Mashariki Journal: Volume 4, Issue 2

ARTIST

MASHARIKI editor BOAZ ADHENGO

associate editors ANGELA KILUSUNGU, AYETA WANGUSA, GRACE MATATA

CULTURE AND DEVELOPMENT EAST AFRICA

Ayeta Anne wangusa EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Madaraka Nyerere CHAIRMAN

Mashariki Journal is a forum that generates discourse on culture‘s role in development and regional integration amongst East African artists, cultural leaders and manag ers, the broader civil society and state actors. The Journal serves as a space for connecting artists, researchers, policymakers and organizations working on diverse aspects of culture and peace building; a venue for conversations about the critical challe nges confronting peace building in conflict-affected areas in the region and showcasing how culture-based interventions can lead to social cohesion.

VOLUME 4 ISSUE NO. 2

contents JULY 2017

VOLUM E 4 NO. 2

editorial 1

Investing in Creativity Boaz Adhengo

opinion 4

The State of Creative Economy Across East Africa Bamutaraki Musinguzi

feature 11 CDEA’s Creative Economy Incubatees Pitch at Conference Angela Kisulungu

13 East African Endownment Fund Launched Ayeta Wangusa

16 Proposed Tanzania Arts and Creativity Fund Ayeta Wangusa

Mashariki Journal is published four times a year under the partnership of Arterial Network Kenya and CDEA(Culture and Development East Africa).Inquiries may be addressed to: Managing Editor, Mashariki Journal Plot 421, House 1001, Mikocheni B P.O. Box 1335, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania Tel: +2552227880087 | +254772422240 secretariat@ cdea.or.tz /editor. adhengo@ gmaill.com Website: www.cdea.or.tz

east african voices 18 The Whole World is a Stage Andrea Grieder

26 An Interview with Deejay Pappichulo Zuw ena Onguku

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Editorial E

INVESTING IN CREATIVE SPACES

By Boaz Adhengo In 2010 after engaging as a research associate for Aga Khan University, faculty of Arts; the concept of creative economy finally entered the realms of my mind. Eventually, the resulting document that would be the first of its kind by an African author entered the book market. The book that I had written with intentions of sparkling knowledge management amongst the creatives in Kenya. In anyway, the book was dubbed, “Creativity in Kenya”, and was the most downloaded document of all my writings, even today, not a single publication of mine has received such attention, yet I still hope for a similar experience.

In this book of mine that am glorifying, there is a chapter on cultural policies. Though not much elaborate as I would indulge of here, I would like to look at the regional scenario of cultural and creative development in East Africa. That arts and culture contribute specifically to three things: 1. Building community character and sense of place 2. Strengthening cultural values and preserving historical heritage 3. Enhancing economic vitality of a place The essence of space and place makes it vibrant for business concepts related to heritage to flow and flourish; and this is the core stimulant for creativity. Nevertheless, the arts and culture field encompasses the performing, visual, and fine arts, as well as applied arts including architecture and graphic design; crafts; film, digital media and video; humanities and historic preservation; literature; folklife; and other creative activities. People pursue artistic and creative expressions through a variety of outlets: formal theatrical performances, sculptures, paintings and buildings; as well as the less formal arts, music and food festi vals, celebrations and informal cultural gatherings, pickup bands, and crafts groups. Together, these formal and informal, tangible and intangible, professional and amateur artistic and cultural activities constitute a community’s cultural assets. A sign of a healthy community would therefore be its simultaneous ability to preserve and invent its culture —that is, to conserve its history and heritage and at the same time develop new expressions for current times.

The greatest dilemma becomes a strategic confusion on how to invest impactively on such fundamentals of creativity. Is the community aware of its role towards economic enhancement in betterment of their livelihoods?

What cultural activities form the basis of their creative thinking? Are the levels of creative expressions well appreciated or is superstition a hindrance to democratic enterprise of development?

The traditional African understands little or less about formal conceptions of democracy, but through the art of living or rather, the global interdependence of culture, this African has accepted change. It would therefore be unprincipled for existing governments to deny opportunities of existence or expression in pretext of promoting a culture that we best understand as heritage, yet developmental concerns remain inevitable. There is need to encourage public understanding of art and culture.

In a story of Nairobi, I remember some vocabularies from my past; words like sessional papers, terms like policy documents or even organisations like cultural councils. In practicality, none of these historical coinages exist.

They are all stashed in a closet, stored to be referentially retrieved for purposes of arguments yet they are needed to guide livelihood developments. But what really is a policy document with regard to culture and the arts? Do countries in East Africa really have parliamentary sessions discussing the creative development of the

Editorial artist or even the citizenry? Are there any government initiated democratic structures that can give oversight to cultural development in any of the east African countries?

Only two countries in the history of civil strife and democratic recognition have never experienced internal disorganisations; this is Tanzania and Kenya. Both countries are defined as the most peaceful in the region with no known tract record of a civil war. In actual sense, they are the only steady conservatives of the east African commission, give or take a little effort from Uganda. Yet when the EAC bloc started, the listed number of countries topped to fifteen, adding Ethiopia, Sudan and all those that were strategically expelled for reasons of failing to uphold peace and other protocols needed for national development as individual countries. Thus, in all the decade, the bloc survived as a musketeer effort of Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania till recently when other countries that embrace peace are re-entering the zone. Notably we have South-Sudan, Rwanda and Burundi.

Peace building efforts and amicable solutions to national conflicts remain a key factor for promoting cultural enterprise of a people; it is also a major ingredient for developing creative minds given that historical heritage is often cultivated from experience. Yet Tanzania and Kenya had steady ideologues of Ujamaa and Harambee, all based on a philosophy of community participation which developed a creative culture of peace thereby a community of togetherness. These yielded the spirit of survival, development and a creative encouragement of the young.

No country in East Africa has had a working cultural document dubbed as a policy framework by the government.

All remain as a subject of other departments.

Most governments, with an example of Kenya, look at culture from a worms eye view dialect. The handicapped mentality of cautious approval and fear of what culture can do if given the eagle strength. Thus, enhancing the economic vitality of a people depends on how such a community expands its purview of existence to be beyond a fixed level of understanding but dependable on other external variables as well. Democracy is important for creative flourishment, as so it remains a major influence on trade. Free trade as the English call it depends on many potentials including cultural interdependence.

A policy is a deliberate system of principles to guide decisions and achieve rational outcomes. It has been defined as a statement of intent that is implemented as procedure or protocol. Thus, the term may apply to government, private sector organisations and groups as well as individuals. Presidential executive orders, corporate privacy policies and parliamentary rules of order are all examples of policy.

