FLOR DO JACARANDA'

Jacaranda' em flor. Este e' de Gaborone (cidade dos jacarandas e das buganvilias), mas tambem se encontram, e muitos, em Tswane (Pretoria - cidade so' dos jacarandas). Embora ainda se possam ver nesta altura do ano, a altura certa para os fruir em plenitude e' em Setembro/Outubro, imediatamente a seguir 'a primeira grande chuvada do ano. Tenho ouvido falar dos jacarandas do Huambo, mas como nunca la' fui nao sei se dao flores da mesma cor... De qualquer modo, parecem ter algum parentesco, mesmo que longinquo geografica e botanicamente, com as amendoeiras em flor que o Denudado mostra hoje no seu blog.

Jacaranda' em flor. Este e' de Gaborone (cidade dos jacarandas e das buganvilias), mas tambem se encontram, e muitos, em Tswane (Pretoria - cidade so' dos jacarandas). Embora ainda se possam ver nesta altura do ano, a altura certa para os fruir em plenitude e' em Setembro/Outubro, imediatamente a seguir 'a primeira grande chuvada do ano. Tenho ouvido falar dos jacarandas do Huambo, mas como nunca la' fui nao sei se dao flores da mesma cor... De qualquer modo, parecem ter algum parentesco, mesmo que longinquo geografica e botanicamente, com as amendoeiras em flor que o Denudado mostra hoje no seu blog.

AINDA O 4 DE FEVEREIRO

«Gentios ultrapassaram os poetas na luta de libertação de Angola»

Este o destaque de uma entrevista com Jaime Araújo Júnior, representante da FNLA em Portugal, publicada no “Notícias Lusófonas” no passado 03/02/07. Aqui ficam alguns extractos:

Notícias Lusófonas – A FNLA e o MPLA têm-se travado de razões relativamente ao início da luta armada contra o regime colonial. Afinal de contas, foi a 4 de Fevereiro ou a 15 de Março de 1961 que a mesma começou?

Jaime Araújo – A primeira acção armada foi a do 4 de Fevereiro já longamente programado pela UPA, aliás quem liderou esta acção foi o próprio Monsenhor Cónego Manuel Joaquim Mendes das Neves que era vice-presidente da UPA desde os idos de 1956/7. Foi ele que liderou a acção a par de outros nacionalistas que hoje integram o MPLA, mas que na altura eram militantes da UPA. Não se pode ocultar os factos retirando o valor histórico que tem o 4 de Fevereiro. O valor histórico do 4 de Fevereiro vem sendo retirado por estar a ser partidarizado. O líder do 4 de Fevereiro, Monsenhor Cónego Manuel das Neves, é um elemento aglutinador ao contrário dos outros.

NL – Quem são os “outros”?

JA – Os outros são os líderes partidários que não têm a coragem de se sentar à mesa para dirimirem questões pessoais e ideológicas e colocarem o interesse nacional acima de tudo. O interesse nacional obriga a que se tenha o 4 de Fevereiro como um marco aglutinador e não uma data que divida os angolanos como tem sido até agora.

NL – Disse há bocado que os “gentios” estiveram a frente da luta de libertação nacional. Quem são os “gentios” afinal?

JA – Os “gentios” são aqueles que mais sofrem e têm a capacidade de transformar o seu sofrimento num programa imediato de reivindicação. Independentemente do seu sofrimento sempre foram a frente. Foi assim no 4 de Fevereiro, foi assim no 15 de Março. A frente foram os “gentios” ou pelo menos considerados como tal por não terem estudado no Liceu Salvador Correia, no Diogo Cão ou ainda por não terem andado na cidade de Luanda.

NL – Os "gentios" são os da UPA/FNLA?

JA – Dizem uns que são, embora eu veja lá muita gente letrada. Mas são estes "gentios" que ainda hoje reivindicam que é a escola que deve ir ter com os alunos e não o inverso. Os actuais líderes sabem disso porque são homens que tiveram que percorrer inúmeros quilómetros para ir a escola. É bom que eles acordem e que apliquem o princípio "a escola junto de quem necessita". Ainda hoje são estes "gentios" que estão a reclamar isso porque não estão a escrever poesias nem livros nas grandes cidades, estão a reivindicar permanentemente por aquilo que lhes faz falta.

NL – Quando invoca a poesia está a falar de quem?

JA – Os poetas fazem parte do nosso património cultural nacional. Mas não podemos, face ao sofrimento, passar o tempo na poesia postergando a realidade para planos secundários. Primeiro a reivindicação para comer, para escola, hospital e depois então podemos perder o tempo na poesia. Porque nós, angolanos, somos bons na poesia. A poesia faz falta. Mas que seja como complemento quando ainda há imensa dor para resolver.

NL – Que lugares ocupam os "gentios" no contexto actual em Angola uma vez que sempre se antecederam na luta de libertação em relação aos poetas?

JA – Também não queríamos ter agora gentios no poder, se tomar a palavra à letra. Mas muitos deles não eram de tal modo "gentios" de todo que foram levados para o poder pelo MPLA para postos elevados.

NL – As reclamações dos "gentios" continuam actuais passados 30 anos de independência?

JA – Os "gentios" ainda continuam a clamar por liberdade. A liberdade continua a ser o elemento fundamental a reclamar em Angola. A liberdade de poder reivindicar e o poder perceber que ela, a reivindicação, tem fundamento. É que até hoje não há reivindicação em Angola em que o poder tenha reconhecido nela algum fundamento. E isso é a denegação da liberdade.

NL – Há um grande divórcio entre o povo e o poder?

JA – Isso é visível quando os ministros não conseguem passear na cidade capital sem guarda-costas. Os ministros não conseguem passear pelas ruas de Luanda com tranquilidade. Até as pessoas que assumem o poder em Angola não têm liberdade.

NL – Sei que militou na UPA, hoje FNLA. Uma pergunta: insere-se no grupo dos "gentios" que sempre reivindicou melhores condições para Angola e para os angolanos?

JA – Não tenho, nem nunca tive medo dos "gentios". Convivi sempre com eles. As pessoas valem como pessoas. Tinha 17 anos e no quintal da minha casa eu tinha uma escola para ensinar os serventes das casas do meu bairro, Vila-Alice. Todos os serventes do bairro iam a minha casa aprender e eu ensinava-os. Nunca tive problemas com os "gentios". Tive sempre problemas com os poetas. Não sei ler, nem entendo muito bem a poesia. Mas eles que fiquem calmos que também fazem falta à nação.

Ler entrevista completa aqui.

Fotos: Monumento ao 4 de Fevereiro, Luanda (Angola Press)

«Gentios ultrapassaram os poetas na luta de libertação de Angola»

Este o destaque de uma entrevista com Jaime Araújo Júnior, representante da FNLA em Portugal, publicada no “Notícias Lusófonas” no passado 03/02/07. Aqui ficam alguns extractos:

Notícias Lusófonas – A FNLA e o MPLA têm-se travado de razões relativamente ao início da luta armada contra o regime colonial. Afinal de contas, foi a 4 de Fevereiro ou a 15 de Março de 1961 que a mesma começou?

Jaime Araújo – A primeira acção armada foi a do 4 de Fevereiro já longamente programado pela UPA, aliás quem liderou esta acção foi o próprio Monsenhor Cónego Manuel Joaquim Mendes das Neves que era vice-presidente da UPA desde os idos de 1956/7. Foi ele que liderou a acção a par de outros nacionalistas que hoje integram o MPLA, mas que na altura eram militantes da UPA. Não se pode ocultar os factos retirando o valor histórico que tem o 4 de Fevereiro. O valor histórico do 4 de Fevereiro vem sendo retirado por estar a ser partidarizado. O líder do 4 de Fevereiro, Monsenhor Cónego Manuel das Neves, é um elemento aglutinador ao contrário dos outros.

NL – Quem são os “outros”?

JA – Os outros são os líderes partidários que não têm a coragem de se sentar à mesa para dirimirem questões pessoais e ideológicas e colocarem o interesse nacional acima de tudo. O interesse nacional obriga a que se tenha o 4 de Fevereiro como um marco aglutinador e não uma data que divida os angolanos como tem sido até agora.

NL – Disse há bocado que os “gentios” estiveram a frente da luta de libertação nacional. Quem são os “gentios” afinal?

JA – Os “gentios” são aqueles que mais sofrem e têm a capacidade de transformar o seu sofrimento num programa imediato de reivindicação. Independentemente do seu sofrimento sempre foram a frente. Foi assim no 4 de Fevereiro, foi assim no 15 de Março. A frente foram os “gentios” ou pelo menos considerados como tal por não terem estudado no Liceu Salvador Correia, no Diogo Cão ou ainda por não terem andado na cidade de Luanda.

NL – Os "gentios" são os da UPA/FNLA?

JA – Dizem uns que são, embora eu veja lá muita gente letrada. Mas são estes "gentios" que ainda hoje reivindicam que é a escola que deve ir ter com os alunos e não o inverso. Os actuais líderes sabem disso porque são homens que tiveram que percorrer inúmeros quilómetros para ir a escola. É bom que eles acordem e que apliquem o princípio "a escola junto de quem necessita". Ainda hoje são estes "gentios" que estão a reclamar isso porque não estão a escrever poesias nem livros nas grandes cidades, estão a reivindicar permanentemente por aquilo que lhes faz falta.

NL – Quando invoca a poesia está a falar de quem?

JA – Os poetas fazem parte do nosso património cultural nacional. Mas não podemos, face ao sofrimento, passar o tempo na poesia postergando a realidade para planos secundários. Primeiro a reivindicação para comer, para escola, hospital e depois então podemos perder o tempo na poesia. Porque nós, angolanos, somos bons na poesia. A poesia faz falta. Mas que seja como complemento quando ainda há imensa dor para resolver.

NL – Que lugares ocupam os "gentios" no contexto actual em Angola uma vez que sempre se antecederam na luta de libertação em relação aos poetas?

JA – Também não queríamos ter agora gentios no poder, se tomar a palavra à letra. Mas muitos deles não eram de tal modo "gentios" de todo que foram levados para o poder pelo MPLA para postos elevados.

NL – As reclamações dos "gentios" continuam actuais passados 30 anos de independência?

JA – Os "gentios" ainda continuam a clamar por liberdade. A liberdade continua a ser o elemento fundamental a reclamar em Angola. A liberdade de poder reivindicar e o poder perceber que ela, a reivindicação, tem fundamento. É que até hoje não há reivindicação em Angola em que o poder tenha reconhecido nela algum fundamento. E isso é a denegação da liberdade.

NL – Há um grande divórcio entre o povo e o poder?

JA – Isso é visível quando os ministros não conseguem passear na cidade capital sem guarda-costas. Os ministros não conseguem passear pelas ruas de Luanda com tranquilidade. Até as pessoas que assumem o poder em Angola não têm liberdade.

NL – Sei que militou na UPA, hoje FNLA. Uma pergunta: insere-se no grupo dos "gentios" que sempre reivindicou melhores condições para Angola e para os angolanos?

JA – Não tenho, nem nunca tive medo dos "gentios". Convivi sempre com eles. As pessoas valem como pessoas. Tinha 17 anos e no quintal da minha casa eu tinha uma escola para ensinar os serventes das casas do meu bairro, Vila-Alice. Todos os serventes do bairro iam a minha casa aprender e eu ensinava-os. Nunca tive problemas com os "gentios". Tive sempre problemas com os poetas. Não sei ler, nem entendo muito bem a poesia. Mas eles que fiquem calmos que também fazem falta à nação.

Ler entrevista completa aqui.

Fotos: Monumento ao 4 de Fevereiro, Luanda (Angola Press)

SENTIR-SE EM CASA (NU E DESCALÇO)

Acordar não é de dentro.
Acordar é ter saída.

