Kausa talks Mulemena and cultural heritage

By Andrew Mulenga

Responding to last week’s article on satire and artistic freedom, Zambian arts and culture critic Roy Kausa says freedoms of various artistic disciplines in Zambia are compounded by several issues that include the lack of self-esteem by local artistes in the first instance, and secondly the lack of a serious arts education.

Mulemena’s tunes introduced the Kaonde Manchancha
and Shonongo traditional rhythms albeit in
slightly Westernized variations

“It is a fact that in last 51 years, this country’s arts education curriculum from primary school right up to tertiary level has been a total disaster for lack of a better term. And as a result, nobody in this country ever regards the arts as a serious player in the economic development of Zambia,” he says.

Kausa, whom for over 30 years has been well known in the visual arts circles for his caustic reviews in publications such as The Zambia Daily Mail and more recently the Bulletin & Record Magazine argues that Zambia’s citizens do not appreciate art because of lack of art education during their time in school and tend to ignore the situations brought to “light” by the artistes in music, drama and in visual arts.

“But who is really to blame? If my memory serves me right, the advent of Christianity in Northern Rhodesia (Zambia) is entirely to blame for the non-development of a serious arts education. As a small boy living at Mukinge Mission in Kasempa I remember how the missionaries from the London Mission now Evangelical Church in Zambia terrorized villages during weekends, warning them against doing evil things such as drumming and traditional dancing,” he recalls.

He points out that to play any traditional instruments in homes was considered a punishable taboo by these missionaries.

“I also remember how the late Emmanuel Mulemena who was my teacher in Sub-A (Grade 1) at Kikoka Mabwe Primary School during the late 1950’s struggled to teach us traditional music with his close friend Noah Chanda because of strict rules from the then Northern Rhodesia government and the church against promotion of traditional and cultural activities in our villages,” he says.

According to Kausa, it did not take long before Mulemena was hounded out of the school by church authorities because of his passion for traditional folklore and music.

“I vividly remember how Mulemena would take the whole class to Munkinge hill at weekends to help us learn songs he composed from the various Kaonde folklore. He left Kasempa for Lusaka and because he had gathered enough material in traditional Kaonde folklore, music and dance from rural Kasempa, Mulemena's music quickly received attention from the Zambian public when later he joined the Zambia Broadcasting Services,” he says.

He claims that in the 1970s Mulemena’s music took the country airwaves by storm because it was totally different from that of Isaac Mapiki and Alick Nkhata whose compositions mainly depicted urban life. Mulemena’s tunes introduced the Kaonde Manchancha and Shonongo traditional rhythms albeit in a slightly westernized variations. Before his death in 1982, Mulemena was one of Zambia's most popular musicians and vocalists. Among his greatest hits are the songs Mukwenda Mukunanga, Kwi Lamba Ekwesu, Bakaseya Nibani and Amalume. The life of Mulemena and other Zambian music greats is well documented in the book Zambian Music Legends by Leonard Koloko.

“And soon other musicians such as Charles Muyamwa and others also joined Mulemena to promote traditional tunes from the different parts of Zambia. Time for Music on television which came every Friday evening was very popular in the mid 60’s to early 70’s. At that time Lusaka and the Copperbelt boasted of live music which saw the birth of such bands like the Tinkles, The Ataguns, The Earth Quakes, the Lusaka Beatles to mention but a few,” he adds.

Kausa - the current crop of musicians
lack a strong tradition of cultural education

Kausa suggests the story today is totally different in that the current crop of musicians lack a strong tradition of cultural education. But also observes that this may not entirely be their fault because there are no books in Zambia which depict the different cultural aspects of country’s life. This is further compounded by the lack of sufficient cultural centres or museums where young people can go and learn their past and history.

“However, the birth of the University of Zambia (UNZA) in 1966 was not a blessing but brought misery and destruction and sent the Zambian Arts to the grave. The lack of introducing a faculty of literature and arts at the university then situated near the Central Hospital, now University Teaching Hospital saw the once vibrant cultural movement in this country start to deteriorate and soon nose-dived and completely failed up to this day,” he charges.

Kausa commends the privately owned Zambian Open University (ZAOU) for introducing and arts faculty but insists that the arts would have been taken more seriously if government sponsored UNZA introduced degree courses in the various arts disciplines.

“Although the scenario is extremely depressing, it is not too late, to turn around things, by government to investing in the arts development at the university level. It is because of the absence of a serious art movement, that our local artistes in Zambia behave like party cadres used by the various political parties as objects of gaze,” he says.