Now, it is only right to say that most non-governmental organisations in East Africa have working cultural policies while the governments hosting them fail to even implement their own draft frameworks. Talk of Kenya, this country has a draft policy document which is sporadically enticing to read with no tickling concepts but search to see how it works; you will be bored. And such gaps are what result to efforts by civil organisations like Arterial Kenya Network, Creative Arts Society of Kenya and other similar bodies to try and push for state involvement in the arts. Kenya is now pushing for the establishment of the cultural council.

In as much as there remains disparity on how countries relate with each other or how individuals behave within their countries of origin; art remains a free exchange of emotions, a reflection of certain truths that cut across such boundaries that might exist either as imaginations or known as the physicals. There is need for more collective activities that share in this regional concern for cultural emancipation and heritage preservation. We need to empower our creativity to reach the levels of internal self-appreciation as opposed to doing it for the world. We must first create a local audience for our fashion, our painting, our music before dreaming to influence Donald Trumph or the Cubans with our localised creations. Creativity remains an activity to be originated from a community ideal but could be influenced by global tastes. Be it music or fashion, the local audiences matter most, for they offer us firm foundation to bounce back upon when all else remains a utopia.

Culture and Development East Africa has partnered with Arterial Network Kenya through the Creative Society of Kenya to launch the “Art Journalism Research Fellowship� program which is an initiative to tell the creative story of Africa from the localised artist who works in his community or if you wish, creative place. This bottom-up approach aims to achieve much more than just documentation of realities. The mission of Art Journalism

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Editorial Research Fellowship program is to provide a forum for scholarship and visual exploration in the visual arts; to be a unique voice in the field as a peer-reviewed, professionally mediated forum for the arts in East Africa; to operate in the spaces between commercial publishing, academic presses, and artist presses; to be pedagogically useful by making links between theoretical issues and their use in teaching at the college and university levels; to explore relationships among diverse forms of art practice and production, as well as among art making, art history, visual studies, theory, and criticism; to give voice and publication opportunity to artists, art historians, and other writers in the arts; to be responsive to issues of the moment in the arts, both nationally and globally; to focus on topics related to twentieth- and twenty-first-century concerns; to promote dialogue and debate.

National cultural policy documents are intended as broad descriptions of the government’s involvement in matters relating to the arts and cultural heritage, and as an aid for the government and parliament in future debates, in policy-making in specified areas and in decision making. The principle role of state in matters of culture is to create the appropriate conditions for fostering diversity, innovation and initiative in the field of the arts and cultural heritage, and to safeguard the latter. This entails, for instance, the creation, through legislative, administrative and budgetary means, of a framework for cultural life that allows to flourish and encourages the participation of the public. It is important for this framework to be shaped in a way that avoids any direct influence on the content of artistic and cultural activities, and that the independence of artists and cultural institutions is fully respected.

In this edition of the mashariki journal, much emphasis is given to the results of the “Creative Economy Impact Investment Conference�as organinsed by CDEA this May 2017, the reports form the feature articles for the journal. Bamutaraki Muruki takes us through the state of creative economy around East Africa as Dr. Andrea Grieder puts Rwanda to the core through her article, Shakespear in Rwanda and as usual, a segment of poetry that will engage the mind of the reader through theatre. We take a new twist by introducing the interview section that will showcase the results of art journalism research fellowship, continuously interacting with upcoming artists. Thus, in this edition, we meet Swaheeb Ali, a disk jokey working with Femme Electronic program of Santuri Music as supported by Goethe Institute.

The next edition of Mashariki Journal will be published in September!

Mr. Boaz Adhengo, Editor of Mashariki Journal is the Executive Officer at Arterial Network Kenya and President at the Creative Arts Society of Kenya. Adhengo also works as a Communications Assistant to the CDEA AudioVisual program in Kenya. His new book, Essence of Art, 2017 has been accepted as a course text for creative arts in Kenya.

Opinion

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THE STATE OF CREATIVE ECONOMY ACROSS EAST AFRICA

By Bamuturaki Musinguzi Although Kenya is by far the economic and creative hub of East Africa, a new study shows that the sector has numerous weaknesses which are spread across its neighbouring countries.

The study, by the British Council and titled Scoping the Creative Economy in East Africa, analyses the state of the creative economy in the region and confirms that Kenya is also a hub of continent-wide significance, offering strong competition and collaboration potential to South Africa and Nigeria.

Nairobi, the study points out, has attracted global giants such as IBM, Google and Microsoft because it has the universities, infrastructure and dynamism that make it a natural leader in the region.

But that is where the rosy tale ends, because, in contrast, the complete lack of funding — for the Kenya National Theatre, for instance — by the government means the local arts scene is a shell of the powerhouse it once was.

That nervousness by the government to support a sector which may be critical to the nation is also reflected in the edginess of advertisers, who will not support such “controversial” productions like the TV political satire XYZ, the Kenyan version of Spitting Image, for fear of government reprisals.

According to the study, released in May this year, there is lack of training and skills in home -grown TV and film makers, meaning the quality of the visual and audio product is sometimes wanting.

“This is quite evident in the lack of professionalism in the local film industry, with most Kenyans preferring to watch cheap Mexican soaps and Naija movies,” Tabu Osusa, the executive director of Ketebul Mu sic, based in Nairobi retorts.

“Most of these young film producers lack originality and creativity and often don’t do enough research to come up with scripts and direction that would appeal to the majority across the country.”

In his description of the Kenyan creative economy, John Katana, the band leader of Them Mushrooms, notes that the local arts industry “is a lion that has not roared or awakened yet”.

“It has all the potential to become a multi-million-or-billion-shilling economy,” he adds, “but it has not taken off properly yet.”

As to whether the Kenyan government has put in place policies to support a creative economy, Katana says: “Unfortunately, no, the government hasn’t done anything worth noting. There’s a draft music policy — which, among others, compels broadcasters to play 60 per cent local content — but there’s no policy on the arts, generally.

The ruling Jubilee party’s manifesto has so much to offer the creative economy, but has not done much in that regard.”

The study notes that hubs and clusters are under-networked and under-connected internationally, and that there is a gap between the “Silicon Savannah” dream and reality in terms of finance and ability to get projects off the ground.

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Opinion CORRUPTION A HUGE BARRIER Osusa remains pessimistic, arguing that “the dream of making a Silicon Savannah in Kenya may not be realised that soon due to the fact that most African governments, with Kenya being no exception, come up with brilliant concepts now and then but often fail to implement them due to corruption”.

“I think the lack of support and funding on the part of the government is also due to misplaced priorities and the lack of knowledge about the sector,” he adds.

The British Council study shows that the quality of advertising, especially on TV, is weak compared to international markets, and Osusa concurs, saying this could be due to lack of creativity on the part of the creators of these adverts. Katana also agrees, saying this could be occasioned by the fact that there is a bigger radio listenership vis-a-vis TV viewership, making corporates opt to advertise more on radio than TV. “I also think that the use of foreign characters on a big percentage of TV adverts alienates local TV viewers, thus impacting TV advertising.”