(João Cabral de Melo Neto)

Foto & Texto tomados de empréstimo de Kimang.

Acordar não é de dentro.
Acordar é ter saída.

(João Cabral de Melo Neto)

Foto & Texto tomados de empréstimo de Kimang.

TRAÇOS DE HERBERTO HELDER EM LUANDA

Nos anos 70 o Herberto vivia em Luanda e trabalhava na revista Noticia, trazido pelo João Fernandes, director e autor da crónica semanal "Chuva e Bom Tempo". Eu próprio, na época tinha uma crónica semanal, "A Descoberta da Ilha", título tirado de um poema do Brasileiro Jorge de Lima.
Conosco um poeta Açoreano, que consta dos anais dos surrealistas Portugueses, o José Sebag. Escrevia-se muito bom Português, naquele tempo no Noticia. E bebia-se melhor. Tinhamos uma sede devastadora.
O José Sebag não resisitiu. Morreu cedo.


Mas vou contar uma história dele:

- O Zé Sebag para ganhar uns tostões até discursos escreveria. Lembro-me de ele ter escrito uma reportagem na linguagem do fotógrafo que cobriu o acontecimento, óptimo fotografo mas incapaz de escrever a história. Ele contou a história ao Zé Sebag e pudemos ler a reportagem como se tivesse sido escrita pelo fotógrafo. Uma pequena maravilha.

- Tinha um gancho na Revista das Pescas, dirigida pela Maria Virginia Aguiar, que lhe entregou a Página literária. A certa altura já havia 2 meses de pagamento da colaboração em atraso e o Zé andava muito nervoso, como sempre sem cheta e cheio de sede.
A Maria Virginia sempre a correr, metida nas habituais complicações. O Zé desesperado.
Ela pede ao Zé Sebag que entregue no último dia, já na tipografia, a página literária pois ela lhe pagaria na próxima semana.

E a Revista das Pescas saiu com Página literária. Em letras garrafais o Zé Sebag tinha escrito: - Página literária ----- Uma Ova.
Fez um sucesso, como se pode imaginar.

O Herberto teve a sorte de encontrar uma Angolana - a Olga que o agarrou até hoje e o mantem no seu isolamento tão profíquo.

(José Alçada, a.k.a. N'Kissi Yangue")

Sobre o Poema

Um poema cresce inseguramente
na confusão da carne,
sobe ainda sem palavras, só ferocidade e gosto,
talvez como sangue
ou sombra de sangue pelos canais do ser.

Fora existe o mundo. Fora, a esplêndida violência
ou os bagos de uva de onde nascem
as raízes minúsculas do sol.
Fora, os corpos genuínos e inalteráveis
do nosso amor,
os rios, a grande paz exterior das coisas,
as folhas dormindo o silêncio,
as sementes à beira do vento,
— a hora teatral da posse.
E o poema cresce tomando tudo em seu regaço.

E já nenhum poder destrói o poema.
Insustentável, único,
invade as órbitas, a face amorfa das paredes,
a miséria dos minutos,
a força sustida das coisas,
a redonda e livre harmonia do mundo.

— Embaixo o instrumento perplexo ignora
a espinha do mistério.
— E o poema faz-se contra o tempo e a carne.

Herberto Helder

POESIA
BIOGRAFIA

Nos anos 70 o Herberto vivia em Luanda e trabalhava na revista Noticia, trazido pelo João Fernandes, director e autor da crónica semanal "Chuva e Bom Tempo". Eu próprio, na época tinha uma crónica semanal, "A Descoberta da Ilha", título tirado de um poema do Brasileiro Jorge de Lima.
Conosco um poeta Açoreano, que consta dos anais dos surrealistas Portugueses, o José Sebag. Escrevia-se muito bom Português, naquele tempo no Noticia. E bebia-se melhor. Tinhamos uma sede devastadora.
O José Sebag não resisitiu. Morreu cedo.


Mas vou contar uma história dele:

- O Zé Sebag para ganhar uns tostões até discursos escreveria. Lembro-me de ele ter escrito uma reportagem na linguagem do fotógrafo que cobriu o acontecimento, óptimo fotografo mas incapaz de escrever a história. Ele contou a história ao Zé Sebag e pudemos ler a reportagem como se tivesse sido escrita pelo fotógrafo. Uma pequena maravilha.

- Tinha um gancho na Revista das Pescas, dirigida pela Maria Virginia Aguiar, que lhe entregou a Página literária. A certa altura já havia 2 meses de pagamento da colaboração em atraso e o Zé andava muito nervoso, como sempre sem cheta e cheio de sede.
A Maria Virginia sempre a correr, metida nas habituais complicações. O Zé desesperado.
Ela pede ao Zé Sebag que entregue no último dia, já na tipografia, a página literária pois ela lhe pagaria na próxima semana.

E a Revista das Pescas saiu com Página literária. Em letras garrafais o Zé Sebag tinha escrito: - Página literária ----- Uma Ova.
Fez um sucesso, como se pode imaginar.

O Herberto teve a sorte de encontrar uma Angolana - a Olga que o agarrou até hoje e o mantem no seu isolamento tão profíquo.

(José Alçada, a.k.a. N'Kissi Yangue")

Sobre o Poema

Um poema cresce inseguramente
na confusão da carne,
sobe ainda sem palavras, só ferocidade e gosto,
talvez como sangue
ou sombra de sangue pelos canais do ser.

Fora existe o mundo. Fora, a esplêndida violência
ou os bagos de uva de onde nascem
as raízes minúsculas do sol.
Fora, os corpos genuínos e inalteráveis
do nosso amor,
os rios, a grande paz exterior das coisas,
as folhas dormindo o silêncio,
as sementes à beira do vento,
— a hora teatral da posse.
E o poema cresce tomando tudo em seu regaço.

E já nenhum poder destrói o poema.
Insustentável, único,
invade as órbitas, a face amorfa das paredes,
a miséria dos minutos,
a força sustida das coisas,
a redonda e livre harmonia do mundo.

— Embaixo o instrumento perplexo ignora
a espinha do mistério.
— E o poema faz-se contra o tempo e a carne.

Herberto Helder

POESIA
BIOGRAFIA

4 de FEVEREIRO

Para assinalar o 4 de Fevereiro parece particularmente apropriado acrescentar hoje ‘a ‘playlist’ dos Kiezos o Milhorro’. "Milhorro’ foi escrito por Abel Murrimba (“Murrimba Show”) em 1961, num botequim do Marçal. Milhorro’ e’ giria para melhorar: Angola tem que melhorar. “Vão se embora” – subentendido, os colonialistas – “isto assim não pode ser.” A versão de 61 tambem falava dos arrarakuaras, a policia indigena criada para fazer rusgas nos bairros. Quando os Kiezos lançaram esta musica em 1972, foram interpelados no salão do Batalha pela Pide. Murrimba Show teve que inventar uma explicação: o convite a irem-se embora era dirigido ao Cabinda Ritmos que fazia muito sucesso em Luanda, lhes roubando publico e namoradas. Milhorro', tocado a boa maneira dos Kiezos, foi um grande sucesso."*

Entretanto...

Governo de Luanda anula acto alusivo ao 4 de Fevereiro

O governo da província de Luanda decidiu anular a realização do acto político alusivo ao 46º aniversário do início da luta armada, que deveria ser realizado hoje no Marco Histórico do 4 de Fevereiro, no município do Cazenga.
De acordo com uma nota de imprensa emitida pelo governo de Luanda, a anulação da realização do acto político se deve ao momento actual de consternação dos luandenses, provocada pelas consequências das últimas enxurradas que se abateram sobre a capital, e ao estado degradante das vias de acesso ao Marco Histórico.
O acto anulado constava do programa das comemorações do 46º aniversário do início da luta armada, o qual , entretanto, mantém a homenagem aos heróis desta proeza nacionalista. A homenagem consistirá na deposição, às nove horas, de coroas de flores nos túmulos dos comandantes Paiva Domingos da Silva e Imperial Santana e do cónego Manuel das Neves, no Cemitério do Alto das Cruzes.
Do referido programa mantém-se igualmente a cerimónia de lançamento do livro “Angola-ontem e hoje-cronologia de passos rumo à libertação nacional”, do escritor António Cortez, na Liga Africana.

Fonte: Jornal de Angola

Foto: Monumento ao 4 de Fevereiro, Luanda (Angola Press)

*(Extracto de compilação de textos de Jorge Macedo, Artur Arriscado, João Chagas, Gilberto Junior e Ariel de Bigault, in Angola 70’s – Buda Musique 1999)

Para assinalar o 4 de Fevereiro parece particularmente apropriado acrescentar hoje ‘a ‘playlist’ dos Kiezos o Milhorro’. "Milhorro’ foi escrito por Abel Murrimba (“Murrimba Show”) em 1961, num botequim do Marçal. Milhorro’ e’ giria para melhorar: Angola tem que melhorar. “Vão se embora” – subentendido, os colonialistas – “isto assim não pode ser.” A versão de 61 tambem falava dos arrarakuaras, a policia indigena criada para fazer rusgas nos bairros. Quando os Kiezos lançaram esta musica em 1972, foram interpelados no salão do Batalha pela Pide. Murrimba Show teve que inventar uma explicação: o convite a irem-se embora era dirigido ao Cabinda Ritmos que fazia muito sucesso em Luanda, lhes roubando publico e namoradas. Milhorro', tocado a boa maneira dos Kiezos, foi um grande sucesso."*

Entretanto...

Governo de Luanda anula acto alusivo ao 4 de Fevereiro

O governo da província de Luanda decidiu anular a realização do acto político alusivo ao 46º aniversário do início da luta armada, que deveria ser realizado hoje no Marco Histórico do 4 de Fevereiro, no município do Cazenga.
De acordo com uma nota de imprensa emitida pelo governo de Luanda, a anulação da realização do acto político se deve ao momento actual de consternação dos luandenses, provocada pelas consequências das últimas enxurradas que se abateram sobre a capital, e ao estado degradante das vias de acesso ao Marco Histórico.
O acto anulado constava do programa das comemorações do 46º aniversário do início da luta armada, o qual , entretanto, mantém a homenagem aos heróis desta proeza nacionalista. A homenagem consistirá na deposição, às nove horas, de coroas de flores nos túmulos dos comandantes Paiva Domingos da Silva e Imperial Santana e do cónego Manuel das Neves, no Cemitério do Alto das Cruzes.
Do referido programa mantém-se igualmente a cerimónia de lançamento do livro “Angola-ontem e hoje-cronologia de passos rumo à libertação nacional”, do escritor António Cortez, na Liga Africana.

Fonte: Jornal de Angola

Foto: Monumento ao 4 de Fevereiro, Luanda (Angola Press)

*(Extracto de compilação de textos de Jorge Macedo, Artur Arriscado, João Chagas, Gilberto Junior e Ariel de Bigault, in Angola 70’s – Buda Musique 1999)

RIO CUBAL & SANGANO

A paragem no rio Cubal, para quem faz a estrada Luanda - Lobito é sempre obrigatória, para ver aquele canyon impressionante.

Desta vez apanhei os miudos com jangadas improvisadas trazendo bananas para vender aos passantes.

E no regresso uma foto da foz do Cubal e um pôr do Sol em Sangano.

Para fazer saudades.

"N'Kissi Yangue"

(Ver Slideshow Aqui)

A paragem no rio Cubal, para quem faz a estrada Luanda - Lobito é sempre obrigatória, para ver aquele canyon impressionante.

Desta vez apanhei os miudos com jangadas improvisadas trazendo bananas para vender aos passantes.

E no regresso uma foto da foz do Cubal e um pôr do Sol em Sangano.

Para fazer saudades.

