The Bayimba International Festival of the Arts will be running from 21-23 September 2012, and this year’s theme will be celebrating 5 years of artistic inspiration. Na!ra, Jackie Akello and Hailee are some of the artists performing live on stage.
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“My suspicion is that we in Ugandan arts are chasing air. Are we producing art? There are financing mechanisms, gallery systems, dependence on expatriate markets, and educational systems that hold us back. But these are also precisely the challenges that should offend us enough to try and overcome them. We have had social turmoil for decades, through the 1970s, 1980s to the present. Are we using our talents to create entertainment rather than taking society to task?” Read David Kaiza’s essay presented at the first WAZO Talking Arts meeting in Kampala.
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Is it Art or Wolokoso? was the theme of Ronex’s art exhibition of 10 Years, questioning a fundamental theory that Ugandans do not “get” art. By the end of the four staged exhibits in four galleries, each two weeks apart, several of the showgoers agreed gleefully that what they had experienced was indeed, art. Serubiri Moses reviews for Startjournal.
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Joachim Buwembo claims that he wrote The Ugandan Paradox to be able take part in the bonanza of cash squandering sure to ensue as government heads the celebrations of Uganda marking 50 years of Independence. In this book review, Iwaya Mataachi concludes that “The Ugandan Paradox is about a Uganda in decay, with a hero scarcity. All the people Joachim Buwembo meets know something is going wrong, and Buwembo himself understands this more than others.”
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Perhaps one day Ugandan artists and citizens will honor Maloba and his vision by reappropriating Independence Monument from its current appropriation, even theft, by the NRM as a rallying place for reflection on the 50 years of betrayals of the original promise of independence. Armed with the social media that Ugandan artists utilize so effectively, they may give birth to a new generation of promise to transform Uganda. What will their monuments, the monuments for the next 50 years of independence, look like?
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For poetry lovers and those who wish to improve in both their writings and performances, African Writers Trust provided an opportunity to interact with one of Africa’s leading poets. The Ghanian poet Nii Ayikwei Parkes visited Uganda and shared his knowledge with the locals.
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What happens when over 200 artists, painters, dancers, musicians, sculptors, fashion designers, and photographers come together in what has become a yearly festival of art? Throw in the angle of celebrating Uganda’s 50 years of independence and what do you have? A blazing hub of activity, color competition for the eyes, music for the ears, perplexity and appreciation for the mind, and inspiration for the heart.
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Chris Mugarura is a Ugandan comics artist, striving hard to enrich the comics industry and trying to change people’s stereotypical perceptions towards comics. He believes he can do this through his masterful comics skills and compilations.
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Summoning the Rains is a collection of short stories by ethnically diverse African women, published by Femrite after their 3rd Writers’ Residency. In this review, Serubiri Moses wishes to explore the representations of women and young girls in the book and relate these images to social and political paradigms, both current and past.
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Can a writer earn a living in Uganda? Who is a writer anyway? Does a journalist qualify as a writer? Iwaya Mataachi has interviewed Ugandan writers Beverley Nambozo, Jackee Batanda, Akiyo Michael Kasaija, Joachim Buwembo, and Beatrice Lamwaka to find out.
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The Acoustics Sessions at MishMash, a monthly night that began running in January of this year, showcases undiscovered musicians who, despite having technical and musical proficiency in music, are not confident enough to stand up for it. Serubiri Moses reviews the music event and goes behind the scenes to talk to its curators.
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Art festivals like the recent LaBa! Street Art Festival give visitors a chance to get away from the struggle of life and indulge in something more pleasant; arts and entertainment. Kudos to the many who involves themselves by bringing wares to the tables and performances to the tents, but where does the street that hosts an art festival lead us, asks Samuel Lutaaya.
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Ugandan visual artists want to help the slum-dwelling communities of Kampala to express their views artistically. Through creative media like painting, sculpture and printmaking the artists hope to start a dialogue on issues that affect the communities. Nathan Kiwere of the Uganda Visual Artists Association explains the slum art project.
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This year Uganda will celebrate its golden jubilee, and what better way to celebrate such a milestone other than with art! On June 9, Mackinnon road Nakasero will be ready for the sixth LaBa! Street Art Festival, once again organized by Goethe-Zentrum Kampala (GZK) / Ugandan German Cultural Society together with Ugandan artists.
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“Africa produces the best music in the world, but getting the music to the global level is still a big problem.” This viewpoint was given by Ruth Daniel, a co-founder of the global grassroots and creative community Un-Convention, at a press conference in Jinja. The press conference was organized by the Bayimba Cultural Foundation; launching the annual Bayimba Festival and DOADOA, the East African performing arts market at the Bax Conference Center.
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Rap music in Uganda can be traced back to the late 80s when Philly Bongole Lutaaya (RIP) performed his Nakazaana. During the last two decades numerous hip-hop artists have emerged on the scene, introducing new styles and coining genres like Lwaali, Luga-flow, and Uga-flow. Also, mainstream media has fallen in love with the celebrity artists; they sell newspapers, but are they connected to the hip-hop movement? Lutakome Felix analyses the recent history of hip-hop in Uganda.
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Felix Magima confronts two important, though rarely addressed, subjects in his recent exhibition at the AKA Gallery; women and religion. As his artworks speak, they often wade into taboo territories, therefore observing a new place, rarely approached by visual artists in Uganda. His new paintings “scream out” for freedom for women and the poor enslaved by religious commercialism. Serubiri Moses reviews for Startjournal.
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The British comedian and author Jane Bussmann recently did her stage performance of the book ‘The Worst Date Ever (or How It Took a Comedy Writer to Expose Africa’s Secret War)’ at MishMash, Kampala in front of a 600-strong crowd. By turns, her story was pathetic, funny and heartbreaking. Ugandan columnist Mildred Apenyo reviews for Startjournal: “To make art out of tragedy is a hard but essential thing. To make comedy out of sadness is more than essential.”
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This year’s Bayimba Regional Festival of Arts kicked off on May 4th in Jinja. Tshila, Kaz Kasozi, Afrikwetu Band, Mzungu Kichaa and Joel Sebunjo were some of the artists that took the music to the people. Bayimba continues to build a platform that helps local artists adjust to be able to produce better music.
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Picasso once said that all children are born artists. At IN MOVEMENT, a creative empowerment project for disadvantaged children, they have since 2006 run more than 5,000 hours of classes and activities to develop kids’ creative capacities. Abigail Bartels has visited the centre in Kansanga.
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