The study observes that the country’s education is light-years away from providing creative education for the future.

“I guess the lack of support on arts education in general comes from the mistaken belief that science subjects are superior to the arts,” Osusa observes.

“This is true in public schools, but there is a significant paradigm shift in private schools, with a good number of them providing creative education and related activities,” Katana adds.

The study notes that there is almost no funding for live theatre and performance by the government, and Katana says “the most that the current Jubilee government has done is refurbish the National Theatre and fund the National Talent Academy”.

“Both these undertakings were started by the Mwai Kibaki regime,” he continues. “There’s nothing notable that the current government has funded within the theatre and performance domain.”

Low wages, poor working conditions and limited opportunities for too many talented people are among overall weaknesses identified by the study. The East African creative economy is also characterised by weak creative education and low levels of entrepreneurialism, management and leadership across the arts and cultural sector; plus low levels of literacy across the wider population.

Cultural conservatism can also lead to an aversion to risk, experimentation and the influence of differe nt cultures, while issues of tolerance and inclusion (for example, gay rights, and barriers to women in the workplace, among others) could prove hindrances to creativity.

There is also a lot of replication in architecture and over-innovation in technology, and many artists have to grapple with inconsistent approaches to copyright — from weak rights collecting mechanisms to draconian enforcement, with few examples of a mature and coherent approach to rights management.

But the outlook is not all gloomy, as the study observes that the East African creative economy has a number of strengths such as cultural distinctiveness, very strong traditions, and real flair across creative sectors including music, crafts, fashion, visual arts, film and — increasingly — digital content industries.

Opinion There is a growing market for this kind of output, because the region is experiencing the consumer trends of an increasingly youthful population, an expanding middle class, and a growing hunger for value -adding and personalised goods and services.

East Africa is experiencing rapid urbanisation, with cities becoming real spikes of commerce, talent and creativity. Also, the pervasiveness of digital technology means that innovators in new and emergent technologies, as well as those in multi-platform and multi-channel activities, are now mainstream, and there is a proliferation of straight-to-digital business models across the region.

INNOVATION AND CONVERGENCE The creative economy in East Africa can be characterised as fragile, fragmented and at an early stage of development. While there are fundamental and important differences between countries, there are many shared issues which currently hold the sector back.

In some ways the barriers are the same as those faced in any econom ic sector in the region — pervasive corruption, bureaucratic and incompetent systems from another age, lack of fundamental infrastructure, and systemic poverty.

Culture is not seen as an exciting field here UGANDA Between 2004 and 2008, Uganda’s exports of cultural goods and services were estimated at $20 million.

Copyright industries here employ about 100,000 people countrywide, with 10-12 people employed in every 1,000 in the central region and 0–1 in 1,000 in the northern region, according to a mapping survey commissioned by Uganda National Commission (Unatcom) for Unesco in 2009.

But Uganda’s creative economy has a number of weaknesses. For instance, lack of government funding means that even well regarded institutions such as the National Museum face an uncertain future.

For the past three years, the Cross-Cultural Foundation of Uganda (CCFU) has been lobbying the government to support mainstream culture in all development initiatives, and specifically to earmark at least one per cent of the national budget to cultural development programmes.

The CCFU executive director, Emily Drani, observes that “there is limited political will and financing of the culture sector, reflected in the low priority given to cultural heritage on the national developme nt agenda”, and that “Uganda has no ministry of culture, so (culture-related) structures are spread under different ministries and departments”.

The ICT infrastructure is still restricted to urban regions as only 18 per cent of Ugandans currently have access to the Internet. “But even in the urban areas where ICT infrastructure is abundant, it is hardly exploited towards the growth of the creative industries,” the Ugandan playwright and ac tor, Philip Luswata, told Mashariki Journal.

“We are hardly seeing a growth in animation, a growth in a creative population on the Internet discoursing about their craft, better quality creative products due to quick access to research, an increase in Ugandan artistic works being shared with the rest of the world due to information gathered from the Internet. None of these have spiked up, even in this ICT age,” Luswata adds.

The study observes that the Uganda National Cultural Policy of 2006 mainly relates to traditional forms of literature, music and dance, and not to the creative economy.

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Opinion The policy is the first comprehensive instrument that takes into account the country’s cultural diversity, and was formulated to guide the formal and informal systems of managing culture at all levels.

The government admits in the policy that, generally, capacities in the culture sub-sector are inadequate. The major areas of inadequacy include limited qualified personnel, materials and equipment; knowledge about markets for products; infrastructure; and coordination. This status quo undermines the potential for culture to contribute to national development.

The policy says culture is cross-cutting. All sectors, ministries and local governments are, therefore, required to identify culture issues within their mandate and fund these activities within their budget ceilings.

In addition, funding should be mobilised from and by the private sector, civil society organisations, traditional/cultural institutions, faith-based organisations, as well as individuals.

The study observes that culture is not a key part of the Uganda Vision 2040, where it is not specifically mentioned. The Vision emphasises on national culture, behaviour and ethical conduct, with no mention of the creative economy.

According to the study, there is very limited cross-over between the tech community and the arts, with arts institutions serving a narrow definition of the sector.

Luswata admits, saying: “We are yet to appreciate the place of technology in what we are doing. But then, we need to attract the kinds of people who can invest such into us. The creatives can hardly, in the interim, raise the kind of funds necessary for the industry to be technologically relevant. But then, our product too, under the circumstances, is hardly attractive for potential investment. We need to drive what we are doing up to that point where it is obvious that we can do better with better equipment.”

The government does not support, but sees need to ‘overtax’ TANZANIA The film industry in Tanzania is undoubtedly strong, but government attempts to strengthen copyright protection by stamping that films are either seen as heavy-handed and done for the purposes of censor, or as a misguided and poor attempt to crack down on copyright infringement.

The National Film Board is prominent and seemingly quite powerful, while the Copyright Society of Tanzania (Cosota) and the Copyright Society of Zanzibar (Cosoza) need strengthening. Dar es Salaam also enjoys an EU-funded programme of 10 creative industry support activities.

Tanzania’s brand in the creative economy is strong in music and film, partly due to the fact that Kiswahili, with over 130 million speakers, and English mean access to pan-African markets, but it is massively underdeveloped and suffers a lack of confidence, expertise and experience in Tanzanian exporters.

The craft, design and fashion sectors are also real strengths, with a very distinctive aesthetic and strong connections to tribal communities and identities. But professionalisation, capacity and links to market are all major handicaps.

According to the Scoping on the Creative Economy of East Africa study, Tanzania lacks proper distribution channels for films; and filmmakers are routinely ripped off or are naive in the way they structure deals.

