Thanks to Afripopmag I just discovered Zap Mama, which I can't believe I hadn't heard before because she's been around for 20 years. Zap Mama was founded in 1989 as an all-woman a cappella quintet by Marie Daulne, but in 1996 she emerged as Zap Mama the solo artist. Since then she has incorporated instruments and her style has evolved into a musical blend of African and American vocal styles, including hip hop influences, Afrobeat, pop, soul, funk and a touch of jazz into a musical blend. Zap Mama has released 8 albums to date and has been featured in the Mission Impossible 2 soundtrack.
Marie Daulne's fascinating personal history in a way explains her music an her self-description as a nomad. She was born in Isiro, in the Democratic Republic of Congo, to mixed parents: her father was Belgian and her mother was from Kisangani. Being a civil servant of the colonizing power, her father was killed the same year Marie was born by Simba rebels during the independence turmoil, and her mother then fled to the forest with her and her sisters where local Pygmies saved them from being murdered. They spent 8 months living with the Pygmies, until they were airlifted out to Kinshasa in an emergency evacuation by Belgian paratroopers and flown to Belgium because their father had been a Belgian citizen. Daulne was raised in Belgium but considers herself a citizen of the world.
As it turns out, since Zap Mama's latest album titled ReCreation is coming out next week (on May 26th), she's going to be playing in San Francisco at Bimbo’s 365 Club on June 18th and at the Sierra Nevada World Music Festival in Boonville (near Santa Rosa). Below is the lead single that has been released in partnership with itunes and CARE to honor mothers around the world. And you can listen to more Zap Mama's music in her MySpace page.
For Mother's Day a bunch of museums in the San Francisco Bay Area were offering free admission, and while many of them such as the Museum of Modern Art have monthly free days, the Museum of the African Diaspora never does. So, cheap that I am, I decided to check it out at last. And I took a few pictures that you can see here.
I really wasn't impressed by the permanent exhibits of the museum, since they were practically non-existent beyond a couple of mini-screening rooms with some educational videos being shown on a loop. However, it seems that they have regular events and exhibits that are a lot more interesting. For example, on Sunday they had a live performance by Siaira Shawn who is a local San Francisco R&B singer whom I didn't know before and that I quite enjoyed.
The current temporary exhibition (until June 14th) were also interesting. The main one, titled Let your motto be Resistance! is a 70 collection of portraits of relevant African Americans. The photos are from the National Portrait Gallery and they range from anti-slavery activists to actors, politicians or boxers. The description of the exhibit says that "it highlights 150 years of African American resistance in the U.S". While I appreciated the informative descriptions next to each photograph, I wish there had been more of a thread among them, since at times I had the impression they were a bit randomly displayed. Also, most of them were very small, giving the whole exhibit a bit of a Wikipedia feel.
The second temporary exhibit was also a collection of photographs, in this case honoring the accomplishments of two black San Franciscans: Willie Mays and Willie Brown. Titled American Icons: Bay Area. Although this exhibit was quite sparse (and was displayed in the conference room) I enjoyed learning a bit more of Bay Area history. While I knew Willie Brown, since he was mayor of San Francisco from 1996 to 2004, I didn't know much about it. And I certainly hadn't heard of Willie Mays as I don't know anything about baseball, although I read that for many he's the greatest all-around player of all time.
But if I have to be completely honest, I think my favorite part of the museum was the elevator decoration, pictured below.
The Winter 2009 issue of the quarterly The Literature Review is themed “Africa Calling” and features work by African writers writing in English: "New Stories. New Perspectives. New African Writers". There's fiction by Siphiwo Mahala, Parul Sehgal, Victor Ehikhamenor, Jackee Batanda, Chika Unigwe, Yvonne Adhiambo Owuor, Esi Edugyan, Stanley Gazemba, Zed Houndete, Oghenerukevwe Jennifer Agbatutu, Brian Chikwava, Mildred Kiconco Barya, Andiah Kisia and Christopher Mlalazi; poetry by David Mills, Caitlin Meissner, Neema Ngwatilo Mawiyoo, Patricia Jabbeh Wesley, Shailja Patel and Kitso-yame Kgaboesele; essays by Kim Coleman Foote, Tracy Nneka Nnanwubar and Paula Delgado-Kling.
About a dozen of the works can be downloaded from their website, such as Pema peponi by Kenyan author Stanley Gazemba, a humorous story on corruption. But as an introduction, there are a few quotes from some of the authors answering the question What is an African writer? Here are a couple of my favorites, including one by Stanley Gazemba below:
Personally, I am proud to be identified as such, although I believe the publishing world has built a misconception around such writers. For some reason they have been portrayed as less developed and even juvenile. It must be the reason why their books are often found at the little shelf towards the back of the store. However, I have always drawn immeasurable courage from being considered an underdog in any contest. I strongly believe that some of the finest writing, music and art can only come from the very cradle place of mankind, which is right here in Africa. We have far much more to offer the world than hunger and wars—if only the west will stop labeling us and interfering in our affairs
Neema Ngwatilo Mawiyoo:
[...] do we as people who inhabit or hail from the continent have a sense of ourselves and each other, do we have shared beliefs, and are they unique to us so that African means something concrete and useful? Is an African someone static, stuck in a certain moment or place? Can we be Africans if we live or have adopted elsewhere? What is our language? Are we legitimate African writers if we write in languages not native to the continent, can we be relevant to ourselves or others if we do (write in native languages)? Is our work valid if our writing is somewhere in between languages, places and cultures?
Zed Houndete:
In fact, I believe that the main characteristic of the African writer is to be a freedom fighter. Because of the history of the African continent in general, he has successively been fighting against political tyranny, colonialism, post-colonialism, imperialism, inequalities, poverty and indifference. To this extent, I believe that African literature is one of struggle. It is often highly political and very engaged. There is a growing tendency now to be much more anchored within the local, to find roots much deeper within respective societies, and this is a way to better face the rest of the world. Thanks to this redefined identity, African literature is less and less a dialog with the other, as it has long been the case, but more and more a discourse with one self. And for me, this is the main step towards liberty.