He observes that while the formation of the National Arts Council of Zambia (NAC) was with good intentions, it has overstayed and needs a total restructuring and a new lease of life by government’s quick intervention.

“NAC has also been a great pain in the flesh of artistic development in Zambia because it does not seem to add value to the artistes let alone the government coffers. For how long is NAC and its various affiliates such as Visual Arts Council and Zambia Association of Musicians going to depend on government to spoon feed some sections of the artistes in this country,” says Kausa who is also Lechwe Art Trust secretary and manager at Twaya Art Gallery, Intercontinental Hotel Lusaka.

“I therefore urge the Zambian media to help government to formulate a programme to resuscitate the “vibrant, rich traditional and cultural manifestations through the various arts disciplines from its grave and once in the history of Zambia start adding value to the economic basket, by bringing foreign exchange to this country like the case with artists in Nigeria, South Africa to name but a few who contribute heavily to economic baskets of their countries.”

Kausa suggests there is also a need to turn around, and develop a new concept to open a new door for the arts to thrive and to be appreciated by the Zambian public. Stating the government, private sector and politicians should embark on a campaign to bring back a curriculum in this country's education to teach subjects based on Zambian traditions and languages at university level. 

Satire, censorship and press freedom

By Andrew Mulenga

Sitting in the front row at a stand-up comedy show and listening to an artiste bluntly chastise and poke fun at a sitting president by mention of name, all in the pretext of satire can be nothing short of an unsettling if not alarming experience for a Zambian.

A cartoon that depicts censorship by
Bruce Mackinnon, Canada was on display at NAF 2015

Under Zambia’s shimmering veneer of 50 years of peace and harmony lies a dense layer of obscured censorship. Political bandwidth does not provide much leverage. Apart from social media and a few phone-in programmes citizens, journalists and artistes alike enjoy very limited freedoms and platforms on which to air their views fairly without getting a heavy knock on the door.

South Africa on the other hand – despite its many problems – seems to be doing something right in terms of freedom of expression and artistic liberties, so much that of late, the country’s biggest creative export appears to be comedians of a satirical nature. Soon, Trevor Noah will be the new host of the top American TV programme The Daily Show and his colleague David Kibuuka will be joining him as one of the writers. Funny man Loyiso Gola co-creator of the satirical news television series Late Nite News with Loyiso Gola on e.TV, has joined the Australian satire The Weekly Show as a correspondent, the comedian and puppeteer Conrad Koch and his rabblerousing puppet Chester Missing – the first puppet to win a court case -- will be attending Just for Laughs, the world's largest international comedy event with fellow comedian Jason Goliath.

Gola and Koch headlined their country’s just ended National Arts Festival 2015 (NAF 2015) in Grahamstown to sell out shows and frenzied crowds that were possessed with an unfulfillable craving for laughter. But even though they make people laugh for a living, these comedians are a ridiculously intelligent lot whose grasp of current affairs and world events can perhaps surpass even the most adept international journalists and seeing them live on stage one can tell that the work is not scripted for them because they continuously ad-lib and improvise depending on the venue and the mood of the crowd.

An excerpt from the South African constitution
concerning the arts and freedom of expression was
placed on the cover of this years National Arts Festival

Their ability to take complex political issues and break them down to morsels of humour is phenomenal. During his show at the 1820 settler’s monument for instance, it was hilarious to hear Koch, a young white South African ridicule the venue as a statue to colonialism, apologize for apartheid and Sarah Baartman, ask when the sitting president Jacob Zuma was “going to pay back the money”, give an ode to Nelson Mandela, liken his own dressing to the rock group the Parlotones and comment on the countrywide load shedding – yes, load shedding is not unique to Zambia – in one hour.

In fact the face of Koch’s puppet, Chester Missing graced the cover of the NAF 2015 programme magazine alongside a likeness of veteran satirist Pieter-Dirk Uys who was credited in the publication as an artiste who “continues to expose the hypocrisies of the fat cats that exploit South Africa’s complex and conflicted democracy” and “His astute satire has exposed the bones of apartheid dinosaurs”. Also taking a place of importance on the cover of the publication was an excerpt from Section 16 of the South African constitution that encompasses the rights of the artist and others stating in part: “Everyone has the right to freedom of expression, which includes - freedom of the press and other media; freedom to receive or impart information or ideas; freedom of artistic creativity; and academic freedom and freedom of scientific research.”

