La Milonga Michelangelo

The Patamango Association for Argentine Tango presents La Milonga Michelangelo, the first weekly opportunity to dance Argentine Tango in Nairobi.

time Saturday 22 May 2010 from 20h to 23h, then every Saturday
place Sala Michelangelo, Instituto Italiano di Cultura, Grenadier Tower 5th floor, Woodvale Groove, Westlands (across from Gypsy's Bar)
dj Mario
tango class From 18h30-19h45, open to all tangueros, precedes the milonga

For further details contact the Patamango Association by email: nairobi.tango@patamango.com or SMS on +254 715 357 507.

The essence is to be floating, I learn on attendance, for the upper body to fall forward or backward or sideways and let the legs follow (keeping the entire body one and vertical).

It is an elegant and intimate dance that depends on the shift of gravity for changing direction. In attendance were couples and singles and everyone seemed to have heard of it from Nairobi Now.

I hope it continues. And thank you for bringing tango to Nairobi.

Tambores de Agua un Encuentro Ancestral

The Pan African Film and Arts Festival, Los Angeles presented this synopsis of;

Water Drums, an Ancestral Encounter

"The African roots in Venezuelan music unfold through the "water drums," a peculiar and stunning musical expression of the region of Barlovento. The aquatic chimes of the water drums become the vehicle bringing together the history of two continents (Africa and America), emphasizing that no matter the distance, the roots are strong enough to last through time."

I was lucky to watch it because as it happens, the Brazilian Embassy failed to bring Dos Filhos de Francisco for the Latin American Cultural Week as per their programme. So the museum staff put Tambores de Agua instead and I'm really glad that they did!

In a powerful study of the play and history of "water drums" in and around Venezuela and eventually back to Cameroon, this documentary educates the audience as well as its subjects of the importance of such an activity; that it didn't only characterise a generation that depended on rivers before washing machines but generations before and during the slave trade, that it was a way to spend time after chores, a way to call boys to play, a way to make music by playing a river, by beating the body of water as you would a drum. It is a method of music that passed on like you pass on a story, with all the intimacy that ties the first storyteller with the last listener.

Genre: Music Documentary
Writer & Director: Clarissa Duque
Produced by: Andreina Gómez
Critic's Rating: *****

The Baka Forest People

"I Apologise" by Oscar Brown Jnr.

I apologize for being black
All I am plus all I lack
Please sir, please m’am
Give me some slack
‘Cause I apologize

I apologize for being poor
For being sick and tired and sore
Since I ain’t slick
Don’t know the score
I do apologize

I apologize because I bear
Resemblance most black people share
Thick lips, flat nose, and nappy hair
Yes I apologize

I apologize for how I look
For all of the lows and blows I took
On those Lord knows I’d close the book
As I apologize

I apologize for all I gave
For letting you make me yo’ slave
And going to my early grave
Yes I apologize

I apologize for being caught
For being sold, for being bought
For being told I count for naught
Yeah I apologize

I apologize for all I’ve done
For all my toil out in the sun
Don’t want to spoil your righteous fun
So I apologize

I apologize and curse my kind
For being fooled, for being blind
For being ruled, and in your bind
Yes I apologize

I apologize and curse my feet
For being slow, for being late
Because I know it’s me you hate
Why not apologize

I apologize and tip my hat
‘Cause you so rich and free and fat
Son of a bitch, that’s where it’s at
And I apologize

Def Poetry, Season 2, Episode 4 (S02 E04) Original Air Date: 12 July 2002
video

spoken word this friday at dass

make it a date people!