Goethe-Zentrum Kampala releases activism songs
Goethe-Zentrum Kampala has released two songs that were part of the Your Music Your Voice activism project held in October 2017.
The project was made possible by the Friedrich Ebert Foundation and supported by Goethe-Institut, Arterial Network and the Music In Africa Foundation.
‘The Voice of Reason’ and ‘La Lucha’ (The Fight) were produced at Dream Studios in Kampala and mixed and mastered at Fallers Place in Berlin by Nils Faller.
Collaborating on the two songs were musicians, Lady Slyke (Uganda), DJ Nesta (Uganda), MC Yallah (Uganda), St Nelly-Sade (Uganda), Zex Inchkumi (Uganda), Jora MC (Uganda), Sylvester & Abramz (Uganda), Megaloh (Germany), Ghanaian Stallion (Germany), Monza (Mauritania), Gunman Xuman (Senegal), Nash MC (Tanzania), Juma (Kenya), Eric 1key (Rwanda) and Outspoken Tha Humble Neophyte (Zimbabwe).
Goethe-Zentrum Kampala director Anja Göbel said the idea for the project, which included a discussion on the role of music and fame in raising awareness about social issues and the role of social media in respect to freedom of expression, came from her experience with Le Balai Citoyen, a political grassroots movement co-founded by musicians Smockey and Sams'K Le Jah in Burkina Faso.
“When I was in Ouagadougou in 2014, I was fascinated by the role played by music in the uprising by Smockey and Sams'K Le Jah who led the youth in protesting against president Blaise Compaore,” Göbel said. "When I came to Uganda in 2016, most Ugandan musicians were not politically vocal but when Bobi Wine became a member of parliament in 2017, I discovered there were other socially conscious musicians and it only made sense to connect them with other African musicians in activism.
“By the end of the project there was no doubt that there is need to create an interactive information platform through music," Senegalese rapper Xumaan, who featured on ‘La Lucha’, said "Since my return to Dakar, we have produced the fourth season of the Journal Rappé where we fearlessly covered the legislative elections by giving voice to the population.”
Xumaan has also hosted an open forum discussion on hip hop aesthetics and politics, which was attended by Y'en a Marre, a group of Senegalese rappers and journalists that was created in 2011 to protest against ineffective political governance and to urge young people to vote.
Ghanaian Stallion, a music producer from Germany who spearheaded the project’s production process alongside Ugandan producer Koz’n Effekt, said he enjoyed the experience of working with the artists and wanted to involve some of them in future projects.
“Every artist that I worked with was unique, they each had a different story from their home country which all of us could identify with in one way or another,” Ghanaian Stallion said. “What stood out for me was how the two songs were produced in a very short time. This was proof of how these artists were willing to work together.”
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