Africa Beats: Ugandan Singer Tshila

“The world in which you were born is just one model of reality. The myriad of cultures of the world are not failed attempts at modernity, let alone failed attempts to be us. They are unique expressions of the human imagination and heart, unique answers to a fundamental question: What does it mean to be human and alive? When asked this question, the cultures of the world respond in 7,000 different voices, and these collectively comprise our human repertoire for dealing with all the challenges that will confront us as a species.”
- Wade Davis

P.S. I know many of you reading this post may hold different views than myself or the author of this quote, and I would greatly appreciate your input. Please feel free to voice your opinion here or on the Ensigo facebook page.

It has been an interesting week for those of us working and living in Uganda. I assume many of you are among the more than 75 million people who have viewed Invisible Children’s Kony 2012 video (Kony 2012 on YouTube). Opinions abound about about whether this video does something for the people of Uganda or to the people of Uganda.

Over the past few days I have participated in conversations with Ugandans, NGO workers, Invisible Children staff, local musicians, journalists, and entrepreneurs, revolving around the organization Invisible Children and their most recent campaign. After receiving multiple emails asking about my opinion of the Kony 2012 video, I have decided to write an open letter expressing my thoughts, and would love if you would write back so I could hear your thoughts as well.

As a study abroad student in 2006 I first met one of the IC filmmakers, Bobby Bailey, and am presently friends with a number of current and former staff who I think are all amazing people. To be honest though in 2006, 2007 and 2008 I didn’t have a very high opinion of Invisible Children or their work.

After an impassioned response to their initial film (Invisible Children: Rough Cut), and a call to action by the directors to “just go to Uganda,” Gulu was flooded with hundreds of ill-prepared American young people who were looking to save the world. During their programmatic beginnings in Uganda IC’s relations with the local community, established NGO’s, and government of Gulu was fraught with tension caused mostly by the cultural offenses and inexperience of their volunteers. Fortunately the volunteer program was ended, and as the organization faced local and international criticism they were receptive and began to develop more thoughtful programs like: Schools for Schools, Legacy Scholarship Program, and MEND (IC Programs).

As a devout critic of the entire development industry I am worried about the potential long-term impacts these big decisions may have on Africa, how this will shape international perceptions of the continent, and also how it will affect the marketing strategies of other NGO’s. However I still have respect for IC. I am impressed by their polite response to the intense criticism they are facing for Kony 2012 (IC response to critiques), and their willingness to learn and grow from past mistakes. I have faith that IC will continue to improve, and am thrilled that this 30 minute video has brought to light shortcomings of the dangers of metonymy (using a single, tangible person or symbol to represent a larger complex concept), self-aggrandizing marketing, and weaknesses in the white savior narrative that many hundreds of NGO’s need to be held accountable to.

As a result of this video young people are engaging with issues beyond their immediate lives and thinking about the lives of other youth thousands of miles away. It seems that one of the best outcomes of Kony 2012 is that it has sparked a national dialogue on hugely important issues. Let’s hope that this translates to millions of people becoming curious, engaged, and digging deep to find out more about taking responsible action in the affairs of the world.

-Aaron

P.S. If you have time I’d be thrilled if you’d watch this TED video by renowned Nigerian author Chimamanda Adichie (The Danger of a Single Story. This talk brilliantly describes the danger of a single story.

Other links on Kony 2012:
National Geographic – Kony 2012 a view from Northern Uganda
CNN – Kony 2012: How Not To Change The World

Dear friends and family,

Wow, it has been one whirlwind of a past year (and some weeks) spent working on Ensigo projects and traveling through Northern Somalia, Uganda, Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan, and U.A.E.! I am now back in good ol’ Nashville Tennessee where I’ll be coopin’ up until around the middle of March before I head back to Uganda. As I’m in the U.S. I’ll be working on finishing up the art and music from the U.S. contributors for the Ensigo Seeds album, recruiting U.S. artist volunteers for a new Ensigo program I’m trying to launch called “Volunteers For Creative Collaboration”, working with Compassion International again, working construction jobs, working with World Vision, and fundraising.

I’m sure so much has happened in your lives over this past year and I would LOVE if you could send me an update email or else let me know a time when you can talk over the phone and catch up (my U.S. number is: 727.753.8663)! As usual, fun and crazy situations always seem to find me, and this trip was definitely not a let down. I’d much rather share these stories over the phone or in person but as a teaser to this last year, here are some of my favorite stories to tell (hopefully this will pique your interest to the point where you can’t resist but to call.