"N'Kissi Yangue"

(Ver Slideshow Aqui)

OIL GAME - THE SCRAMBLE FOR AFRICA'S BLACK GOLD: THE NORWEGIAN COUNCIL FOR AFRICA 2007 ANTHOLOGY

"Oil Game - The Scramble for Africa's Black Gold"

Nao e' todos os dias que se recebe, pelo correio, um livro acompanhado por uma carta do editor com os seguintes dizeres: "Here you have a copy of the Anthology "Oil game - the scramble for Africa's oil". As a contributor and co-author of the book, we hope you are as pleased with the book as we are. With this year's anthology we have managed to collect a good variety of thematic articles on the challenges related to the increased interest in the African oil. Just as important are the up to date country profiles from every single African country, which makes this the only up to date reference work on Africa in Norwegian. (...) Thank you so much for your contribution. With great gratitude and lots of greetings from the Norwegian Council for Africa." Well, the gratitude and greetings are duly and humbly reciprocated and I feel deeply honoured for having been invited to contribute to such a prestigious work. Ja no que toca a estar tao satisfeita com o livro quanto os seus editores, a parte o facto de ter gostado muito da ilustracao do livro a preto e branco (a excepcao da capa e contra-capa), a coisa fica mais complicada porque nao entendo 'patavina' de Noruegues e o livro e' apenas publicado nessa lingua... prometo, no entanto, publicar aqui proximamente o meu artigo, "Angola, Petroleo & Economia Pos-Conflito: Que Fazer?", originalmente escrito em Portugues e publicado numa versao anterior no Semanario Angolense, Luanda, em Junho deste ano (tendo esta ultima versao sido tambem publicada pela revista angolana "Figuras & Negocios"). A carta que recebi esta manha (21/12/06) acompanhando o livro foi antecedida de um convite, em Setembro passado, de onde se destacava o seguinte: " The current 'oil bonanza' in Africa is often described in media under the dichotomy 'Africa’s oil – a curse or blessing'. Our anthology aims to discuss the broad spectre of issues between these two extremes. Through 15-20 articles, we wish to discuss and describe a range of problems, opportunities, countries, issues and cases related to oil in Africa. We will, however, prioritize contributions from Africa, preferring African writers to describe their own continent. Since the oil industry is a very international business where also Norwegian oil companies compete for contracts in Africa, we will also focus on Norway’s relation to the African oil 'adventure'. The anthology will be published this fall as the fifth in our Africa-yearbook series. (...) The Norwegian Council for Africa (NCA) was established in 1967 as the anti-colonial and anti-apartheid umbrella organization in Norway. During the last decade the NCA has evolved into a solidarity organisation for the whole of Africa, using information as our tool to justice and development for the African continent. Our earlier publications include titles such as For a fistful of dollars – trading Africa’s future (2003), Media in Africa – Africa in the media (2002-03), Africans on Africa (2000-01), Debt, Structural Adjustment and Conflicts in Africa (1996-97) and Democracy in Africa (1995). Among the contributors, we can mention: Wangari Maathai, Kofi Annan, Thabo Mbeki, Julius Nyerere, Kenneth Kaunda, Adurey Gatzekpo, Susan George, Samir Amin, Patricia McFadden, Adebayo Olukoshi, Yash Tandon and many others." A Antologia deste ano inclui tambem, a titulo postumo, um artigo do martir Nigeriano de Ogoniland, Delta do Niger, Ken Saro-Wiwa (1941-1995).

Mais detalhes poderao ser encontrados aqui (para quem entende Noruegues...).

"Oil Game - The Scramble for Africa's Black Gold"

Nao e' todos os dias que se recebe, pelo correio, um livro acompanhado por uma carta do editor com os seguintes dizeres: "Here you have a copy of the Anthology "Oil game - the scramble for Africa's oil". As a contributor and co-author of the book, we hope you are as pleased with the book as we are. With this year's anthology we have managed to collect a good variety of thematic articles on the challenges related to the increased interest in the African oil. Just as important are the up to date country profiles from every single African country, which makes this the only up to date reference work on Africa in Norwegian. (...) Thank you so much for your contribution. With great gratitude and lots of greetings from the Norwegian Council for Africa." Well, the gratitude and greetings are duly and humbly reciprocated and I feel deeply honoured for having been invited to contribute to such a prestigious work. Ja no que toca a estar tao satisfeita com o livro quanto os seus editores, a parte o facto de ter gostado muito da ilustracao do livro a preto e branco (a excepcao da capa e contra-capa), a coisa fica mais complicada porque nao entendo 'patavina' de Noruegues e o livro e' apenas publicado nessa lingua... prometo, no entanto, publicar aqui proximamente o meu artigo, "Angola, Petroleo & Economia Pos-Conflito: Que Fazer?", originalmente escrito em Portugues e publicado numa versao anterior no Semanario Angolense, Luanda, em Junho deste ano (tendo esta ultima versao sido tambem publicada pela revista angolana "Figuras & Negocios"). A carta que recebi esta manha (21/12/06) acompanhando o livro foi antecedida de um convite, em Setembro passado, de onde se destacava o seguinte: " The current 'oil bonanza' in Africa is often described in media under the dichotomy 'Africa’s oil – a curse or blessing'. Our anthology aims to discuss the broad spectre of issues between these two extremes. Through 15-20 articles, we wish to discuss and describe a range of problems, opportunities, countries, issues and cases related to oil in Africa. We will, however, prioritize contributions from Africa, preferring African writers to describe their own continent. Since the oil industry is a very international business where also Norwegian oil companies compete for contracts in Africa, we will also focus on Norway’s relation to the African oil 'adventure'. The anthology will be published this fall as the fifth in our Africa-yearbook series. (...) The Norwegian Council for Africa (NCA) was established in 1967 as the anti-colonial and anti-apartheid umbrella organization in Norway. During the last decade the NCA has evolved into a solidarity organisation for the whole of Africa, using information as our tool to justice and development for the African continent. Our earlier publications include titles such as For a fistful of dollars – trading Africa’s future (2003), Media in Africa – Africa in the media (2002-03), Africans on Africa (2000-01), Debt, Structural Adjustment and Conflicts in Africa (1996-97) and Democracy in Africa (1995). Among the contributors, we can mention: Wangari Maathai, Kofi Annan, Thabo Mbeki, Julius Nyerere, Kenneth Kaunda, Adurey Gatzekpo, Susan George, Samir Amin, Patricia McFadden, Adebayo Olukoshi, Yash Tandon and many others." A Antologia deste ano inclui tambem, a titulo postumo, um artigo do martir Nigeriano de Ogoniland, Delta do Niger, Ken Saro-Wiwa (1941-1995).

Mais detalhes poderao ser encontrados aqui (para quem entende Noruegues...).

DÉTOURS DE MONDES

Podem ser vistas belíssimas esculturas dos Bakongo e de outras etnias angolanas no blogue Détours de Mondes, mais concretamente nos posts publicados em Novembro e Dezembro. Aquele blogue é um must.

Hoje, um "ciberamigo" recomendou-me um site na Internet que tem imensa música de Angola, Moçambique, Portugal, Argentina, Brasil, Cabo Verde, etc. etc. É um site de um galego, ao que parece, pois todo ele está escrito em galego. Confira e ouça neste endereço, que vale mesmo a pena.

(Amável contribuição de Denudado - Obrigada!)

Picture: Tshokwe Mask, from 'Détours de Mondes'.

Podem ser vistas belíssimas esculturas dos Bakongo e de outras etnias angolanas no blogue Détours de Mondes, mais concretamente nos posts publicados em Novembro e Dezembro. Aquele blogue é um must.

Hoje, um "ciberamigo" recomendou-me um site na Internet que tem imensa música de Angola, Moçambique, Portugal, Argentina, Brasil, Cabo Verde, etc. etc. É um site de um galego, ao que parece, pois todo ele está escrito em galego. Confira e ouça neste endereço, que vale mesmo a pena.

(Amável contribuição de Denudado - Obrigada!)

Picture: Tshokwe Mask, from 'Détours de Mondes'.

MWAMBA, KIKWANGA & KAHOMBO

Muamba Nsusu (Congo Chicken Soup)

This soup version of Sub-Saharan Africa's ubiquitous Chicken in Peanut-Tomato Sauce comes from the Kongo people of the two Congos and Angola; it has much in common with other African peanut soups and sauces.


What you need

- chicken; one whole chicken, cut up, any parts, any amount
- one large onion, chopped
- palm oil
- small can of tomato paste
- one-half cup peanut butter (natural or homemade, containing only peanuts and salt)
- hot chile pepper or red or cayenne pepper, to taste

What you do

- Fill a large pot with enough water for soup. Bring it to a boil. Add the chicken and boil it until the meat is done and a broth is obtained.
- While the chicken is boiling, gently sauté the onion in several tablespoons of palm oil until the onion is tender.
- Remove the chicken from the broth and remove meat from bones. (Save the broth and keep it at a low simmer.)
- Combine one cup of the chicken broth with the peanut butter and tomato paste and stir until smooth.
- Return the chicken meat to the broth and add the peanut butter-tomato paste mixture. Stir and continue to simmer until the soup is thickened.
- Season to taste. Serve with Rice, or Baton de Manioc/Chikwangue, or Fufu and more hot pepper.

Nsusu na buha or Poulet fumé à la pâte d'arachide (Smoked chicken with peanut sauce) is a similar dish from the Congo region.

Receita tirada de Congo Cookbook

Muamba Nsusu (Congo Chicken Soup)

This soup version of Sub-Saharan Africa's ubiquitous Chicken in Peanut-Tomato Sauce comes from the Kongo people of the two Congos and Angola; it has much in common with other African peanut soups and sauces.


What you need

- chicken; one whole chicken, cut up, any parts, any amount
- one large onion, chopped
- palm oil
- small can of tomato paste
- one-half cup peanut butter (natural or homemade, containing only peanuts and salt)
- hot chile pepper or red or cayenne pepper, to taste

What you do

- Fill a large pot with enough water for soup. Bring it to a boil. Add the chicken and boil it until the meat is done and a broth is obtained.
- While the chicken is boiling, gently sauté the onion in several tablespoons of palm oil until the onion is tender.
- Remove the chicken from the broth and remove meat from bones. (Save the broth and keep it at a low simmer.)
- Combine one cup of the chicken broth with the peanut butter and tomato paste and stir until smooth.
- Return the chicken meat to the broth and add the peanut butter-tomato paste mixture. Stir and continue to simmer until the soup is thickened.
- Season to taste. Serve with Rice, or Baton de Manioc/Chikwangue, or Fufu and more hot pepper.

Nsusu na buha or Poulet fumé à la pâte d'arachide (Smoked chicken with peanut sauce) is a similar dish from the Congo region.

Receita tirada de Congo Cookbook

WHAT'S (REALLY) NEW

Hoje (ou antes, ontem), este blog assinalou um “marco historico”! Exactamente… Pela primeira vez desde que me meti nesta aventura, me foi possivel tecnicamente colocar aqui a minha propria musica. (But, don’t get me wrong: my Miles’s, Coltrane’s, Marsalis’s, Hancock’s and many others that have passed, or are still around here, continue very much to be my cherished pearls! In fact, from now on, I’ll be able to play the tracks that I most love from them out of my own CDs…).


E, para assinalar condignamente esse “marco historico”, a “estreia” e’ feita pelos Kiezos (Rumba 70), seguidos pelos Gingas (Lamento) in 'Spirited Sounds'.

BREVE INTRODUÇÃO:
Os Kiezos
Os Kiezos foram criados em 1964, por jovens do bairro Marçal. Tornou-se um dos conjuntos mais famosos e mais caracteristicos da capital. O ritmo dos Kiezos e’ inconfundivel: muito acelerado, rijo, enraizado no carnaval do musseque.

