Bringing music from Europe to Africa on a flying carpet

Over 80 young artistes from Africa and Europe recently converged in Kampala for the Umoja Cultural Flying Carpet Festival, which celebrates cultural diversity.

The youth from five national Umoja ensembles (Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Ethiopia and Norway) performed music, dance, circus and acrobatics at the National Theatre and Ndere Centre in Kampala.

The Circus in Ethiopia for Youth and Social Development presented acrobatics, music and dance accompanied by traditional musical instruments.

The Norwegian artistes put up a contemporary dance that incorporated house, hip-hop, jazz and afro music.

The festival, held from September 21-30, offered participants an opportunity to develop their skills, learn new ideas and gain cultural understanding and respect for each other.

“This programme enables us to learn from each other besides having fun,” the Norwegian choreographer and dance captain, Meriam Grace de Guia Worren, said.

John Bosco Kyabaggu, who is one of the Umoja Uganda co-ordinators, said the programme was about building peace, celebrating cultural diversity and promoting the spirit of professionalism in the arts. “It is about creating good art,” he said.

Learning tour

The Umoja Festival is a collaborative peace and development programme that involves cultural institutions and talented young artistes in eight countries: Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Kenya, Tanzania, South Africa, Ethiopia, Uganda and Norway. In each of these countries, Umoja has established — through auditions — a national Umoja ensemble.

“We are here to learn from the Africans and they from us.

The general dancing scene in Norway is much more classical oriented compared with the traditional dances from Africa,” the administrative leader of the programme and lecturer in jazz department at the Norwegian Academy of Music in Oslo, Torgrim Sollid said.

The Norwegian project is supported by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Oslo. In Uganda, it is hosted by the Royal Norwegian Embassy and Makerere University Department of Performing Arts and Film. It aims at supporting art and culture in society as well as developing cultural institutions and the individual.

The programme works in Southern and East Africa where about 100 talented youth, teachers, administrators and professional artists gather for two weeks at Umoja International Camps.

The artistic outcome of each year’s camp is showcased through performances and exhibitions.

An international camp was held in Harare, Zimbabwe from April 21–May 3 this year and the final Umoja Festival will take place in Maputo, Mozambique from October 28–29.

According to the Umoja international artistic co-ordinator Koen Schyvens, the artistes in each country perform at least 10 times a year before joining the international camp to share their experiences with their visiting colleagues.

Maputo climax

“Maputo is the last venue in the programme and the most important event on the city’s annual cultural calendar.

We select the best eight groups who perform alongside famous artistes. This year we shall have Oliver Mtukudzi, Eric Wainana, Julio Alfredo Neyma and Tesfai Gebryohammes,” Schyvens said.

The Umoja international managing director, Wilhelm Dahl said: “We bring together artistes from seven African countries and two from Europe. When people watch our productions on television they realise we can work together towards peace and development through art and culture. It is also a learning process for artistes, institutions and academicians.”

The late Miriam Makeba and former patron of Umoja once said: “The Umoja Cultural Flying Carpet is wonderful; I wish the whole world would learn from it; it enables the students to learn each other’s culture leaving no room for fights.”