Saying there is “no proper distribution of films” is a misnomer, says Dr Martin Mhando, a leading Tanzanian filmmaker and academic. “Distribution is a business that follows and also sets industry trends. What is not happening in the East African film industry is the lack of structural support between the various media industries (TV, cinema, promotions, advertising, etc) through which cross-funding of projects can be

Opinion encouraged and undertaken within specified industry structures. Currently, for example, there are few presale structures between producers and TV houses or distributors, and that inhibits the way the industry can be leveraged across the various sectors.”

The study notes that a visa cost for any visiting artist is over $1,000, making artistic collaborations difficult.

“Indeed this is a very backward thinking system where, after failing to enforce the available tax structures, the government would rather ‘overtax’ to enable its organs to fleece artists and art promotional institutions through the many, many fees, of which the artists visa fee is only one,” Dr Mhando says, adding: “The ‘vibali (licences) syndrome’ is a huge scam that the government closes its eyes to since it does not support the arts properly, and so resorts to allowing government arts bodies to set up fees and regulatory cash points to milk artists!”

Government support for entrepreneurship and young people is tiny and inadequate, the study observes, and Dr Mhando says the government’s view of the arts is that of some sector that only has to be “tolerated”.

And so only when the government recognises the true commercial and social value of the arts would the Treasury properly resource it.

“We know the government moves slowly, but after all the lessons we have learnt from the West and now even from Nollywood and the Nigerian government links with it, we still have little understanding of the potential of the industry,” says Dr Mhando.

Mr Yusuf Mahmoud, the Chief Executive Officer of Busara Promotions, the organisers of the annual Sauti za Busara music festival in Zanzibar, laments that even after 11 successful editions, the festival still receives zero financial support from both the governments of Zanzibar and Tanzania.

“In fact, we have to pay the National Arts Council every year for registration, event lic enses and permits from the Board of Censors, artists’ work permits and visa, assorted taxes, media and film permits, permission to put posters on streets, not to mention costs for venue hire, policing and security, electricity, water and sanitation, technical facilities and so on,” Mahmoud says.

“For many years we’ve had meetings with ministers, directors, permanent secretaries, even the President and Vice President, to beg for at least some of these expenses to be waived, but we’re not holding our breath to get financial support from our governments in the foreseeable future. It’s only fair to say the best we hope for is minimal interference,” he adds.

According to the British Council study, the education system is not geared up to meet the demands of any sort of the knowledge economy.

“I think there is need to not simply have a band aid reaction to what the arts could do and then inscribe a small measure in the curriculum to show that the arts are supported in the school system.

“The government ought to encourage a commercial view of arts education — in the creation, funding and developing of a system where identified arts students are encouraged to form enterprises even at the school level for them to understand that the arts pay,” Dr Mhando says.

Mahmoud suggests that, with regard to government policy, “we’d like to see more travel bursaries for artists to encourage East African artists to travel, watch, listen, learn, perform, share and collaborate with other musicians, especially around this continent”.

“We need to build bridges of peace, friendship, mutual respect and unity across Africa; what better way to do it than through the universal language of music?” he adds.

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Feature E

CREATIVE ECONOMY IMPACT INVESTMENT Introduction

CDEA’s work involves helping cultural organisation extend their reach. We are continuously securing new investments in the arts, raising the profile of cultural education, overcoming barriers to participation for young people in urban, rural and coastal settings, and increasing diversity of children who acce ss the arts.

It is upon this understanding that Culture and Development East Africa through the support of DANIDA and British Council, has organised the “Mashariki Creative Economy Impact Investment Conference” that took place between 11 – 12 May 2017 at the Serena Hotel, Dar –es – Salaam.

A focus on providing impact investments in the creative economy could help stabilize vulnerable communities of East Africa and attract quality jobs to struggling countries within the region, There is an opportunity for impact investors seeking to bring new solutions to communities through the lens of creativity.

Creative places and businesses must be recognised as a segment so that investors, intermediaries, and project leaders can find one another and cooperate more easily. Once that happens, for impact capital to truly meet effective demand, the ecosystem connecting impact investors to creative places and businesses with sustainable business models must be in place. This will require shared definitions and metrics, a nd increased capacity of community lenders and creative places and businesses. Investments in creative places and businesses are good investments in communities. There is great potential to align investing and the creative economy.

Creative places anchor communities and help foster cohesion and engagement at a time when our region is divided and its values are tested. The following pages outline the key areas of discussion and relate what is to be expected as outcomes of the conference. A detailed review will be published on our Sanaa Biz portal.

Feature E

CDEA’S CREATIVE ECONOMY INCUBATEES PITCH AT CONFERENCE

By Angela Kilusungu Shahbaaz Sahyed (left), Winner of Swahili Fashion week 2016, emerging designer award

Fashion designer, Shahbaaz Sahyed from Tanzania (left) and Accessories designer, Clare Musila from Uganda doing their pitch at the Mashariki Creative Economy Impact Investment Conference

Four fashion and accessories design incubatees from CDEA’s Creative Economy Fashion and Accessories Incubator, Shahbaaz Sahyed fromTanzania, Clare Musila (Ruka Jewelry), Whitney Najjuko (GNAJ) and Keziah Ayikoru (House of Kea) from Uganda, were selected to make a pitch to investors during the Mashariki Creative Economy Impact Investment Conference on May 12, 2017 held at the Serena Hotel Dar es Salaam. The conference was funded by DANIDA and British Council.

CDEA is one of the 12 organizations that are part of the Incubator for Integration and Development in East Africa (IIDEA) supported by GIZ-EAC. Through the IIDEA initiative, CDEA is implementing a project titled: Creative Economy Incubator for EAC’s Fashion and Design Accessories, Film and Music Industries from Uganda and Tanzania.

One of the objectives of the CDEA Creative Economy Incubator is “To host the Mashariki Creative Economy Impact Investment Conferences that will connect CDEA’s incubatees and potential local and regional investors.”

Prior to the conference, 15 incubatees were supported by Viktoria Ventures based in Nairobi, Kenya in investor pitch prepping via Skype. The incubatees who did not pitch at the conference were given an opportunity to market their work through booths, as well as networking with creative economy stakeholders.

The pitch platform was moderated by Ms. Elizabeth Mbabazi (CDEA Advisory Board Member, Uganda).

Ayikoru impressed the audience when she said started off as an architect in Tanzania, but in 2015 decided to pursue her dream of fashion and moved to Uganda to start her fashion line House of Kea. “We do not do fashion for the sake of dreaming, we want to dream and still attain functionality,” she said.

Musila who has a background in accounting impressed the audience with her passion for bohemian -themed jewelry. Her presentation was well put together, her numbers were very honest. She requested for $12,000 that will go into further establishing her jewelry line and equipment, but most importantly for buying gemstones.

Impressed by her modest budget, Faisal Kiwewa offered to invest 50% of her required budget.