• Fell in love with a wonderful woman named Maggie…I’m in love, I’m in love, and I don’t care who knows it!
• Was a part of a panel of Ugandan musicians and producers for a weekly radio show to discuss ways that music can positively transform societies, on 94.8 FM in Kampala.
• Filmed a MusicArt video with an American filmmaker, Ugandan painter, and American photographer in Mpanga forest for an Ensigo song.
• Had a death threat in Somaliland
• Worked with the Somaliland government (ministry of culture) to begin developing copyright law to protect musicians from exploitation and generate income for them.
• Recorded 15 songs with 8 Ugandan musicians for the Ensigo Seeds Album project
• Worked with 7 Ugandan visual artists who created “MusicArt” pieces to selected Ensigo songs
• Hosted and organized an Ensigo art exhibition/concert/film viewing party in Kampala as a fundraiser to send up and coming Ugandan filmmaker Peter Tukei to Berlin to present his film at the Berlinale film festival (pictures: http://ow.ly/7R3cX and http://ow.ly/7R3iB)
• My girlfriend and I were robbed at machete point in Kampala Uganda
• Helped record audio for a film being made by the organization H.A.L.O., and then donated an Ensigo song for the video (check it out here: http://vimeo.com/23398914)
• Led songwriting workshops for children that are part of the organization Empower African Children (video: http://youtu.be/S_oquaGj4IY)
• Bizarreness of being escorted in a motorcade by the president’s personal guard to a recording studio in Somaliland
• Ensigo album release party in Piswa Uganda in which, unexpectedly, several government officials attended and gave speeches…and a goat was killed then roasted (pictures: http://ow.ly/7R4f4)
• Along with a great friend named Eric Kreutter, we wrote, recorded, advised and performed songs with Uganda’s top rock musician (and great role model), Rachel K.
• First day in Somaliland myself and two other friends visited the “zoo” and then our friend got robbed by the “zookeepers”.
• A Brandon Heath music video of the song I recorded with him and the Restore Children in Gulu was released! (video: http://youtu.be/Gy67Ugf-2Ig)
• Organized (and performed at) a benefit concert for a great non-profit organization in Uganda called Educate!
• Recorded some songs of a wonderful children’s choir that are part of the organization In Movement.
• Had a baseball sized rock thrown at my head while walking down the road in Somaliland
• One that I can’t mention over email, but it’s CRAZY
• Had a giant loogie hocked on my leg in Somaliland
• Advised/mentored several great Ugandan musicians: including Tamba and Davis Ntare.
• And a few others that are pretty neat, but not quite as neat as those listed above.

So that briefly sums up my time away. Now the thing that I’m desiring the most is…if at all possible, to sit down over some coffee or a meal and swap stories. One thing that is so hard for me while I’m away from my U.S. community of friends and family for extended periods of time are these feelings of disconnection, and not feeling as involved in your lives, and you in mine. I love Facebook and using it to keep up to date with latest happenings in your lives…but good ol’ fashioned personal emails are great too. So if you have some spare time, it would be great to get an update with how things have been going for you.

Thank you soooooooooooooooooooooo much to everyone that donated financially and through prayers to make this trip possible! Your generosity has had a huge impact on me and the lives of many people throughout East Africa….and it challenges me so often to live a more giving life!

Love,
Aaron

P.S. In lieu of sending out massively long email updates every several months (as was my habit), I’ve been posting more regular updates on www.facebook.com/ensigo and www.twitter.com/ensigo. So if your heart so desires you can check out what’s been going on with things there.

P.S. Also in this article, for the first time EVER that I’m releasing some clips from upcoming Ensigo songs. Check ‘er out.

Recently I was reading through the poetry of the Saami author Paulus Utsi (The Saami people are the arctic indigenous people inhabiting Sápmi, which today encompasses parts of far northern Sweden, Norway, Finland, the Kola Peninsula of Russia, and the border area between south and middle Sweden and Norway). I was inspired when I cam across a brilliant poem of his entitled “As long as…” which echoes the lament of many indigenous peoples about the ravages caused by industrial development upon nature and traditional cultural values. He describes a longing to maintain traditional lifestyles close to nature and the ensuing loss of meaning when engulfed by modern economic development. Captured in the poem are underlying cultural values and definitions of what constitutes indigenous peoples’ wellbeing and sustainable development and, in its absence, indigenous peoples’ despair. Please check it out below and feel free to leave a comment on your thoughts.

As long as we have waters where the fish can swim
As long as we have land where the reindeer can graze
As long as we have woods where wild animals can hide
we are safe on this earth

When our homes are gone and our land destroyed
– then where are we to be?