O Semba

O semba e’ de Luanda. Faz parte do sentimento e da expressividade dos Luandenses. Reflecte o seu andar cadenciado, a sua linguagem musical e a sua forma de estar no universo. A palavra semba vem da massemba da dança rebita. Foi a partir dessa referencia ritmica e melodica que os conjuntos luandenses forjaram o semba moderno. Cada bairro tinha um estilo, um som e uma batida proprios, so’ um ouvido muito apurado e atento, ou um bom passista os conseguia distinguir. As letras, muitas vezes da autoria dos cantores, cronicavam cenas da vida do bairro – rivalidades amorosas, ciumes e invejas – criticando os comportamentos familiares e sociais. Mas semba e’ antes de tudo dança, um dos grandes prazeres dos Luandenses.

Origens

Esse ritmo sensual, quente e cadenciado, e’ a fusao de ritmos de Angola e de outros do exterior. As varias adaptações e conjugações das danças de carnaval – kazukuta, kabetula, kabuko, maringa, dizanda – definem os diversos estilos de sembas. A criatividade ritmica, melodica e harmonica, assim como a evolução da instrumentação firmaram as bases do semba dos anos 70.

Instrumentos

Os grupos tinham percussões tradicionais e violas. Os tambores, ngomas, feitos num barril de vinho ou num tronco de arvore com peles de animais, foram substituidos por tumbas e, em vez de dois tamboristas, um a fazer grave, outro agudo, tinha um so’, com tres tumbas. Os bongos, pequenos tambores em tripe’ tocados com baguetes, substituiram as caixas tradicionais. Desapareceram progressivamente a puita (cuica) e o bate-bate (cana tocada com uma baguete e batida no chão). A dikanza (reco-reco) tem resistido mas e’ substituida hoje pelos pratos da bateria.

Ligações

Entre varias outras, a ligação com o Brasil vem do Imperio Portugues e do intenso trafico de escravos entre as duas colonias – varios milhões de angolanos foram desterrados para o Brasil nos seculos XVII e XVIII. As danças afro-brasileiras que deram forma ao samba teem muito em comum com as raizes tradicionais do semba.

Evolução

A viola – artesanal com caixa de chapa, violão acustico ou viola electrica – tem sido o instrumento fundamental da evolução do semba. Duia, dos Gingas, foi um dos primeiros grandes solistas. Marito (o de camisa cor-de-rosa no slide show), um dos fundadores dos Kiezos (Vassouras) aprendeu a tocar com Duia, criando depois o seu estilo proprio. Era muito expressivo, fazia caretas e dançava. Nestes primeiros anos de 70, o miolo da estrutura do semba e’ dado pela viola ritmica e pelo baixo. Este, que antes era de seis cordas, e’ substituido por um de quatro. Os teclados e os sopros foram se generalizando a partir do final dos anos 70.

Legado

O semba dos anos 70 tem sido um modelo, uma referencia historica e uma bandeira identitaria. E’ multiplo e diverso e ainda transformado pela criatividade de varias gerações.


(Extracto de compilação de textos de Jorge Macedo, Artur Arriscado, João Chagas, Gilberto Junior e Ariel de Bigault, in Angola 70’s – Buda Musique 1999)

Hoje (ou antes, ontem), este blog assinalou um “marco historico”! Exactamente… Pela primeira vez desde que me meti nesta aventura, me foi possivel tecnicamente colocar aqui a minha propria musica. (But, don’t get me wrong: my Miles’s, Coltrane’s, Marsalis’s, Hancock’s and many others that have passed, or are still around here, continue very much to be my cherished pearls! In fact, from now on, I’ll be able to play the tracks that I most love from them out of my own CDs…).


E, para assinalar condignamente esse “marco historico”, a “estreia” e’ feita pelos Kiezos (Rumba 70), seguidos pelos Gingas (Lamento) in 'Spirited Sounds'.

BREVE INTRODUÇÃO:
Os Kiezos
Os Kiezos foram criados em 1964, por jovens do bairro Marçal. Tornou-se um dos conjuntos mais famosos e mais caracteristicos da capital. O ritmo dos Kiezos e’ inconfundivel: muito acelerado, rijo, enraizado no carnaval do musseque.

O Semba

O semba e’ de Luanda. Faz parte do sentimento e da expressividade dos Luandenses. Reflecte o seu andar cadenciado, a sua linguagem musical e a sua forma de estar no universo. A palavra semba vem da massemba da dança rebita. Foi a partir dessa referencia ritmica e melodica que os conjuntos luandenses forjaram o semba moderno. Cada bairro tinha um estilo, um som e uma batida proprios, so’ um ouvido muito apurado e atento, ou um bom passista os conseguia distinguir. As letras, muitas vezes da autoria dos cantores, cronicavam cenas da vida do bairro – rivalidades amorosas, ciumes e invejas – criticando os comportamentos familiares e sociais. Mas semba e’ antes de tudo dança, um dos grandes prazeres dos Luandenses.

Origens

Esse ritmo sensual, quente e cadenciado, e’ a fusao de ritmos de Angola e de outros do exterior. As varias adaptações e conjugações das danças de carnaval – kazukuta, kabetula, kabuko, maringa, dizanda – definem os diversos estilos de sembas. A criatividade ritmica, melodica e harmonica, assim como a evolução da instrumentação firmaram as bases do semba dos anos 70.

Instrumentos

Os grupos tinham percussões tradicionais e violas. Os tambores, ngomas, feitos num barril de vinho ou num tronco de arvore com peles de animais, foram substituidos por tumbas e, em vez de dois tamboristas, um a fazer grave, outro agudo, tinha um so’, com tres tumbas. Os bongos, pequenos tambores em tripe’ tocados com baguetes, substituiram as caixas tradicionais. Desapareceram progressivamente a puita (cuica) e o bate-bate (cana tocada com uma baguete e batida no chão). A dikanza (reco-reco) tem resistido mas e’ substituida hoje pelos pratos da bateria.

Ligações

Entre varias outras, a ligação com o Brasil vem do Imperio Portugues e do intenso trafico de escravos entre as duas colonias – varios milhões de angolanos foram desterrados para o Brasil nos seculos XVII e XVIII. As danças afro-brasileiras que deram forma ao samba teem muito em comum com as raizes tradicionais do semba.

Evolução

A viola – artesanal com caixa de chapa, violão acustico ou viola electrica – tem sido o instrumento fundamental da evolução do semba. Duia, dos Gingas, foi um dos primeiros grandes solistas. Marito (o de camisa cor-de-rosa no slide show), um dos fundadores dos Kiezos (Vassouras) aprendeu a tocar com Duia, criando depois o seu estilo proprio. Era muito expressivo, fazia caretas e dançava. Nestes primeiros anos de 70, o miolo da estrutura do semba e’ dado pela viola ritmica e pelo baixo. Este, que antes era de seis cordas, e’ substituido por um de quatro. Os teclados e os sopros foram se generalizando a partir do final dos anos 70.

Legado

O semba dos anos 70 tem sido um modelo, uma referencia historica e uma bandeira identitaria. E’ multiplo e diverso e ainda transformado pela criatividade de varias gerações.


(Extracto de compilação de textos de Jorge Macedo, Artur Arriscado, João Chagas, Gilberto Junior e Ariel de Bigault, in Angola 70’s – Buda Musique 1999)

WHAT'S IN A NAME

"It is not what you call me, but what I answer to, that matters most"

African Proverb

(in "Capitalist Nigger - The Road to Success", by Chika Onyeani)

Picture: Kongo Mask

Here’s something to READ and HANDLE with care:


Extracts from Chika Onyeani’s CAPITALIST NIGGER – THE ROAD TO SUCCESS – A Spider Web Doctrine

FOREWORD

"CAPITALIST NIGGER is a no-holds-barred discussion of the Black Race. It combines a powerful punch because the author believes that there is no better time to openly debate the state of the Black Race than now. The book asserts that the Negroid Race is a non-productive race. “We are a consumer race”, the author insists. “We produce nothing and consume what others produce.” The author scores the bull’s-eye when he lays the blame for the present state of the Black Race on the fact that his people don’t possess what he calls “the killer-instinct of the Caucasian Race” and their lack of “whatever it takes” attitude.

CAPITALIST NIGGER is purely and simply about making money in any way possible; about changing the attitude of the Black Race.
Onyeani’s espousal and advocacy of the “Spider Web Economy” doctrine is bound to revolutionize economic thinking for years to come.

CAPITALIST NIGGER is a book no person other than Chika Onyeani could have written. It is a testimony of his life-long courage. It is an anguished cry to the Black Race to move from being a Consumer Race to a Productive Race. It is compellingly required reading.


INTRODUCTION


POWER OF A WORD


“IT IS NOT WHAT YOU CALL ME, BUT WHAT I ANSWER TO, THAT MATTERS MOST.”
An African Proverb


According to Merriam Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary, Tenth Edition, the word “Nigger” has now come to rank as “perhaps the most offensive and inflammatory racial slur in English….. it is otherwise a word expressive of racial hatred and bigotry.” Ordinarily, according to the same dictionary, the word itself refers to a black person, having been used by such considered writers like Joseph Conrad, Mark Twain and William Shakespeare. This word has caused all kinds of invectives between Blacks and Caucasians. Caucasians think by calling Blacks (Negro, Blackman, African-American, mulatto) “Niggers”, they are putting them down and putting them “in their place”, which would anger most Blacks. Blacks on their part have always obliged the Caucasians by doing exactly as they have anticipated.

“We are creatures of habit. We like to take advantage of every situation. And Caucasians have been taking advantage of the Black Race in every situation from the enslaving of Africans and plucking them to America to the present time of trying to demean us by the word Nigger. What is really in a word? We make it what we want it to mean. By accepting what others want us to believe a word means, we are invariably giving them the satisfaction of feeling superiority over us. But when we hardly notice such an appellation as meaningless, it not only makes the user of the word totally stupid, it also takes away his feeling of superiority.”


EXTRACT


In October 1960, Nigeria received its independence from Britain. By then, Ghana the former Gold Cost had been independent for three years under the great Osagyefo Kwame Nkrumah. It was a time for celebrating Africa’s coming of age, as more and more African countries received their independence either from Britain or France. It was especially a poignant time for Africa, as then British Prime Minister Harold McMillan articulated his now famous “winds of change” sweeping Africa. We had high hopes for Africa, for the Black race, that the insidious imposition of foreign rule on us, the looting of Africa’s natural resources by our colonial masters and the disrespect and disdain that these colonial masters accorded us would be things of history.

That is more than forty years ago. Unfortunately, the promise of independence has not been fulfilled. Today, Africa has become more desolate; there is more starvation, diseases and non-provision of essential services than when we got our independence. There are all kinds of wars in Africa and millions of lives have been lost. There are more dictators in Africa than the rest of the world put together. The majority of so-called African leaders want to stay in power until the day their bodies are put in the grave. Through buffoonery, utter mismanagement and downright stealing of the wealth of the masses, these leaders have so impoverish Africa that we are now nothing but a beggar continent. We beg for everything; we are more dependent on our colonial masters than when we received our independence from them. Africa owes the West more money than we and our generations to come can repay.
I arrived in America in December of 1967 as an official of what we believed was going to be a dynamic African nation – the young Republic of Biafra. But Biafra was defeated and Nigeria remained one, as a giant of Africa. In that last 32 years, I have watched with horror and outright helplessness as the downward slide of the African race continues to escalate. But rather than address the problems, we resort to blaming the Caucasians, Asians and others for our misfortune. We are not men enough to accept responsibility for our actions.