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Feature The most critical feedback to the pitchers came from Stephen Gugu, Co-founder, Viktoria Ventures based in Nairobi Kenya who said “Get used to working with numbers.”

“We do not do fashion for the sake of dreaming, we want to dream and still attain functionality,” Keziah Ayikoru said.

Fashion designers, Whitney Najjuko (GNAJ) and Keziah Ayikoru (House of Kea) from Uganda doing their pitch at the Mashariki Creative Economy Impact Investment Conference

MASHARIKI JOURNAL: CALL FOR PAPERS M ashariki Journal is a forum that generates discourse on culture‘s role in development and regional integration amongst East African artists, cultural leaders and managers, the broader civil society and state actors. The Journal serves as a space for connecting artists, researchers, policymakers and organizations working on diverse aspects of culture and peace building; a venue for conversations about the critical challenges confronting peace building in conflict -affected areas in the region and showcasing how culture-based interventions can lead to social cohesion.

Accepting that ideas are developed and deployed in different ways, M ashariki Journal publishes on a generous range of subjects, genres and forms. These include scholarly articles, artists’ projects, interviews, conversations, forums, speculations, pedagogical essays, and working notes. Artists, scholars, critics and other prospective contributors who share a passionate interest in modern and contemporary art, design, pedagogy and visual culture are encouraged to submit work by emailing Adhengo Boaz, the Journal Editor: editor.adhengo@gmail.com . All articles should be accompanied by short biographical statement of the writer.

Articles that are primarily historical or that focus on particular art work or individual artists are not appropriate to the mission of this journal. The discussion should be accessible to an audience across disciplines and promote conversation across fields and practices. The length of the articles is normally no greater than 2500 words but should not exceed 4000 words M ashariki Journal is a publication of the Culture and Development East Africa and is supported with grants from DANIDA (Danish International Development Agency).

Feature E

EAST AFRICAN ENDOWMENT FUND LAUNCHED

By Ayeta Anne Wangusa

From Left: Robert Mwapembwa, Panel moderator, Faisal Kiwewa, Director, Bayimba Foundation, George Gachara, cofounder and member, The Nest Collective and Ayeta Anne Wangusa, Executive Director, CDEA during a panel conversation ‘ Making a Case for an Impact Investment Vehicle for the Creative Sector’

“We want to create relief for our donors… we want to say to British Council, you gave me $20,000 last year, so this year give me $10,000 because we are getting it from our savings. We are building a case of bui lding sustainable institutions, so even the donors can have a best practice to share.” These were the words of Mr. Faisal Kiwewa, Director, Bayimba Foundation during a conversation on ‘making a case for an impact capital vehicle for supporting the creative economy ecosystem in East Africa’.

This conversation took place on May 12, 2017 during the inaugural Mashariki Creative Economy Impact Investment Conference held at the Serena Hotel Dar es Salaam, hosted by Culture and Development East Africa (CDEA). The conference was funded by DANIDA and British Council. This conversation was moderated by Mr. Robert Mwapembwa, Chairperson of the Tanzania Visual Arts Association (TAVA), and the speakers of the session were: Faisal Kiwewa, Director, Bayimba Foundation, George Gachara, co-founder and member, The Nest Collective and Ayeta Anne Wangusa, Executive Director, CDEA. The idea of setting up an endowment fund was initiated by Gachara and Wangusa who met at a meeting organized by the now defunct CKU-Centre for Culture and Development in Nairobi in 2014 and they decided to co-opt Faisal of Bayimba Foundation to this initiative.

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From left: Faisal Kiwewa (Bayimba Foundation), Ayeta Wangusa (CDEA) and George Gachara (The Nest Collective) after signing the Heads of Term document for the proposed East African Endowment Fund and Financial Facility for arts organizations at the House of Culture, Dar es Salaam on February 2, 2016.

Gachara, a member of The Nest Collective said: “The Nest is interested in the endowment fund because it focuses on supporting artistic financing and financing of arts institutions. Arts programmes have been predominately financed by donor funding from Europe and the America. However, due to changes in the geo politics, their priorities have changed and they stopped funding for the arts. As responsible managers of arts of programmes, we need to think of our sustainability. We decided that every year we will need to save $10,000 and continue to fundraise individually for the endowment fund.

Rocca Gutteridge, Head of Arts, Kenya & East Africa, British Council responded to the concern of the donor exodus from the cultural space saying: “There seems to be a feeling that traditional funders are leaving the cultural sector… we would like to say that is not the case….British Council is still here. Yes there are new dynamics like Brexit, the migration issue in Europe…which means we are leaving the old ways of working but not leaving the sector completely…”

The three organizations aim to jointly raise an endowment fund of $1m within the next two years and are inviting development organizations to invest their unspent funds for a fixed period, at a cost that can be discussed by the principals.

Gachara makes a point about raising money locally by saying: “I feel that this room is sensitive on the nationality of money. Today we are sensitive about the exit of our partners and now there is the idea of looking East.

However, there is also the idea of looking internally. We have a challenge to start to recruit local philanthropy…”.

Ms Wangusa however thinks: “While our focus is to establish an endowment fund, the three organizations could consider creating a vehicle to attract investment funding to the East African region.”

The three organizations are open to welcoming other arts organizations in East African to join the initiative as coprincipals. The organizations also took note that part of their sustainability plan would be not be reliant on the endowment fund savings, but also have a business model for their organizations. The organizations a re yet to finalize the details of what percentage of the interest accrued will go to running costs, acquisition of assets and investing in other arts organization initiatives.

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PROPOSED TANZANIA ARTS AND CREATIVITY FUND

By Ayeta Anne Wangusa

The Tanzanian Minister of Information, Culture, Arts and Sports, Dr. Harrison Mwakyembe marking a point during the High Level Panel at the Mashariki Creative Economy Impact Investment Conference

There is good news coming from Tanzania. The Tanzanian Minister of Information, Culture, Arts and Sports, Dr. Harrison Mwakyembe announced that “…the government is expecting to come up with a token budget in the financial year 2017/18 to move the process of establishing the proposed Tanzania Arts and Creativity Fund …”

This was during a high level panel at the inaugural Mashariki Creative Economy Impact Investment Conference held at the Serena Hotel Dar es Salaam. The conference was hosted by Culture and Development East Africa (CDEA) and funded by DANIDA and British Council.

This high level panel was moderated by Ms. Maria Sarungi Tsehai, Director of Productions at Compass Communications Ltd on the topic Government Policy and Private Capital for Impact Investment for the Creative Industries in East Africa. The panelists included: Hon. Dr. James Ndahiro, East African Legislative Assembly (EALA) Rwanda MP, Hon. Dr. Harrison George Mwakyembe, Minister of Information, Arts, Culture and Sports, Tanzania, Stephen Gugu, Co-founder Viktoria Venture, Kenya, Daniel Maginga, Investment Executive, GroFin Tanzania and George Gachara, MD, Heva Fund, Kenya.

