This year’s episode of the International Ethnomusicology Symposium has broadened further to include the Fine Arts in its presentations.
This has made the three-day event, which closed on Saturday, less predictable for the organisers, at the Fine and Performing Arts Department (FPAD), within the University of Dar es Salaam’s (UDSM) grounds.
Before leaving the venue on Saturday the organisers told the ‘Daily News’ they were relieved and encouraged to know that the new blend of presenters, chosen for each day had gone down satisfactorily with the mixture of international participants.
One of the main organisers, Prof Mitchel Strumpf, went as far to admit that they never know beforehand how the chosen collection of ethnomusicologists (experts in the study of ethnic music) for an episode will go, but are extra anxious concerning this year’s new blend in this seventh edition.
“I’m very excited every year but this year there was a special apprehension to see how the programme would go down. Now that is why I got filled with excitement to see that all went smoothly,” Strumpf, admitted.
As a form of an example he made reference to Friday’s presentations, which included a West African educator and musician from the Ivory Coast, Adepo Yapo, demonstrating a mouth harp, communicating to the international East African audience gathered there, being followed by a saxophonist from Illinois University in the USA, Rick Deja, looking at saxophone music in different parts of Africa.
The greatest satisfaction came for Prof Strumpf to see that all participants were able to understand these presentations. The next on the agenda was the department’s veteran Fine Artist and lecturer, Prof Elias Jengo, presenting some of his paintings, in which he presented “The Musical Figuring and Archiving of Africanness in Selected Paintings”.
Seeing this was also appreciated by the participants was part of the cream for the organisers. During the lunch break the area was never silent from musical sounds, for there was always one or more participants working- out something on the upright piano in the corner or on their instruments, be it guitar, mouth harp, saxophone or simply the human voice.
As can be expected at such an event, the afternoon session started with some live fusion music, as was the case in the morning from the participants. Then the saxophonists, Deja, presented a paper based on his experiences running a studio in Malawi.
This was followed by a presentation of an on-going research by the FPAD’s Assistant Lecturer and PhD candidate, Jenitha Kameli, on “Kitchen Partying : Music, Dance and Womanhood Initiation among Selected Tanzanian Communities in Dar es Salaam City.”
After Kameli’s presentation came a number of others, which included a demonstration of Indian tabla music by Maestro Keshab Kanti Chowdhury, from the Indian Cultural Centre in Dar es Salaam.
In the evening performance, which featured various tastes of local and foreign sounds, Maestro Chowdhury not only gave a solo performance, which mesmerised the audience, he also joined the local Parapanda Theatre Lab for a lively up-tempo collaboration.
No doubt, the two main sponsors, Goethe Institut Tanzania and the Tanzania Communications Regulatory Authority (TCRA), were pleased with the result, for participants certainly were.
By IMAN MANI, Tanzania Daily News
