing again.

It was so sad when their performance ended, and we all had to go back to our own countries.

But I’m happy to know that I’ve encountered a really great band (and I bought their CD happily as well).

Ah by the way, for those who want to know more about Mafilika, you can visit their pages in facebook or MySpace.

Here’s what they said about themselves in MySpace:

“Mafilika is a five-piece band from the Malawian capital Lilongwe. This Afro-Rock-Reggae group was established in 2007. In 2008 the band won the National Finals of the Music Crossroads competition, qualifying to represent Malawi at the Inter-Regional Finals in the Portuguese Club competing against bands from Zambia, Zimbabwe, Mozambique and Tanzania. 

Their performance so impressed the Dutch International tour promoter Karla Hoffman that Mafilika were booked to play a 17 concert tour in The Netherlands in Spring 2009 by Mundial Productions. The tour was a resounding success and the band are looking forward to returning to Europe in 2010. 

Mafilika have also performed in Maputo, Mozambique, perform regularly in Malawi and will this October be playing at the county’s biggest International Music Festival, Lake of Stars. The band released their debut Cd “WOLOKA AFRICA” in May 2009.”

It’s a new noun. Activism paired with art.
And the one who’s doing artivism is of course called an artivist.

(I’m borrowing the phrase from Ndungi Githuku of Katya Emmanuel Band :)

“I’m a human right artivist… We put human right activism into art,” said Githuku in his elevator pitch on Wednesday (27/5).

His fellow band member Katya Vinywasiki Emmanuel believed music can make greater impact to encourage the youth to stand up against corruption than just preaching in classes. “People listen to music, and it (the message) will go straight to your brain,” Emmanuel said with confidence.

Of course, music is not the only forms of art that can be used to reach the youth. Adrien Tuyaga of Burundi proved that movies and comics can be the perfect means to reach the child soldiers in his country.

Meanwhile, John Martin of the Pan Intercultural Arts showed us that theatre can be a powerful tool as well. The Pan Intercultural has held numerous theatre training in South Asian slums, involving the people to make their own plays concerning their own issues. Convincing them that an alternate, better future is definitely possible.

But how can art influence people that much? “It gets under the skin, the art can touch the rather dry subject of corruption and governance. Through art, we can change mindset and behaviour,” Martin said.

Can’t agree more than that, can we?

When Art meets Activism.

It’s NOT impossible :)