Archive for February, 2009
Teaching Tradition
Arriving to the sweltering Costa Chica, the coastal region in the state of Oaxaca
As our pickup truck kicked up a trail of dust, lurching towards the village of Cerro del Chivo in Oaxaca, I felt a world away from Mexico City. I was finally about to see the kind of musical scene that I had studied in class: a place where people sing to pass the time, and where stories are passed down across generations through verses and songs. Here, everything from festivals to funerals are filled with the oral traditions that most people in the capital only get to hear through concert-hall performances and compilation CDs.
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Interview with BAMBproduction
In contrast to election night (which was spent out celebrating until dawn), I stayed home in my apartment for President Obama’s Inauguration last month and watched it with friends online, with my family on the phone, and with a good amount of Parisians in spirit, who could watch all-day coverage on French news stations. A few days before the Inauguration, however, I caught up with my friends from the rap duo BAMBproduction to talk about their music, various challenges for French youth and minorities, and a little about what President Obama’s election means for them.
Here is a short clip of our great conversation where the artists discuss the meaning behind their song “Orphelins” (Orphans) and how it relates to certain issues they experience in society. After watching the video, definitely listen to “Orphelins” and “Le Courage” (Courage), below. While you’ll find out what “Orphelins” is about when you watch the video, “Le Courage” is another socially conscious song that discusses how real courage for young people means to resist bad influences, challenge racism and hatred, fight to obtain their diplomas, and ultimately succeed.
Enjoy!
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Round and Round— French Hip-Hop Round Tables, Conferences and Festivals
My last few weeks have been filled with discussions about the past, present, and future of French hip-hop. From a two-day conference on financing hip-hop culture to the recent week-long black film festival, which featured several movies about and by hip-hop artists, I have attended round table after round table and still have more to come!
The first event, Colloque Hip-Hop: Des Financements Pour la Culture Hip-Hop?, was a conference organized by INJEP (National Institute of Youth and Popular Education, in English), that brought together a diverse group of people in the hip-hop community from all over France including: rappers, dancers, scholars, politicians, graffiti artists, festival directors, and community youth leaders among others, to discuss how various groups can find funding for hip-hop related events and how hip-hop culture has evolved since its early days. In addition to presentations on the history and values of hip-hop and four round table discussions with titles such as “Does private funding allow for self-funding and freedom of creation?”, the conference also offered family-style meals so that the different participants could get to know each other, two hip-hop dance/theater performances and plenty of opportunities for everyone to speak up and make their voices heard.
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Our First Hip Hop Workshop
Since my return to Uganda, the children participating in the Hip Hop Therapy Project have been requesting that teachers from our partner organization, Breakdance Project Uganda! (BPU), come to Gulu again to teach them new dance moves and Hip Hop beats.
Two weeks ago, I used some of the money I received from Fulbright and mtvU to organize a Hip Hop workshop for the kids in the project. I got four teachers from BPU to come to Gulu for 3 three days to teach the kids new dance routines and Hip Hop beats using traditional instruments.
One of the teachers, a 14-year old named Eric, had never been to Gulu but had heard a lot about it from others at BPU and was really excited about going. The other three3 teachers, Phillip, Arafat, and Alex, had been to Gulu before to teach and couldn’t wait to see the kids again.
BPU Teachers: Arafat, Phillip, Eric and Alex
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EST-CE QUE CA VA?!
Over here, that’s ‘Are you ready to rock?‘
This past weekend was the much-anticipated Festival sur le Niger. It was just as monumental as I had hoped it would be.
Festival Boat
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