Randy Stubbs presenting the new Cultural Arts Centre
I was so pleased to be able to attend the inauguration of the Cultural Arts Centre at Makumira University last Friday. What an inspiring event and they have only just begun! Randy Stubbs has worked tirelessly against multiple substantial challenges to get this project off the ground, and the presentations reflected the impact this centre has and will have. It was great to see the finished extension of the university assembly hall complete with new lighting and sound systems, as well as the nearby site where the new arts centre building will be constructed. These facilities are among the best you will find in East Africa.
The project has been funded by the European Union Development Fund, and has two partners; Alliance Franco-Tanzanienne and the Kilimanjaro Film Institute. AFT are helping out with training in project management and entrepreneurship, and KFI are assisting in documenting field research in traditional music. In attendance at the ceremony were various university and church leaders, a representative for the EU ambassador, and the Executive Secretary of BASATA (the National Arts Council I mentioned in my last post). The centre will primarily be an archive of the cultural heritage of Northern Tanzania, as well as a performing space for cultural performances for tourists.
The performers who will be undertaking regular cultural performances as well as outreach workshops are in the middle of a month's intensive training before they are reduced from 30 to a team of 15. The amazing versatility of the musician-dancers was a treat to watch - they performed snapshots of traditional dances from various people groups of Northern Tanzania, as well as more contemporary Tanzanian music. The interaction of traditional rural and contemporary urban styles was fascinating and inspiring for me as I try to imagine a music curriculum for students, in the same context, that allows them to be cultural ambassadors and global citizens. Looking forward to the future of culture in Arusha!
I have just discovered the new National Music Policy of Kenya that was published at the beginning of this year and it got me thinking about music at a policy level in Tanzania also. The policy is immensely broad and encompasses all aspects of the music industry and education in Kenya. It highlights the many gaps and challenges existing and calls for the beginnings of many new, substantial initiatives and institutions such as the National Music Board and Tribunal.
Whilst the Kenyan Constitution mentions the protection and promotion of music, there is little other legislation relating to music or organisations supporting musicians such as trade unions or professional associations. Yet it is estimated that over 100,000 people are employed in some way in the music industry.
The two policy objectives I am particularly interested in are:
iii) To spearhead the preservation and development of indigenous music as well as other music genres;
iv) To support the process of music education and training at all levels;
The use of music to express national identity and for tourism features as one way to preserve Kenyan traditional music, and it is interesting how the strategies they wish to adopt are similar to what the Cultural Arts Centre is following with music from Northern Tanzania.
Music Education features in other education policy documents but it is great that a distinct National Music Education policy has been called for. Also it will be fascinating to see what "an academy for the teaching and learning of music in its diverse cultures" looks like in a Kenyan context if it materialises! Again they will only need to look to the Makumira Music Department for ample inspiration...
They intend to fund this all through the new Music Industry Development Fund - good luck to them!
As far as I can find out, Tanzania has an Education Policy and a Cultural Policy but no specific Music policy. Music is no longer seen as distinct in policymaking - in 1974 a National Music Council was formed, and ten years later this became the National Arts Council (BASATA) to include dramatic arts. I couldn't get on to their website (does it still exist?!) but I found this YouTube video of the Executive Secretary saying nothing much.
Tanzania seems to be ahead of Kenya in having already established important institutions within the music sector. There was a musicians union (CHAMADUTA) that was started in the 80s, and this may have been continued by the Tanzania Musicians Network with an English site found here. A group of artists went to Dodoma to call for the recognition of artists
and Intellectual Property Rights in the new Tanzanian Constitution
(Katiba) which will be voted on this year. Tanzania already has a Cultural Fund (Mfuko wa Utamaduni) developed in 1998 alongside the Swedish government to promote and strengthen the cultural sector in Tanzania. Between 1999 and 2005 it provided grants for 302 cultural projects, but the website has not been updated since... The Copyright Society of Tanzania (COSOTA) was set up in 1999 and seems to be pretty active.
Interestingly, since the end of colonial rule in 1961, musical genres influenced by Tanzanian traditional music such as 'modernised ngoma' and 'Swahili jazz' has had more media coverage than its counterparts in Kenya. Due to the government policy of encouraging a national music, the main broadcaster for the 1960s through to the millenium, Radio Tanzania, either had a 100% Tanzanian or a 50% Tanzanian, 45% African music policy. Kenya has had much more influence from Western classical music with organisations such as the Nairobi Music Society and the Kenya Conservatoire.This may explain why Tanzania established institutions relating to musicians in the 70s and 80s but unfortunately it seems that momentum wasn't sustained.