Our own land, our lives’ bread, has shrunk
the mountain lakes have risen
rivers have become dry
the streams sing in sorrowful voices
the land grows dark, the grass is dying
the birds grow silent and leave

The good gifts we have received
no longer move our hearts
Things meant to make life easier
have made life less

Painful is the walk
on rough roads of stone
Silent cry the people of the mountains

While time rushes on
our blood becomes thin
our language no longer resounds
the water no longer speaks

-Paulus Utsi

Paulus Utsi was born in 1918 and died in 1975. His poem “As long as…” is translated by Roland Thorstensson and reprinted in In
the Shadow of the Midnight Sun: Contemporary Sami Prose and Poetry (1998), Harald Gaski (ed.).

At the age of 8, after being inspired by the paintings his older brother was creating, Tukei began to take up sketching. Soon showing a natural talent in the arts he passionately strove to cultivate his abilities and ended up pursing a degree in art and photography at Makerere University. Now 25 years old, Tukei is able to support himself completely through his work as an artist. Each year he usually will work for about 4 months on making paintings then selling them, and for the last 8 months he lives off the profit from his paintings and focuses on developing his hobbies of photography and filmmaking.

Tukei has only been involved in creating films since 2009, but has already shown a natural talent. Check out the trailer below from his latest film entitled Kengere. It is a wonderful 20 minute short which uses stop-motion animation and traditional banana leaf dolls to tell the story of a Ugandan bicycle rider. If you’re in the Kampala Uganda area be on the lookout for updates about a film viewing party Ensigo will be hosting for Kengere around the end of January.

Here are some selections of his work:

kengere from t.u.k.e.izm on Vimeo.

P.S. To check out more of Tukei’s photography and art work please visit the ensigo facebook page.

Somaliland is unlike any country I have previously experienced. It is a land of dramatic extremes! I have had some of the most thrilling positive experiences (which I will share in detail once I’m in Uganda). But in this same trip I have also been deeply saddened by a string of negative incidents I endured. However I think I’m gradually learning to find joy in all of these experiences and seek growth.

I consider my time in Somaliland well worth it. And I’m looking forward to continue investing in the friendships that I was blessed to form here.

——————————
Tribute to the Days of Somali Musical Yore:

In my research I found that the golden era of locally composed and recorded Somali music has passed, hitting it’s pinnacle in the mid 1980’s with the popularity of groups like Iftin and Dur Dur, While there is an abundance of wonderful new Somali music being created by the diaspora (notable artists: Nimco, Maryan Mursal, and K’naan), the current state of music in Somalia is dismal. In recent history musicians were highly revered as cultural icons and voices of a generation, however many are now trapped in lifestyles of destitution revolving around an addiction to an amphetamine-like drug named “khat.” As a tribute to the days of Somali musical yore, and a longing to see local musicians return to making beautiful music and developing their talents, I am posting 5 of my favorite songs that were collected during my research. I hope you are as moved by the passion in the performances in these songs as I am. And please join me in praying for the restoration and local support of the musicians (and their families) who are remaining in Somalia.

Iftin – Haka Yeelin Nacabkeenna
Dur Dur – Goromphmca
Arays Esse – Haddii Kale Wahan Iahaa
Kinsi Xaaji Aadan – Adkaysan Waayoo Aduun Dhibkiisaa
Xasan Aadan Samatar

Dancing in the United Arab Emirates

Dancing with lights

Shredding on the traditional drums

A man and his falcon

Crossing Dubai Creek on a dhow

So while I was in Dubai, I stayed with an aunt of a friend from college. She was an amazing host and treated me to a true Dubai tourist excursion…riding around like crazy in SUV’s in the sand, then going to a village in the desert for some traditional cultural events.

On this trip I’ll be gone for a year (September 21st, 2010 – September 2011), and will be traveling to some new countries (Somalia and Sudan), as well as some joyfully familiar countries (Uganda, Rwanda, and Burundi). I will be continuing to work on the benefit/collaboration recording project as well as beginning a new project focused on bringing artist volunteers over to Africa to collaborate with people here. I’m so excited to start this new adventure and I want to present you with an opportunity to partner with me both financially and through prayer.

I have just begun sending out support letters that give a much more detailed description of what my year abroad will entail. If you have not received one yet please shoot me an email at: aaron [at] ensigo.com and I’ll be sure to send you one.

Below I have set up a PayPal account to easily make secure monthly donations. Also posted is a PayPal link to make a one-time donation. (Note: PayPal donations are not tax deductible). If you would like to have more options for making donations and receive a tax-deductible receipt please visit the “donation” page of this website.

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