Africans blame either the British, French or little Portuguese/Spanish for their problems. Africans in America blame the Caucasians for all their problems, or any other ethnic group they have allowed to take over their neighbourhoods, a frequently recurring phenomenon. Africans blame the IMF, the World Bank, the G8, the former colonial masters for the abject poverty in our respective countries. We blame the wars ravaging several African sectors on the interference of our former colonial masters on “our internal affairs”. Ha! – some kind of independence!

In the 32 years I have been in America, I have never had a discussion with any of my brothers or sisters without it resorting to the African (Black)/Caucasian (White) relationship. If we go to a restaurant, we blame the Caucasian or Asian for sitting us at the back, near the kitchen, or too much in the front, because he doesn’t want to antagonise his Caucasian clientele. When we decide to buy a house in a Caucasian neighbourhood, we blame the people for refusing to sell to us because of their belief that we spend more time and money on visible luxurious and ultimately worthless items, than in maintaining our property, which to everyone but us is a major part of their investment and retirement portfolio.

The blame game has become a permanent part of our lives to the exclusion of any other solution that could be more viable in solving our problems. It has become the most productive part of our lives, because without it the African cannot really point to much that they are in charge of producing. It is better to blame others than to confront the truth of our being responsible for whatever has happened to us as an African race.

I decided to write Capitalist Nigger to open a debate on the state of the African race. But in doing so, my intention was not to treat my own contribution to the debate with kid gloves. It is to tell it like it is, the truth and nothing but he truth. My observations are bound to infuriate a lot of my people. Even the title of this book is bound to make a lot of people angry. Many people will be angry, to say it mildly, when I question the intelligence of my people compared to the Asians (Indians, Pakistanis, Malaysians, Filipinos) and others who attained independence at the same time as most African countries. If the book generates the kind of dialogue, debate or argument for or against the position I have taken, so be it. But it would even be more relevant if in the process, solutions are offered to help extricate Africans from being a consumer to a productive race.

I decided to write Capitalist Nigger also as a doctrine of making money and creating wealth. I am not ashamed to say that I am also purely motivated by the same greed that motivates Caucasians with “killer-instincts” and “devil-may-care” convictions. I see myself as an Economic Warrior for my people and not a victim, I have decided to confront the truth of my misfortune and when I see the mirror I see the culprit standing right in front of me – it is me. As the saying goes, truth shall set you free. The Truth in being a Capitalist Nigger is that it sets you free. The Truth in being a Capitalist Nigger is that it sets you free. Being a Capitalist Nigger puts you in control of every aspect of your life – you are in charge and nobody else.

You want your children to have good grades in school? Then practice Capitalist Niggerism because then you will not blame the teachers for failing your children or blame the nationwide testing services for using non-black questions in their testing. You will be in control because you will totally understand that everything that happens to your child at school is a result of the learning environment you have provided him or her at home.

If you want to have a good job, practice Capitalist Niggerism, because you want to beat the people who expect you to fail because they believe you are stupid. You will succeed because you work harder and twice as hard as the average Caucasian. You will not gripe or whine about it because you are a Capitalist Nigger, you know you are in charge in every aspect of the process. Because of your belief in Capitalist Niggerism, you set out to learn about your job and excel and shame everybody else. I remember in the early seventies when I joined Endo/Dupont, the pharmaceutical division. There was not another African in my division and to the amazement of the Regional Managers, I was always the number one winner when it came to sales contests. But the British Divisional Manager who recruited me knew that I could do it because the only question he had asked me at my interview was whether I was Igbo from Nigeria and I had replied in the affirmative.

You want to create wealth, join Wall Street. Don’t make excuses that Blacks don’t know how to invest their money. Go after the Caucasians. Use their guilt to your advantage.

Another important point which I raised in this book concerns the long study I have conducted regarding the economic behaviour of East Indians and Pakistanis. It is an economic doctrine I have christened the “Spider Web Doctrine”, because I believe we all understand how spiders behave. They build a web, and if an ant or fly dares enter the web, they are not allowed to come out. The spider closes its web. That is exactly how the Indians have employed the spider web doctrine to become a major economic force worldwide. The Indians have created a virtual economy in the communities they live. When a dollar comes into the community, that dollar does not leave the community. They reinvest it by buying from other Indians.

Indians have studied the art of being a major economic force in America without antagonising any particular group. You don’t see them in hostile neighbourhoods, where they could be held hostage by the anger of that group. They are mostly in business which caters to every group – newspaper retailing, taxi/limousine, gas station ownership, and motel/hotel operators.

The Jews have used to some extent this “Spider Web Economic” doctrine, but not on the scale of Indians. The Indians are its best ardent practitioners. It is the only and best economic method I have seen which can easily catapult an economy like ours out of its indolent state.

I feel totally liberated. I feel free. I feel I am in charge. I am in control. From here on, whatever happens is because I allowed it to happen. I have made what I believe is my own major contribution to the debate on the state of the Black Race. Whether you agree with me or not is immaterial. The only important point is that we must stop the blame game and accept responsibility for the present state of the Black Race. Truth shall set you free, it has set me free."

***

P.S.: I've decided to include here an extract from my participation in a discussion on the "Negritude Movement", at Black Looks, for its relevance to the main theme of this book:

"First, I think that the answers to all these questions hinge on whether the n-word stands for Negro, or for Nigger. I must say that in my own research I never came across a description of Negritude as “Niggerness” and I suspect this may have a lot to do with the translations of the particular publications we read, or how we ourselves translate the original words written in French by the “founding fathers” of Negritude.In my recollection, they use the words Negre/Noir=Negro as the racial archetype equivalent to Caucasian, hence its acceptability in academia. In this sense, Negro/Noir has no pejorative or “denigrating” connotations: it’s used just like Martin Luther King and Malcolm X, for instance, have used it. In Portuguese, as in French, Negro/Negre/Noir is the acceptable term to refer to the so-called “negroid” race, whereas Preto=Black can have derogatory undertones and can be understood, depending on the context and intention of its use, as the equivalent to “Nigger”,which I believe was invented in the States to have exclusively racist connotations…From there, I found that the Negritude movement’s main claim regarding the “Negro Essence” is that, contrary to (still) prevailing stereotypes, the Negro is not a “lesser” human and by no means “less intelligent” than the Caucasian or any other race, s/he just has a different approach to understanding and conceptualising their surrounding universe. Hence Senghor’s famous phrase, which encapsulates much of the essence of Negritude: “The reason is Hellenic and the emotion is Noir/Negre/Negro”, by which he meant that the Negro rationality was founded on and derived from the human senses and its profound interaction with and dependence on nature, whereas the Caucasian one was primarily based on abstract (from nature) calculation…"

"It is not what you call me, but what I answer to, that matters most"

African Proverb

(in "Capitalist Nigger - The Road to Success", by Chika Onyeani)

Picture: Kongo Mask

Here’s something to READ and HANDLE with care:


Extracts from Chika Onyeani’s CAPITALIST NIGGER – THE ROAD TO SUCCESS – A Spider Web Doctrine

FOREWORD

"CAPITALIST NIGGER is a no-holds-barred discussion of the Black Race. It combines a powerful punch because the author believes that there is no better time to openly debate the state of the Black Race than now. The book asserts that the Negroid Race is a non-productive race. “We are a consumer race”, the author insists. “We produce nothing and consume what others produce.” The author scores the bull’s-eye when he lays the blame for the present state of the Black Race on the fact that his people don’t possess what he calls “the killer-instinct of the Caucasian Race” and their lack of “whatever it takes” attitude.

CAPITALIST NIGGER is purely and simply about making money in any way possible; about changing the attitude of the Black Race.
Onyeani’s espousal and advocacy of the “Spider Web Economy” doctrine is bound to revolutionize economic thinking for years to come.

CAPITALIST NIGGER is a book no person other than Chika Onyeani could have written. It is a testimony of his life-long courage. It is an anguished cry to the Black Race to move from being a Consumer Race to a Productive Race. It is compellingly required reading.


INTRODUCTION


POWER OF A WORD


“IT IS NOT WHAT YOU CALL ME, BUT WHAT I ANSWER TO, THAT MATTERS MOST.”
An African Proverb


According to Merriam Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary, Tenth Edition, the word “Nigger” has now come to rank as “perhaps the most offensive and inflammatory racial slur in English….. it is otherwise a word expressive of racial hatred and bigotry.” Ordinarily, according to the same dictionary, the word itself refers to a black person, having been used by such considered writers like Joseph Conrad, Mark Twain and William Shakespeare. This word has caused all kinds of invectives between Blacks and Caucasians. Caucasians think by calling Blacks (Negro, Blackman, African-American, mulatto) “Niggers”, they are putting them down and putting them “in their place”, which would anger most Blacks. Blacks on their part have always obliged the Caucasians by doing exactly as they have anticipated.

“We are creatures of habit. We like to take advantage of every situation. And Caucasians have been taking advantage of the Black Race in every situation from the enslaving of Africans and plucking them to America to the present time of trying to demean us by the word Nigger. What is really in a word? We make it what we want it to mean. By accepting what others want us to believe a word means, we are invariably giving them the satisfaction of feeling superiority over us. But when we hardly notice such an appellation as meaningless, it not only makes the user of the word totally stupid, it also takes away his feeling of superiority.”


EXTRACT


In October 1960, Nigeria received its independence from Britain. By then, Ghana the former Gold Cost had been independent for three years under the great Osagyefo Kwame Nkrumah. It was a time for celebrating Africa’s coming of age, as more and more African countries received their independence either from Britain or France. It was especially a poignant time for Africa, as then British Prime Minister Harold McMillan articulated his now famous “winds of change” sweeping Africa. We had high hopes for Africa, for the Black race, that the insidious imposition of foreign rule on us, the looting of Africa’s natural resources by our colonial masters and the disrespect and disdain that these colonial masters accorded us would be things of history.

That is more than forty years ago. Unfortunately, the promise of independence has not been fulfilled. Today, Africa has become more desolate; there is more starvation, diseases and non-provision of essential services than when we got our independence. There are all kinds of wars in Africa and millions of lives have been lost. There are more dictators in Africa than the rest of the world put together. The majority of so-called African leaders want to stay in power until the day their bodies are put in the grave. Through buffoonery, utter mismanagement and downright stealing of the wealth of the masses, these leaders have so impoverish Africa that we are now nothing but a beggar continent. We beg for everything; we are more dependent on our colonial masters than when we received our independence from them. Africa owes the West more money than we and our generations to come can repay.
I arrived in America in December of 1967 as an official of what we believed was going to be a dynamic African nation – the young Republic of Biafra. But Biafra was defeated and Nigeria remained one, as a giant of Africa. In that last 32 years, I have watched with horror and outright helplessness as the downward slide of the African race continues to escalate. But rather than address the problems, we resort to blaming the Caucasians, Asians and others for our misfortune. We are not men enough to accept responsibility for our actions.

Africans blame either the British, French or little Portuguese/Spanish for their problems. Africans in America blame the Caucasians for all their problems, or any other ethnic group they have allowed to take over their neighbourhoods, a frequently recurring phenomenon. Africans blame the IMF, the World Bank, the G8, the former colonial masters for the abject poverty in our respective countries. We blame the wars ravaging several African sectors on the interference of our former colonial masters on “our internal affairs”. Ha! – some kind of independence!

In the 32 years I have been in America, I have never had a discussion with any of my brothers or sisters without it resorting to the African (Black)/Caucasian (White) relationship. If we go to a restaurant, we blame the Caucasian or Asian for sitting us at the back, near the kitchen, or too much in the front, because he doesn’t want to antagonise his Caucasian clientele. When we decide to buy a house in a Caucasian neighbourhood, we blame the people for refusing to sell to us because of their belief that we spend more time and money on visible luxurious and ultimately worthless items, than in maintaining our property, which to everyone but us is a major part of their investment and retirement portfolio.

