Nancy Henaku contemplates music's transnational resonances and revolutionary role in her discussion of performances by Neo Muyanga and El-Warsha.
The discussion with
Neo and the El-warsha theatre company from Egypt was entertaining and yet
intellectually provocative. For me, it seemed interesting that in our bid to
discuss the significance of art (in this
case music) in revolutions, we ended up creating a form that was totally
different from the forms of presentation that we have had so far at the
workshop. The combination of speech, music, storytelling and a question and
answer session made the session polyphonic in a way that linked up with the
discussions we had been having on the multiplicity and dynamism of forms. What
we probably did not realize was that in that session we ended up creating a
form that exemplifies our discussions on “the life of forms”.
I found the sitting
arrangement particularly striking. With musicians and audience sitting in a
circular formation, there was little or no distance between the two. Coming
from Ghana, I was quickly reminded of the Akan storytelling tradition in which
there exists an intimate and personalized distance between the performer(s) and
audience. By using such an arrangement, we (the listeners) became involved in
the performance itself even before we became aware of it. For me, my position
in the discussion was dual. On the one hand, I was part of the process of
production. On another hand, I was a processor and critic of the kind of
knowledge produced in and through the discussion. Consequently, one could say
that the arrangement tied in perfectly with the hybridity of the session— a
combination of a discussion with a rehearsal.
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| El-warsha performing with Neo Muyanga |
It seemed to me
that the performances were defined by a strong link between expression and
experience. For one thing, the texture of the musical performances brought to
the fore the centrality of orality in African performing arts. This was in
consonance with the oral cultural and literary background of the performers.
Also, apart from the fact that the combination of elements from traditional
hymns, urban church hymns and traditional South African music, the South
African music played and performed during the event pointed to the idea that
the elements within the songs are in themselves a means through which these
performers or composers expressed the duality inherent within their own
identities. Also, as explained in the discussion the unison seen in the South
African toitoi music and the performance by the El-warsha company from Egypt is
a crucial expression of affective states as well as different cultural modes.
Very central to our
discussion was the role of art in protests and revolutions. The assertion that
“at the very heart of every revolution is a vast history of storytelling”
seemed very profound indeed. Music and the arts have been pivotal in all
struggles for liberation across the world. In our discussion, our reference
points were the Egyptian revolution and the Apartheid struggles, but I can
think of the African American struggles and the roles that negro spirituals,
blues, jazz and pop music have played in expressing that experience. Music indeed
remains an important form of expression in the African struggle.
I came to
appreciate in our discussion that both revolutions (the struggle for
liberation) and storytelling (arts) need each other. On the one hand,
revolutions have a way of giving life and significance to the arts and
providing a whole history of human experiences which are then
re-presented/re-created through music and other forms of artistic expression.
It seems to me that without history (experience), there can be no arts. On the
other hand, without storytelling, revolution is useless because storytelling is
not just a means for calling people to action but it is also a repository or a
re-enactment of the history created via revolution.
I left the session
with the understanding that sorrow is not a negative force and that it is
actually through sorrow that the fuel for revolution and change is created.
Nancy Henaku is teaching assistant in the Department of English, University of Ghana
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