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Feature However, there are questions that still hang in the air. Will this fund be sustainable? Who will manage the fund?

What will its impact be?

These questions arise against the backdrop of research findings from a study carried out by CDEA titled: Tanzania Film and Music Industries: Analysis of Industry-Specific Framework Conditions Relevant for Growth and Investment funded by DANIDA. The study pointed out that that in order for impact to take place in the creative economy, there is need for a systemic approach to address the Industry, cultural, market, knowledge, regulatory and support framework conditions, to enhance growth and investment of the creative industries in Tanzania. The study also recommended for the establishment of a mechanism that will pool resources from local philanthropy, governments, development partners, private investor to address the framework conditions challenges of the creative industries in East Africa.

Mr. Maginga’s advice to the government Tanzania was: “It is good that the government has begun this process… it should finalize the legal process of establishing the fund to be able to attract philanthropists and fund managers like PWC. The government can consider to work with organizations like CDEA with creative economy incubators that can provide business development support of creatives, then the government can provide funding to the creative entrepreneurs and organizations in Tanzania.”

Mr. Gugu, on the other hand, spoke broadly as to how to attract investors to support creative entrepreneurs. “The government could start by providing policy guidelines for impact investors to match funds raised by local creative entrepreneurs, so that it would reduce the risk associated with investing in the creative industries. This would also become a learning curve for investment stakeholders showcasing what to expect when you invest in the creative space.” He said the shared-risk approach would be more attractive to first-time investors in the creative space.

Robert Mwampebwa, a member of the audience made a comment about how the government of Tanzania could consider using the Southern Agricultural Growth Corridor of Tanzania (SAGCOT) model for the fund. The minister said his ministry would consider the structure of SAGCOT in the design of the fund because has a public-private partnership arrangement.

While it is indeed good news that artists and creatives will soon have access to some funding in Tanzania, it still remains a question as to whether this funding will be able to translate to impact. This is because for there to be a shift in the creative economy ecosystem towards development, there is need for other services to be provided to the artists and creatives. These service provides include: funding for Incubators/accelerators who offer technical and business development ; technical assistance providers advising government on how to mainstream a cultural dimension in trade policy, technology commercialization ; creative industries intellectual asset management and product branding value capturing; building an investor network for the creative economy; promoting innovation awards for creatives and research that will enable the governm ent’s national statistical system to trend the growth of the creative economy over the years.

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East African Voices E

THE WHOLE WORLD IS A STAGE

By Andrea Grieder Shakespeare in Africa In the period of the exploration of Africa, William Shakespeare’s works accompanied the Victorian adventures as a “weighty talisman of Civilization”, as Wilson-Lee (2016) puts it in Shakespeare in Swahililand: Adventures Of An Ever-Living Poet. “The few books – Shakespeare, Euclid – which composed my scanty library, we read them together again and again,” recalls Captain Richard Francis Burton from his perilous travelling to the East Africa Coast in 1857 which he undertook to find the source of the Nile.

Other prominent European explorers like Henry Stanley, John Speke and Thomas Parke had as well travelled to the then unknown continent with the Bard’s writings in their baggage.

From the readings of the pioneers, passing by the feverish teaching of the colonizers to contemporary actors of culture manifestation, Shakespeare has melted into the cultural landsc ape of the Africa.

First performances of his play already took place during the playwright’s life -time.

Sailing to India for spices, the Captain of the Dragon mentions in his dairy that his crew was playing the “Tragedy of Hamlet” (Wilson-Lee, 2016). Taught at the missionary schools, the father of English Literature also influenced the East African leaders who sparked the region’s independence movements. The father of modern Kenya, Jomo, Kenyatta, counted Shakespeare’s volumes among his favorite and often recited ones. In 1948, Apollo Milton Obote, later to become Uganda’s first president, played the title role in Julius Caesar in a performance at Makerere University in Kampala.

The plays and poems offer a reading of the experiences of colonization and independence, exploring meaningfully the relationship of master and slave. Julius Nyerere, founding President of Tanzania spent his days forming a new country, his evenings working on a translation of Julius Caesar, getting inside in his concern with the consequences of past upheavals.

On the other scale of the social stratification, Shakespeare was performed by Indian railway workers in East Africa during the 20th century.

Shakespeare in Rwanda Exploring the timeless meanders of the human condition, universal questions of hate and love, jealousy and justice, power and inheritance, Shakespeare doesn’t loose its meaning and continues being performed on the world stage. In April 2014, Romeo and Juliet is performed in Rwanda with the historical background of the Genocide against the Tutsi. Professor Emeritus Andrew Garrod mounted the family tragedy with Rwandan college students from both Hutu and Tutsi backgrounds.

East African Voices In 2015, Globe to Globe made a stop to perform at the National University of Rwanda in Huye, on February 7. In 2012, the Globe to Globe festival had brought to London producers of all Shakespeare’s play in 37 languages.

Out of this arose the two-year hamlet tour, 12 actors and four stage managers taken right round the world. In Huye, the actors knew that some of the Shakespearen language may is not understood, but they succeeded in creating an emotional atmosphere. They also dealt royally with a power cut, testimony of the talent of improvisation. Malcolm Cooks remembers that “Once out of a formal lecture hall setting, the audience started to relax. We sat in tiered gardens and passers-by stopped to watch… The actors felt an incredible energy.1” In 2016, Shakespeare was back in Rwanda. The poetic writing project Shakespeare Visits Rwanda aims at celebrating the 400th anniversary of his death. The project, organized by British Council, Kigali and Transpoesis, is part of the global Shakespeare Lives program. It aims at establishing a dialogue between selected plays of Shakespeare and the voices of the youth. Inspired by Shakespeare’ metaphoric deep exploration of love and hate, and of justice and forgiveness, the participants of the workshops wrote their own sonnets and poetic scenes. Performances took place in Huye, Kigali and Musanze, where the students conquered the stage with courage and with pride for being part of a global enthusiasm. Accompanied by music, the words of Shakespeare and poetic texts of the youth come to be powerful theater performances.

With a group of 6 students, the performance of To Be Or Not To Be made it even to the International Arts Festival, Ubumuntu, in Kigali in 2016.

As You Like It was centerpiece of the Huye performance while Kigali, Rwanda’s capital, was visited by The Tempest. Othello travelled to Musanze, a town in the north of Rwanda, to find students of Institute of Applied Sciences (INES-Ruhengeri). A workshop around Othello was hold with talented writers, mostly refugees from Burundi. The plays were not read and performed as a whole, but thematically read through and brought on stage. One important aspect of the approach was based on learning about Shakespeare by entering in his witfull, metaphoric poignant expression and creative genius.

Knowledge can be deeply rooted once it enters a space of creativity incorporation and digestion. This was our vision for the one year program, part of worldwide Shakespeare Lives program.