The blame game has become a permanent part of our lives to the exclusion of any other solution that could be more viable in solving our problems. It has become the most productive part of our lives, because without it the African cannot really point to much that they are in charge of producing. It is better to blame others than to confront the truth of our being responsible for whatever has happened to us as an African race.

I decided to write Capitalist Nigger to open a debate on the state of the African race. But in doing so, my intention was not to treat my own contribution to the debate with kid gloves. It is to tell it like it is, the truth and nothing but he truth. My observations are bound to infuriate a lot of my people. Even the title of this book is bound to make a lot of people angry. Many people will be angry, to say it mildly, when I question the intelligence of my people compared to the Asians (Indians, Pakistanis, Malaysians, Filipinos) and others who attained independence at the same time as most African countries. If the book generates the kind of dialogue, debate or argument for or against the position I have taken, so be it. But it would even be more relevant if in the process, solutions are offered to help extricate Africans from being a consumer to a productive race.

I decided to write Capitalist Nigger also as a doctrine of making money and creating wealth. I am not ashamed to say that I am also purely motivated by the same greed that motivates Caucasians with “killer-instincts” and “devil-may-care” convictions. I see myself as an Economic Warrior for my people and not a victim, I have decided to confront the truth of my misfortune and when I see the mirror I see the culprit standing right in front of me – it is me. As the saying goes, truth shall set you free. The Truth in being a Capitalist Nigger is that it sets you free. The Truth in being a Capitalist Nigger is that it sets you free. Being a Capitalist Nigger puts you in control of every aspect of your life – you are in charge and nobody else.

You want your children to have good grades in school? Then practice Capitalist Niggerism because then you will not blame the teachers for failing your children or blame the nationwide testing services for using non-black questions in their testing. You will be in control because you will totally understand that everything that happens to your child at school is a result of the learning environment you have provided him or her at home.

If you want to have a good job, practice Capitalist Niggerism, because you want to beat the people who expect you to fail because they believe you are stupid. You will succeed because you work harder and twice as hard as the average Caucasian. You will not gripe or whine about it because you are a Capitalist Nigger, you know you are in charge in every aspect of the process. Because of your belief in Capitalist Niggerism, you set out to learn about your job and excel and shame everybody else. I remember in the early seventies when I joined Endo/Dupont, the pharmaceutical division. There was not another African in my division and to the amazement of the Regional Managers, I was always the number one winner when it came to sales contests. But the British Divisional Manager who recruited me knew that I could do it because the only question he had asked me at my interview was whether I was Igbo from Nigeria and I had replied in the affirmative.

You want to create wealth, join Wall Street. Don’t make excuses that Blacks don’t know how to invest their money. Go after the Caucasians. Use their guilt to your advantage.

Another important point which I raised in this book concerns the long study I have conducted regarding the economic behaviour of East Indians and Pakistanis. It is an economic doctrine I have christened the “Spider Web Doctrine”, because I believe we all understand how spiders behave. They build a web, and if an ant or fly dares enter the web, they are not allowed to come out. The spider closes its web. That is exactly how the Indians have employed the spider web doctrine to become a major economic force worldwide. The Indians have created a virtual economy in the communities they live. When a dollar comes into the community, that dollar does not leave the community. They reinvest it by buying from other Indians.

Indians have studied the art of being a major economic force in America without antagonising any particular group. You don’t see them in hostile neighbourhoods, where they could be held hostage by the anger of that group. They are mostly in business which caters to every group – newspaper retailing, taxi/limousine, gas station ownership, and motel/hotel operators.

The Jews have used to some extent this “Spider Web Economic” doctrine, but not on the scale of Indians. The Indians are its best ardent practitioners. It is the only and best economic method I have seen which can easily catapult an economy like ours out of its indolent state.

I feel totally liberated. I feel free. I feel I am in charge. I am in control. From here on, whatever happens is because I allowed it to happen. I have made what I believe is my own major contribution to the debate on the state of the Black Race. Whether you agree with me or not is immaterial. The only important point is that we must stop the blame game and accept responsibility for the present state of the Black Race. Truth shall set you free, it has set me free."

***

P.S.: I've decided to include here an extract from my participation in a discussion on the "Negritude Movement", at Black Looks, for its relevance to the main theme of this book:

"First, I think that the answers to all these questions hinge on whether the n-word stands for Negro, or for Nigger. I must say that in my own research I never came across a description of Negritude as “Niggerness” and I suspect this may have a lot to do with the translations of the particular publications we read, or how we ourselves translate the original words written in French by the “founding fathers” of Negritude.In my recollection, they use the words Negre/Noir=Negro as the racial archetype equivalent to Caucasian, hence its acceptability in academia. In this sense, Negro/Noir has no pejorative or “denigrating” connotations: it’s used just like Martin Luther King and Malcolm X, for instance, have used it. In Portuguese, as in French, Negro/Negre/Noir is the acceptable term to refer to the so-called “negroid” race, whereas Preto=Black can have derogatory undertones and can be understood, depending on the context and intention of its use, as the equivalent to “Nigger”,which I believe was invented in the States to have exclusively racist connotations…From there, I found that the Negritude movement’s main claim regarding the “Negro Essence” is that, contrary to (still) prevailing stereotypes, the Negro is not a “lesser” human and by no means “less intelligent” than the Caucasian or any other race, s/he just has a different approach to understanding and conceptualising their surrounding universe. Hence Senghor’s famous phrase, which encapsulates much of the essence of Negritude: “The reason is Hellenic and the emotion is Noir/Negre/Negro”, by which he meant that the Negro rationality was founded on and derived from the human senses and its profound interaction with and dependence on nature, whereas the Caucasian one was primarily based on abstract (from nature) calculation…"

DANÇA TRADICIONAL ANGOLANA

N.B.: O texto aqui inicialmente postado foi retirado pela autora do blog por alegada incorrecta atribuicao da sua autoria. Aos interessados sugere-se que o procurem atraves de outras fontes e nomeadamente nas indicadas aquando da sua postagem original, como se segue:

"Fonte: Jornal de Angola (30/01/07) e excertos de "A Danca em Angola" por Amador Afonso"

N.B.: O texto aqui inicialmente postado foi retirado pela autora do blog por alegada incorrecta atribuicao da sua autoria. Aos interessados sugere-se que o procurem atraves de outras fontes e nomeadamente nas indicadas aquando da sua postagem original, como se segue:

"Fonte: Jornal de Angola (30/01/07) e excertos de "A Danca em Angola" por Amador Afonso"

KONGO MUSIK IN SPIRITED SOUNDS

IN MEMORIUM
(23/01/1993)

***

The collection Prophet, devoted to traditional music from all over the world is principally constituted of recordings and photographs made by Charles Duvelle* in the course of the past forty years. They are mostly original recordings that have never been released “in extenso”, with the exception of a few issued on records now long unavailable. Despite the age of some recordings of performers no longer alive, the sound quality (an essential aspect, naturally, as far as music is concerned) is still high, thanks to the use of high quality equipment and the versatility of the sound recording techniques, adapted to the particular conditions of orally transmitted music, i.e. performers moving about (singer-dancers), the hazards of the open-air (wind and other extraneous noises), a care for the spontaneity of the performers and the inevitably unique situation of each musical performance (the idea of rehearsing for a definitive performance is ruled out). Prophet claims to be different from other collections of world music by virtue of its exacting standards of authenticity and musical quality.


Musical authenticity: recorded live, in a traditional local environment, generally on a particular occasion and not in a lifeless studio or on a stage;
Acustic authenticity: the acoustic environment (fundamental for the quality of the sound reproduction) is carefully respected. A cathedral organ without its natural reverberation would lose a great deal of its force, and, conversely, open-air music played within a hall would forfeit an important part of its acoustic specificity;
Temporal authenticity: as far as possible, the actual duration of the musical performance is taken into account; the listener is in a genuine temporal dimension (hence some long tracks) and not just presented with a sampling of short extracts. The impression of monotony that often arises from listening to a relatively long piece gives way, after a while, to a richer and more intense level of perception.

*Composer, pianist and musicologist, Charles Duvelle is a pioneer recorder and publisher of traditional music. The founder and director of the Ocora collection, he has effected, over a period of some four decades, many recordings and photographs of music and dance in different regions of the world. His publications have earned him several awards both in France and abroad, notably the Grands Prix of the Academie du Disque Francais, of the Academie Charles Cros, of the Institut de Musicologie and the Premier Prix of the first World Festival of Negro Art. His favourite area is African music, of which he is one of the finest specialists.

***

THE SONGS
(All recorded in 1966 at various locations in the Bakongo Region)

Track 01 Malaki

Nkento wa lembo mwana (when a woman has no child, she can sleep soundly) is played during a malaki, a ceremonial cessation of mourning that usually takes place three or four years after the death. The matanga, on the other hand, is a different celebration, taking place only five or six months after death. The soloist, Albert Moupepe, known as spring (the spiral sort), is answered by a male chorus accompanied by the following instrumental ensemble: several bitsatsa, rattles made from tin cans (shaken by the singers); a mother-drum ngoma-nguidi, the skin fixed by nails, played by Vindu; a child-drum (smaller than the preceding) ngoma-mwana, played by Matoumpama. The bwanga is performed by dancing couples.



Track 02 Complaint

Gabriel Bassoumba sings a lament, in the course of which he says, “I should rather be a beetle than a man. Nobody disturbs the beetle when he is up a palm tree, and his carapace protects him. Everyone has a family, but not I. One day I shall end up devoured by jackals.” He accompanies himself on the nsambi kinzonzolo, a five-stringed raffia bow lute.



Track 03 Wara

Genevieve Mpofo sings on the theme of the childless woman who can sleep soundly. She sings in alternation with a mixed chorus, and is accompanied by an instrumental ensemble comprising: a single skin ngoma-ngudi mother drum; a ngoma-mwana child drum, smaller than the preceding.


Track 04 Massikulu

Longo wa longo is the title of this massikulu, a type of music played solely on the death of a notability. The orchestra consists of: seven horizontal ivory horns, covered with rattan weaving, some of them also having a cylindrical wooden bell (in order of decreasing size: 1 vunda, 1 landi, 1 sasa, 2 tangui, 2 zenze); one bugle; two double-skin kettledrums. Almost spherical in form, each kettledrum comprises a wooden body, the opening of which is covered by an antelope skin, stretched by real rattan weaving enclosing almost the whole body of the instrument and joined at the other extremity to a second, smaller antelope skin covering the lower part of the kettledrum. Of slightly different sizes, the kettledrums are called sikulu (the master, with the higher pitch) and tuta (with the lower pitch).
The first part is played by the instrumental ensemble and is followed by a passage sung by the men accompanied by drums and hand-clapping. A final instrumental section precedes another vocal passage.



Track 05 Song and Nsambi

Thomas Sissia sings with three other men and accompanies himself on the nsambi, a bow lute with four liana strings. The other accompanying instruments are a tsatsa tin-can rattle, and a bottle that is struck with a stick (replacing the old nongi double bell), to which are added hand-clapping and a whistle.
This is the story of a priest who, while preaching virtue, has slept with a woman and made her pregnant: “what is the point of preaching if one does not do as one recommends to others?”



Track 06 Bulombi

Music in the ngoma ntela style (literally, drums played upright), bulombi (blackness) is performed on the occasion of a malaki, a cessation of mourning. A male voice intones the first phrase while a mixed chorus responds, accompanied by a group of drums and kitsatsa tin-can rattles. The main drum, called ngoudi (mother), is roughly cylindrical, its upper part being covered with a skin held in place with wooden nails, and its lower part partly blocked by the cut of the cask (the diameter of the opening is about half that of the upper section). The centre of the membrane is covered with a wax paste that serves to regulate, by its greater or lesser weight, the vibrating frequency of the skin. Thedrummer carries on each wrist a small, spherical rattle called ntsala, made from a gourd containing dried seeds that is transfixed by a wooden handle through which a string passes. During performance, the seeds rattle inside the gourds, producing a continual rustling that complements the sounds of the drum. The two other drums are called ntambou. They are cylindrical, with nailed skins, but have no wax in the centre of the membrane.



Track 07 Bi Witi

Bi-witi is music rarely heard today. It was not possible to determine the precise meaning of this music, or the circumstances in which it is traditionally played. It is apparently linked to ancestor worship and, according to some, to funerary rites. The ensemble consists of six horns, four of which represent a person: mampongui-nguembo (the father), nsoni-boungu (the mother), lembe-nsoni (the daughter), mpandi-nsoni (the son). Each horn is sculpted from the block, the air column being inside the part representing the body; the mouthpiece is situated in the back, between the two arms. The first three horns are held vertically, the fourth (mpandi-nsoni) horizontally. The two other horns are horizontal, made from the roots of the wild flame tree. They are of different sizes, the larger being mpolomono, the other kinku.

(NB: This post is to be 'reconstructed' soon)

IN MEMORIUM
(23/01/1993)

***

The collection Prophet, devoted to traditional music from all over the world is principally constituted of recordings and photographs made by Charles Duvelle* in the course of the past forty years. They are mostly original recordings that have never been released “in extenso”, with the exception of a few issued on records now long unavailable. Despite the age of some recordings of performers no longer alive, the sound quality (an essential aspect, naturally, as far as music is concerned) is still high, thanks to the use of high quality equipment and the versatility of the sound recording techniques, adapted to the particular conditions of orally transmitted music, i.e. performers moving about (singer-dancers), the hazards of the open-air (wind and other extraneous noises), a care for the spontaneity of the performers and the inevitably unique situation of each musical performance (the idea of rehearsing for a definitive performance is ruled out). Prophet claims to be different from other collections of world music by virtue of its exacting standards of authenticity and musical quality.


Musical authenticity: recorded live, in a traditional local environment, generally on a particular occasion and not in a lifeless studio or on a stage;
Acustic authenticity: the acoustic environment (fundamental for the quality of the sound reproduction) is carefully respected. A cathedral organ without its natural reverberation would lose a great deal of its force, and, conversely, open-air music played within a hall would forfeit an important part of its acoustic specificity;
Temporal authenticity: as far as possible, the actual duration of the musical performance is taken into account; the listener is in a genuine temporal dimension (hence some long tracks) and not just presented with a sampling of short extracts. The impression of monotony that often arises from listening to a relatively long piece gives way, after a while, to a richer and more intense level of perception.

*Composer, pianist and musicologist, Charles Duvelle is a pioneer recorder and publisher of traditional music. The founder and director of the Ocora collection, he has effected, over a period of some four decades, many recordings and photographs of music and dance in different regions of the world. His publications have earned him several awards both in France and abroad, notably the Grands Prix of the Academie du Disque Francais, of the Academie Charles Cros, of the Institut de Musicologie and the Premier Prix of the first World Festival of Negro Art. His favourite area is African music, of which he is one of the finest specialists.

***

THE SONGS
(All recorded in 1966 at various locations in the Bakongo Region)

Track 01 Malaki

Nkento wa lembo mwana (when a woman has no child, she can sleep soundly) is played during a malaki, a ceremonial cessation of mourning that usually takes place three or four years after the death. The matanga, on the other hand, is a different celebration, taking place only five or six months after death. The soloist, Albert Moupepe, known as spring (the spiral sort), is answered by a male chorus accompanied by the following instrumental ensemble: several bitsatsa, rattles made from tin cans (shaken by the singers); a mother-drum ngoma-nguidi, the skin fixed by nails, played by Vindu; a child-drum (smaller than the preceding) ngoma-mwana, played by Matoumpama. The bwanga is performed by dancing couples.



Track 02 Complaint

Gabriel Bassoumba sings a lament, in the course of which he says, “I should rather be a beetle than a man. Nobody disturbs the beetle when he is up a palm tree, and his carapace protects him. Everyone has a family, but not I. One day I shall end up devoured by jackals.” He accompanies himself on the nsambi kinzonzolo, a five-stringed raffia bow lute.



Track 03 Wara

Genevieve Mpofo sings on the theme of the childless woman who can sleep soundly. She sings in alternation with a mixed chorus, and is accompanied by an instrumental ensemble comprising: a single skin ngoma-ngudi mother drum; a ngoma-mwana child drum, smaller than the preceding.


Track 04 Massikulu

Longo wa longo is the title of this massikulu, a type of music played solely on the death of a notability. The orchestra consists of: seven horizontal ivory horns, covered with rattan weaving, some of them also having a cylindrical wooden bell (in order of decreasing size: 1 vunda, 1 landi, 1 sasa, 2 tangui, 2 zenze); one bugle; two double-skin kettledrums. Almost spherical in form, each kettledrum comprises a wooden body, the opening of which is covered by an antelope skin, stretched by real rattan weaving enclosing almost the whole body of the instrument and joined at the other extremity to a second, smaller antelope skin covering the lower part of the kettledrum. Of slightly different sizes, the kettledrums are called sikulu (the master, with the higher pitch) and tuta (with the lower pitch).
The first part is played by the instrumental ensemble and is followed by a passage sung by the men accompanied by drums and hand-clapping. A final instrumental section precedes another vocal passage.



Track 05 Song and Nsambi

Thomas Sissia sings with three other men and accompanies himself on the nsambi, a bow lute with four liana strings. The other accompanying instruments are a tsatsa tin-can rattle, and a bottle that is struck with a stick (replacing the old nongi double bell), to which are added hand-clapping and a whistle.
This is the story of a priest who, while preaching virtue, has slept with a woman and made her pregnant: “what is the point of preaching if one does not do as one recommends to others?”



Track 06 Bulombi

Music in the ngoma ntela style (literally, drums played upright), bulombi (blackness) is performed on the occasion of a malaki, a cessation of mourning. A male voice intones the first phrase while a mixed chorus responds, accompanied by a group of drums and kitsatsa tin-can rattles. The main drum, called ngoudi (mother), is roughly cylindrical, its upper part being covered with a skin held in place with wooden nails, and its lower part partly blocked by the cut of the cask (the diameter of the opening is about half that of the upper section). The centre of the membrane is covered with a wax paste that serves to regulate, by its greater or lesser weight, the vibrating frequency of the skin. Thedrummer carries on each wrist a small, spherical rattle called ntsala, made from a gourd containing dried seeds that is transfixed by a wooden handle through which a string passes. During performance, the seeds rattle inside the gourds, producing a continual rustling that complements the sounds of the drum. The two other drums are called ntambou. They are cylindrical, with nailed skins, but have no wax in the centre of the membrane.



Track 07 Bi Witi

Bi-witi is music rarely heard today. It was not possible to determine the precise meaning of this music, or the circumstances in which it is traditionally played. It is apparently linked to ancestor worship and, according to some, to funerary rites. The ensemble consists of six horns, four of which represent a person: mampongui-nguembo (the father), nsoni-boungu (the mother), lembe-nsoni (the daughter), mpandi-nsoni (the son). Each horn is sculpted from the block, the air column being inside the part representing the body; the mouthpiece is situated in the back, between the two arms. The first three horns are held vertically, the fourth (mpandi-nsoni) horizontally. The two other horns are horizontal, made from the roots of the wild flame tree. They are of different sizes, the larger being mpolomono, the other kinku.

(NB: This post is to be 'reconstructed' soon)

CASTELO DE AREIA

Castelo de Areia:

atestar de palavras

o muro de silencio.

Breyten Breytenbach

Castelo de Areia:

atestar de palavras

o muro de silencio.

Breyten Breytenbach

KENYA: WORLD SOCIAL FORUM: JUST ANOTHER 'NGO FAIR'? (II)

Pambazuka News (South Africa/UK)
by Firoze Manji, January 26, 2007

This was the first full WSF held in Africa (Mali was host to one of the polycentric WSF’s last year). But the forum was marked by the under-representation of social activists from Africa – or indeed from the global south. Inevitably this reflected on how debates and discussions were framed. Pambazuka News staff had hoped that this space would be the basis for forging a broader radical pan-Africanism. But that was, sadly, not to be. The white North, with its hegemonic parochialism, was over-represented. Social movements from the South were conspicuous by their numerically small presence at the forum.

Probably the most consistently heavily attended forum throughout the week was that organised by the Human Dignity and Human Rights Network which had the largest tent, and held meeting after meeting throughout most of the week, with a cast of well known speakers. But like most of the events at WSF, the set-up of the meetings was of a traditional platform of speakers with the audience being talked at rather than being engaged in discussion. While we heard the experience of both survivors of human rights abuses and human rights defenders, there was little political analysis.

And that probably catches the sense of most, thankfully not all, of the WSF events: there was lots of talking and sloganeering. There was much discussion about policies and alternatives to existing policies. But one couldn’t help feel the absence of politics. It’s as if many believe that nice policies (or human rights legislations) get made by nice people. But the reality is that what ends up as policy is the outcome of struggles in the political domain – fundamentally between the haves and the have-nots. But in a week in which the voices of the have-nots were under-represented, I guess we should not be surprised by the absence of politics.

I think everyone was disappointed by the surprisingly low turn-out: estimates of 30,000 to 50,000 people attended, compared with an expected crowd of 150,000. What made so many keep away in droves? Despite asking many this question, I have found no satisfactory reasons offered.

(Picture taken from here)

Pambazuka News (South Africa/UK)
by Firoze Manji, January 26, 2007

This was the first full WSF held in Africa (Mali was host to one of the polycentric WSF’s last year). But the forum was marked by the under-representation of social activists from Africa – or indeed from the global south. Inevitably this reflected on how debates and discussions were framed. Pambazuka News staff had hoped that this space would be the basis for forging a broader radical pan-Africanism. But that was, sadly, not to be. The white North, with its hegemonic parochialism, was over-represented. Social movements from the South were conspicuous by their numerically small presence at the forum.

Probably the most consistently heavily attended forum throughout the week was that organised by the Human Dignity and Human Rights Network which had the largest tent, and held meeting after meeting throughout most of the week, with a cast of well known speakers. But like most of the events at WSF, the set-up of the meetings was of a traditional platform of speakers with the audience being talked at rather than being engaged in discussion. While we heard the experience of both survivors of human rights abuses and human rights defenders, there was little political analysis.

And that probably catches the sense of most, thankfully not all, of the WSF events: there was lots of talking and sloganeering. There was much discussion about policies and alternatives to existing policies. But one couldn’t help feel the absence of politics. It’s as if many believe that nice policies (or human rights legislations) get made by nice people. But the reality is that what ends up as policy is the outcome of struggles in the political domain – fundamentally between the haves and the have-nots. But in a week in which the voices of the have-nots were under-represented, I guess we should not be surprised by the absence of politics.

I think everyone was disappointed by the surprisingly low turn-out: estimates of 30,000 to 50,000 people attended, compared with an expected crowd of 150,000. What made so many keep away in droves? Despite asking many this question, I have found no satisfactory reasons offered.

(Picture taken from here)

KENYA: WORLD SOCIAL FORUM: JUST ANOTHER 'NGO FAIR'? (I)

Pambazuka News (South Africa/UK)

by Firoze Manji, January 26, 2007

The World Social Forum, which took place in Nairobi, Kenya for the first time in Africa, was supposed to be a forum for the voices of the grassroots. But Firoze Manji writes that, despite the diversity of voices at the event, not everyone was equally represented. As one would expect, WSF was highly heterogeneous. There was a lot going on. At one level no one can deny the diversity of people from all parts of the world. WSF seemingly reflected the heterogeneity of civil society internationally: there were initiatives from grassroots women’s organisations, from feminists, social movements, small and large African organisations, international (or is it ‘multinational’?) organisations, donors and funders, grantees, activists, hustlers and the hassled.