As You Like It Surrounded by dense forest, the university town of Huye is a perfect setting for the play As You Like It. The pastoral comedy tells the story of Rosalind who flees to the Forest of Arden to escape persecution at her uncle’s court. Orlando, youngest son of Sir Rowland de Boys, living in the forest, then falls crazily in love with Rosalind, posting love poems on every tree of the forest.

The Whole World is a Stage (All the World’s a Stage, Act II, Scene VII) is he phrase that begins the monologue of Jacques. A contemplative character whose only passion is thought, he watches and comments on the actions of others, without any participation in their group, or happiness either. He is one of Shakespeare’s reflexive figures within the play. The Monologue expresses the melancholic Jacques’s view of the world, using the famous theatrical metaphor of seven stages of human life.

1

M atthew Reisz (2015). https://www.timeshighereducation.com/news/surprising-responses-to-hamlet-africatour/2020284.article

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East African Voices The speech of Jacques goes like this: The whole world is a stage, and all the men and women merely actors. They have their exits and their entrances, and in his lifetime a man will play many parts, his life separated into seven acts. In the first act he i s an infant, whimpering and puking in his nurse’s arms. Then he’s the whining schoolboy, with a book bag and a bright, young face, creeping like a snail unwillingly to school. Then he becomes a lover, huffing and puffing like a furnace as he writes sad poems about his mistress’s eyebrows. In the fourth act, he’s a soldier, full of foreign curses, with a beard like a panther, eager to defend his honor and quick to fight.

On the battlefield, he puts himself in front of the cannon’s mouth, risking his life to seek fame that is as fleeting as a soap bubble. In the fifth act, he is a judge, with a nice fat belly from all the bribes he’s taken. His eyes are stern, and he’s given his beard a respectable cut. He’s full of wise sayings and up-to-the-minute anecdotes: that’s the way he plays his part. In the sixth act, the curtain rises on a skinny old man in slippers, glasses on his nose and a money bag at his side. The stockings he wore in his youth hang loosely on his shriveled legs now, and his bellowing voice has shrunk back down to a childish squeak. In the last scene of our play—the end of this strange, eventful history—our hero, full of forgetfulness, enters his second childhood: without teeth, without eyes, without taste, without everything.

The Whole World is a Stage has inspired prominent writers in their own writing. Oscar Wilde has put his spin on this phrase declaring “the world is a stage, and the play is badly cast.” Allan Moore in his novel, V for Vendetta, has taken it to a completely new level by saying “All the world’s a stage, and everything else is vaudeville.” 2 The American R&B music group the Fantastic Four made the song The Whole World is Stage in 1966 to a hit.3 The speech of Jacques can also been seen as an artistic way of exploring Shakespeare’s own creative relationship to the world, as playwright, and bring it on stage.

Shakespeare – Performance and Workshop During the performance in the crammed full auditorium of Huye Camps of the University of Rwanda, Gedeon Ngirabatware, one of the students, brought the speech of Jacques beautifully to life on stage, although with a language so far from everyday experience. Shakespeare actor Ben Crystal knows about the challenge Shakespeare’s play constitute for students all over the word: “There though, the students loved him - the problem was they didn't feel as if they had permission, or ownership over his works, unless they spoke in a pseudo -British accent.”4 So Gedeon slipped not only into the melancholic personality but also into a language from another historical and cultural background. His performance can be seen as both a powerful way of inhabiting and enlarging ones inner universe of speaking and feeling, which may also have an impact on the social reality.

The workshop also aimed at giving the students the space to write their own text on The Whole World is a Stage in order to trace their own conceptualization of what it means to be born, to die one day, their perception of life as a performance on stage, in lines of poetry. Writing once’ life brings to light what someone expects to happen, may open a door to dreams or communicates a sense of tragedy.

It can also bring a therapeutic distance between thinking and emotions. Writing about life empowers us to become actors of our stories instead of being a result of social, biographical and historical circumstances.

Reading the poetic texts, we learn about the perspective of the youth, about their thoughts on what shapes a person’s character, what destiny is about. We find some answers of what can be a source of happiness or pain, according to the students.

2

https://literarydevices.net/all-the-worlds-a-stage/

3

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6bwZSyGHqJQ https://www.britishcouncil.org/voices-magazine/whats-it-speak-shakespeare-around-globe

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East African Voices Writing from birth to death, the poets explore ways of growing and feelings of loss. They bring to light different driving forces in the realization of dreams, thematising rituals and stages of being a social person.

Voices from Rwanda Below is a sample of some of the poems created in the course of the workshops.

Dadine Mukarukundo: The Whole World is a Stage My life has 3 steps All begins in a closed chamber.

Where am I? I cannot breath, I can’t speak, I don’t know anything and I’m lost in you.

Who knew what I would become?

But after nine months, day after day, month after month, the tiny pearl took shape, grew up, from invisible I became visible and here I am now.

Mom! Dad! These are all I can say.

What a chicked child, what a black hair, tiny mouth and big eyes.

Ohh, look at these small hands, mouth and smooth body like ikanga’s skin.

She is a beautiful black girl.

She is an angel.

Smiling is my sin, talking, shouting and running around and scratching things are in my being.

Singing and dancing are part of my nature.

There’s loneliness wherever I fall sick or asleep.

But now, things are not the same anymore.

I’m shy but kind, I’m sad but happy, I’m poor but satisfied because she is still next to me. Why am I like this?

No, I am not complaining but asking, am now a grown up woman, my skin feels like a winter sweater.

My hair’s like an old donkey’s tail.

So, what’s next?

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East African Voices Samuel Mugiraneza: The Whole World is a Stage The Whole World is a stage. You get to the stage through your birth‌ This happens once in a lifetime scene and on that scene, we are helped until our moves can be made by our own feet.

From then the distance between our eyes and the ground keeps changing.

We go to school and find our fellows We learn together but we don’t become one thing.

We share the same stage but we act differently where some act like scissors’ move.

The scene keeps changing until our voices start crying out of the bush for gents. But when our ages go for a quarter of century, we realize that there is a process where a nut from its shell produces other nuts.

And that is where we look for a soul mate to complete the nut process.

Actions keep changing and the scene comes to a point when someone is afraid to call you by your name but calls you mum or dad.

Our stage never changes the scenes but scene changes the stage. We live by bearing in mind that we will die but unaware of the exact day or seasons.

We strive for many things but mostly for money. Money makes us climb the tree but sometimes it does not help us to come down from it.

We make friends, good and bad ones, frank and hypocrite ones but all help us to keep our stage busy.

Our head starts growing gray hair up and down Our back starts bending like an arc Our voice starts coming out hardly Our eyes start looking nearer Our ears start becoming deaf.

And the scene changes our stage when we start changing roles.

You get fed by a six year old kid.

You stay in bed much longer like a baby but never moving like a toddler.

Our mind starts forgetting the names of our kids may be because of being busy thinking of the road towards the grave.

The last scene is where we are carried to the grave as we were carried from the hospital on our first day to th e stage.

Rwandan Voices Melting into the Global Culture The voices of the youth of Rwanda reflect their perceptions of self and brings to light what is considered as main steps in life. Brushing the key moments of a life gives also inside in what makes a life-story meaningful.

East African Voices Dadine writes about the emotional growing from a fetus to a young woman, moving from her existence in the womb of her mother, right up to the present. In her imagination, she does not explore the unknown space of future. With the poem of Samuel, we experience growing in body metaphors “From then the distance between eyes and the ground keeps changing”. Metaphors of nature express the person’s maturation: “a nut from its shell produces other nuts. And that is where we look for a soul mate to complete the nut process.”

Gedeon’s poem brings beautifully to light the lived experiences of students. While most of the workshop participants had chosen to conceptualise life flowing more or less smoothly from birth to death, the character of Jephthan’s text finds a tragic end. We may read in his text, that being humble, kind and honest are not seen as a key to a successful life. For the young man, there is a bright future hidden in the destiny but unfulfilled.

These young Rwandan writers are testimony of how Shakespeare continues to inspire today, how the Bard’s work and words, quotes and metaphors, melt into the culture of Africa in Rwanda.

Discovering the student’s poetic lines, we see at the same time that the voices of the youth in Rwanda have the desire to melt into the Global Culture as well.

A final quote of Bahati Innocent, participant of the closing workshop in Kigali, in December 2016 puts it nicely: “We have discovered many quotes of Shakespeare, like: The hell is empty and all the devils are here.

Some are born great, other achieve greatness.

The fools thinks he is wise, the wise man knows himself to be fool.

These quotes have been written 400 years ago. Now, we need more quotes, written today, by me, by you.”

We read in these words the creative power of the today’s youth, a confidence to go on the World Stage with their talents and their poetic works.

Reference REISZ, Matthew. 2015. Surprising responses to Hamlet Africa tour. Researcher finds reactions to Shakespeare performance vary wildly across continent (https://www.timeshighereducation.com/news/surprising-responses-tohamlet-africa-tour/2020284.article) WILSON-LEE, Edouard, 2016. Shakespeare in Swahililand: Adventures with the Ever-Living Poet. William Collins. .

Dr. Andrea Grieder is Anthropologist and Poet. She is Associate Researcher at Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, Paris and Director of transpoesis, Rwanda

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East African Voices E

AN INTERVIEW WITH DEEJAY PAPPYCHULO

By Zuwena Onguku Meet Naseeb Ali, an aspiring music producer who is currently gaining experience as a deejay. Recently he was part of the Femme electronics working with the likes of Gregg Mwendwa and Beth Achieng.

Naseeb was born at time which he considers as impactful to creative expression in kenya, 1992 and he goes by the booth name of pappychullo. His creative business, the Royal Cascade Deejays, is still struggling to make an impact within the Kenyan waves, competing with more established disk jokeys who boast of experience.

Nevertheless, he is still catching fame.

When did you start Djing and what were your early passions and influences?

It all started after I joined highschool in 2009. Whilst my peers were all choosy of white collar career paths, I thought being a disk jokey was all in me; and my passion was only being a deejay. To perfect my skills, I joined the Homeboyz Deejay Academy and the experience has been fulfilling.

What do you personally consider to be the incisive moments in your artistic career?

There are so many. It's always special when you play in your own town, and your friends come. Outside of that, every time I go upcountry, especially further away, like Eldoret, it's really weird and exceptional that there are people there that know you and your music and they come to a bush party in Kipkaren. Every time it's a highlight.

When you can express yourself and the people understand that, in another far away place, it's really fantastic.

That's the best part of touring.

What do you usually start with when preparing for a set?

During the week I browse old and new music. Then I guess it's kind of routine, I bring my selection, I bring my stuff, I bring a few new tracks every week but not that much. I have a few folders that I can use, but I don't really prepare much. I just wait to see the audience, the club and then I get an idea and I follow that idea.

How important is building a real relationship with the music you're playing for your own approach?

There's so much music out there, is it even possible to build meaningful long-term relationships with a particular track or album?

That's the challenge. It's difficult to express yourself with music without vocals, so I use music with vocals and I like nice melodies. It's not just all banger stuff and huge beats and bass. I like to tell a story and for that I need to play records that have melodies and nice ones if possible.

Do you feel a crowd is actually able to appreciate the intricacies of complex DJing, if the y don't actually know what, precisely, is happening behind the decks?

It depends where you play. It depends on the scene in the county. Yes, there are some really good crowds who come to listen to the music and then there are some people who just want to get fucked up. There is usually

East African Voices about 50-100 people who really understand the music and come to discover and listen to the music. But some people just want to party. it's all part of the scene, you can't separate it.

Do you believe in the possibility of "reading an audience" – and how do you put it into practise? Is the relationship with the dancers a collaborative one or a “battle�?

It's a kind of battle every time. It can be tough. Sometimes the DJ wins and sometimes they lose. I know I've won when I feel happy with what I did and when the people are happy. Sometimes the crowd is happy but I'm not, because I didn't make it as good as I could have. But this is the risk you take when you don't prepare the set.

Sometimes it's great sometimes it's not. I'm a human, so I can be in a really good mood or a bad mood and sometimes this affects my set.

If the audience is against you and they're not into your music, you have to keep trying to make it better but you only have a short time, it's something like 2 hours. When I started DJing we were playing all night long, but now you have to be on stage at 2 am and you have to rock the party from 2-4 am. It's hard because you need time to adapt, time to feel the people and what's going on, and what you should do. Sometimes it's frustrating because it's too short a time to express yourself.

A strong set can be truly be more than the sum of its parts. How, do you feel, is the music transformed in the hands of a DJ? In which way are you actively trying to create an experience that is more than just stringing together a few excellent records?

I try to create an experience that will leave the clubber and myself happy with the whole set, not just about those ten minutes or that last half an hour. I like to make the whole set interesting. These days though, it's not really the case anymore because lots of DJs are playing a whole set of deep house or prog house, you know just one kind of music. For me, a DJ should play different kinds of records. But it's personal.

Please recommend two DJs to our readers which you feel deserve their attention.

There are some DJs who are great for one set and then not so great for the next. So it's difficult for me to recommend anyone specifically. Anyone can be really good, one day, som ewhere.

Disc Jokey, Pappychulo, proprietor of Royal Cascade Entertainment rolls up his sleeves during an induction training at Homeboyz Academy where he has mastered several skills. He is currently involved with Femme Electronic program at Santuri. Hook up with him every Thursday at Ingiza Lounge opposite the Norfolk Hotel, Nairobi

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