There were vociferous anti-capitalists and anti-(capitalist) globalisation meetings and discussions, as one would expect of an event that evolved out of the need to assert an alternative to imperialist globalisations of the Davos kind. And there were those whose politics could reasonably be viewed as part of the civil society infrastructure of modern-day imperial expansion. But to describe only the diversity would be to miss the real, and perhaps more disturbing, picture. The problem was that not everyone was equally represented. Not everyone had equal voices. This event had all the features of a trade fair – those with greater wealth had more events in the calendar, larger (and more comfortable) spaces, more propaganda – and therefore a larger voice. Thus the usual gaggle of quasi donor/International NGOs claimed a greater presence than national organisations – not because what they had to say was more important or more relevant to the theme of the WSF, but because, essentially, they had greater budgets at their command. Thus the WSF was not immune from the laws of (neoliberal) market forces.

There was no levelling of the playing field. This was more a World NGO Forum than an anti-capitalist mobilisation, lightly peppered with social activists and grassroots movements. And the sense of the predominance of neoliberalism was given further weight by the ubiquity of the CelTel Logo – the Kuwaiti owned telecommunications company that had exclusive rights at the WSF; a virtual monopoly provided to a hotel that provided food at extortionate prices that most Kenyans, if they were allowed in, could hardly afford. And rumours were rife that the business of catering involved people in high places winning exclusive contracts. Hawkers, on whom most of Nairobians depend for providing everything from phone cards to food and refreshment were for a while excluded physically (as well as financially) from entering the China-built Moi Sports Stadium in Kasarani, the venue for the WSF. And it was only when frustrated activists took direct action to occupy the offices of the organiser’s that a more liberal policy for entry was implemented.

(Picture taken from here)

Pambazuka News (South Africa/UK)

by Firoze Manji, January 26, 2007

The World Social Forum, which took place in Nairobi, Kenya for the first time in Africa, was supposed to be a forum for the voices of the grassroots. But Firoze Manji writes that, despite the diversity of voices at the event, not everyone was equally represented. As one would expect, WSF was highly heterogeneous. There was a lot going on. At one level no one can deny the diversity of people from all parts of the world. WSF seemingly reflected the heterogeneity of civil society internationally: there were initiatives from grassroots women’s organisations, from feminists, social movements, small and large African organisations, international (or is it ‘multinational’?) organisations, donors and funders, grantees, activists, hustlers and the hassled.

There were vociferous anti-capitalists and anti-(capitalist) globalisation meetings and discussions, as one would expect of an event that evolved out of the need to assert an alternative to imperialist globalisations of the Davos kind. And there were those whose politics could reasonably be viewed as part of the civil society infrastructure of modern-day imperial expansion. But to describe only the diversity would be to miss the real, and perhaps more disturbing, picture. The problem was that not everyone was equally represented. Not everyone had equal voices. This event had all the features of a trade fair – those with greater wealth had more events in the calendar, larger (and more comfortable) spaces, more propaganda – and therefore a larger voice. Thus the usual gaggle of quasi donor/International NGOs claimed a greater presence than national organisations – not because what they had to say was more important or more relevant to the theme of the WSF, but because, essentially, they had greater budgets at their command. Thus the WSF was not immune from the laws of (neoliberal) market forces.

There was no levelling of the playing field. This was more a World NGO Forum than an anti-capitalist mobilisation, lightly peppered with social activists and grassroots movements. And the sense of the predominance of neoliberalism was given further weight by the ubiquity of the CelTel Logo – the Kuwaiti owned telecommunications company that had exclusive rights at the WSF; a virtual monopoly provided to a hotel that provided food at extortionate prices that most Kenyans, if they were allowed in, could hardly afford. And rumours were rife that the business of catering involved people in high places winning exclusive contracts. Hawkers, on whom most of Nairobians depend for providing everything from phone cards to food and refreshment were for a while excluded physically (as well as financially) from entering the China-built Moi Sports Stadium in Kasarani, the venue for the WSF. And it was only when frustrated activists took direct action to occupy the offices of the organiser’s that a more liberal policy for entry was implemented.

(Picture taken from here)

EGYPTIAN BLOGGER IMPRISONED

Egyptian Blogger Abdel Kareem Nabil is a 22 year old Alexandrian who has a blog under Karim Amer. He was dismissed from Al-AzharUniversity as punishment for his critical writings on Islam according to his own readings of History of Islam. His writing on his blog also focused on women and Copts' rights. As a witness to Alexandria sectarian violence, he reported violence against Copts.

However, revenge now extended to include charging him with lethal charges like religions' disdain, insulting the president of Egypt and inciting sectarian violence. He has been detained now for over 2 months under very inhuman conditions in a solitary cell. This Thursday, January 25, 2007, a court session was convened to charge him. He is expected to get a 9 year sentence.

This young man's only crime is that he dared to think and write on his own way. Freedom of expression and speech is a crime under totalitarian regimes that believe in the herd's culture to guarantee the sustainability of remaining in power. The issue is not about his writings, it is about setting an example of him to all young generations in Egypt to keep their mouth shut or they will end up spending 10 years in prison with no future. Breaking every bone in the body is a necessary procedure to break the aspiration of green young generation dreaming of a better future for their countries under all freedoms inherited by the entire humanity.

Read more @ African Path.

Egyptian Blogger Abdel Kareem Nabil is a 22 year old Alexandrian who has a blog under Karim Amer. He was dismissed from Al-AzharUniversity as punishment for his critical writings on Islam according to his own readings of History of Islam. His writing on his blog also focused on women and Copts' rights. As a witness to Alexandria sectarian violence, he reported violence against Copts.

However, revenge now extended to include charging him with lethal charges like religions' disdain, insulting the president of Egypt and inciting sectarian violence. He has been detained now for over 2 months under very inhuman conditions in a solitary cell. This Thursday, January 25, 2007, a court session was convened to charge him. He is expected to get a 9 year sentence.

This young man's only crime is that he dared to think and write on his own way. Freedom of expression and speech is a crime under totalitarian regimes that believe in the herd's culture to guarantee the sustainability of remaining in power. The issue is not about his writings, it is about setting an example of him to all young generations in Egypt to keep their mouth shut or they will end up spending 10 years in prison with no future. Breaking every bone in the body is a necessary procedure to break the aspiration of green young generation dreaming of a better future for their countries under all freedoms inherited by the entire humanity.

Read more @ African Path.

JURISTA ANGOLANA ELEITA PROCURADORA DISTRITAL DE LISBOA

A jurista angolana Francisca Van Dunem, que vinha até recentemente exercendo as funções de Procuradora-Geral Adjunta e responsável pela Direcção de Investigação e Acção Penal (DIAP) de Lisboa, foi eleita, esta Sexta-Feira 26/01/07, Procuradora-Geral Distrital de Lisboa.

A eleição de Van Dunem foi deliberada por votação secreta pelo plenário do Conselho Superior do Ministério Público, que é composto por 19 elementos - 12 do MP, cinco indicados pela Assembleia da República e dois pelo Ministro da Justiça.

Parabéns!

A jurista angolana Francisca Van Dunem, que vinha até recentemente exercendo as funções de Procuradora-Geral Adjunta e responsável pela Direcção de Investigação e Acção Penal (DIAP) de Lisboa, foi eleita, esta Sexta-Feira 26/01/07, Procuradora-Geral Distrital de Lisboa.

A eleição de Van Dunem foi deliberada por votação secreta pelo plenário do Conselho Superior do Ministério Público, que é composto por 19 elementos - 12 do MP, cinco indicados pela Assembleia da República e dois pelo Ministro da Justiça.

Parabéns!

¿QUIÉN MUERE?

Muere lentamente quien no viaja, quien no lee, quien no oye música, quien no encuentra gracia en sí mismo.

Muere lentamente quien destruye su amor propio, quien no se deja ayudar.

Muere lentamente quien se transforma en esclavo del hábito, repitiendo todos los días los mismos trayectos, quien no cambia de marca, no arriesga vestir un color nuevo y no le habla a quien no conoce.

Muere lentamente quien hace de la televisión su gurú.

Muere lentamente quien evita una pasión, quien prefiere el "negro sobre blanco" y los puntos sobre las "ies" a un remolino de emociones, justamente las que rescatan el brillo de los ojos, sonrisas de los bostezos, corazones a los tropiezos y sentimientos.

Muere lentamente quien no voltea la mesa cuando está infeliz en el trabajo, quien no arriesga lo cierto por lo incierto para ir detrás de un sueño, quien no se permite por lo menos una vez en la vida, huir de los consejos sensatos.

Muere lentamente, quien pasa los días quejándose de su mala suerte o de la lluvia incesante.

Muere lentamente, quien abandonando un proyecto antes de iniciarlo, no preguntando de un asunto que desconoce o no respondiendo cuando le indagan sobre algo que sabe.

Evitemos la muerte en suaves cuotas, recordando siempre que estar vivo exige un esfuerzo mucho mayor que el simple hecho de respirar. Solamente la ardiente paciencia hará que conquistemos una espléndida felicidad.

PABLO NERUDA

Muere lentamente quien no viaja, quien no lee, quien no oye música, quien no encuentra gracia en sí mismo.

Muere lentamente quien destruye su amor propio, quien no se deja ayudar.

Muere lentamente quien se transforma en esclavo del hábito, repitiendo todos los días los mismos trayectos, quien no cambia de marca, no arriesga vestir un color nuevo y no le habla a quien no conoce.

Muere lentamente quien hace de la televisión su gurú.

Muere lentamente quien evita una pasión, quien prefiere el "negro sobre blanco" y los puntos sobre las "ies" a un remolino de emociones, justamente las que rescatan el brillo de los ojos, sonrisas de los bostezos, corazones a los tropiezos y sentimientos.

Muere lentamente quien no voltea la mesa cuando está infeliz en el trabajo, quien no arriesga lo cierto por lo incierto para ir detrás de un sueño, quien no se permite por lo menos una vez en la vida, huir de los consejos sensatos.

Muere lentamente, quien pasa los días quejándose de su mala suerte o de la lluvia incesante.

Muere lentamente, quien abandonando un proyecto antes de iniciarlo, no preguntando de un asunto que desconoce o no respondiendo cuando le indagan sobre algo que sabe.

Evitemos la muerte en suaves cuotas, recordando siempre que estar vivo exige un esfuerzo mucho mayor que el simple hecho de respirar. Solamente la ardiente paciencia hará que conquistemos una espléndida felicidad.

PABLO NERUDA

O MUNDO "DE PATAS PARA O AR"

Chris Rock's "Quote of the Year": "You know the world is going crazy when the best rapper is a white guy, the best golfer is a black guy, the tallest guy in the NBA is Chinese, the Swiss hold the America's Cup, France is accusing the U.S. of arrogance, Germany doesn't want to go to war, and the three most powerful men in America are named Bush, Dick, and Colon."

(Shamelessly stolen, minus the picture, from the interesting Blog das Causas)

Chris Rock's "Quote of the Year": "You know the world is going crazy when the best rapper is a white guy, the best golfer is a black guy, the tallest guy in the NBA is Chinese, the Swiss hold the America's Cup, France is accusing the U.S. of arrogance, Germany doesn't want to go to war, and the three most powerful men in America are named Bush, Dick, and Colon."

(Shamelessly stolen, minus the picture, from the interesting Blog das Causas)