Pilato's song Alungu Anabwera recently landed
him in trouble on the charge that it was
likely to cause a breach of peace

Also, among its many art exhibitions this year, NAF 2015, in collaboration with High Commission of Canada presented Freedom of Expression in Broad Strokes which featured award-winning editorial cartoons aimed at encouraging visitors to think about “the complexity of freedom of expression and what it means to them.” The display’s foreword pointed out that: “This exhibition shows how the clever cartoonist often uses humour or a nuanced message to escape the direct attention of the censor”, it also rightfully stated that “editorial cartoonists remain a pillar of a free press”.

Assembled by the Canadian Commission for UNESCO and the Canadian Committee for World Press Freedom, the exhibition, featuring winners of the international cartoon competition since 2001 has been shown around the world and its South African stop over featured internationally acclaimed South African cartoonist Joseph Zapiro who is well known for stirring controversy that has often landed him in trouble with the authorities.

NAF 2015 also holds a public lecture series called Think Fest as part of its main events and speaking in a session entitled Satire and Parody: The Legal Protections and Restrictions prominent South African media lawyer Dario Milo told a packed auditorium at Rhodes University, one of the festival venues, that although South African artistes are protected constitutionally, there still are loopholes for intimidation, he cited an example where award-winning cartoonist Jonathan Zapiro was sued by Zuma for R 5 Million (approx. K3 Million) for the “Justice rape cartoon” that was published in the Sunday Times. He indicated that Zuma had used a tactic of suing and “letting it lie” without prosecuting the claim in the courts. A strategy Milo said was meant to let the matter “hang over the media and intimidate” Milo however indicated that Zuma may have been afraid of facing the Sunday Times lawyer. After Zuma abandoned the case and paid legal costs he also withdrew 14 other defamation cases he had against the media, making it a victory for press freedom. Milo also guaranteed the audience, many of whom were artistes that the freedom of creative expression that artistes enjoyed in South Africa was not possible in many other countries particularly across the continent.

Like many South African satirists, Conrad Koch does not spare
sitting president Jacob Zuma. He is pictured here on stage at the
just ended National Arts festival in South Africa -
Photo CuePix-Tamani Chithambo

His words could never have rang so true because as he spoke, a couple of borders away in Zambia, recording artiste Pilato – Chama Fumba – had a court case concerning a song that allegedly defamed the sitting president, Edgar Lungu entitled “Alungu Anabwela”.  On 13 July Pilato was however set free after the state dropped the case in which he was charged with the offence of conduct likely to cause a breach of peace. The lyrical content apparently parodied the Head of State as a rags-to-riches drunk who had forgotten how he got to where he is. Pilato is not new to political satire, last year his song “One Day Naba Kateka” which loosely translates “One Day With the president (leader)”, also created a stir, it was released when the late Michael Sata was sitting president, and in the song, the artiste imagines all the questions he would as the president if the two were to meet. Most of the questions were centred on a perceived neglect of the electorate and general public after the 2011 elections.

Prior to his acquittal, Pilato may have been described as a local artiste, but the Copperbelt-based performer was immediately propelled into international stardom not because his local language song was an international hit, but because the intimidation and infringement of his artistic rights – if at all he has any – made worldwide headlines. All of a sudden he began receiving calls for appearances and discussions including people as important as the United States ambassador to Zambia Eric Schultz who invited him for a one-on-one to discuss the importance of human rights and freedom of expression. So all eyes were on the case and no doubt this is what prompted the state to just drop it, avoid embarrassment and save the courts from a waste of time.

Your daily newspaper is an easy target, a cartoon
by Habib Haddad, France shown at the NAF 2015

Clearly, unlike their South African counterparts, Zambian artistes do not really have anything to protect them constitutionally. The pending draft “Arts, Culture and Heritage Commission Bill” may suggest a line or two that will look into the plight of creative freedoms but as things stand, entertainers can engage in political satire at their own risk. This is why Zambian comedians, singers, actors and painters have assumed an aura of cowardice in their work, and rightfully so, is martyrdom really worth it? The prospect of jail is very real and nobody surely wants to go there, certainly not Zambian jails, like those in many other African countries they are remnants of colonialism and have never been improved on or expanded, so they are overcrowded and the probabilities of disease and sexual violation too are not a joke if the stories from ex-convicts are anything to go by. So there can really be no blame for Zambia’s creative community for shying away from their duty to artistically criticize government’s shortcomings on behalf of the general citizenry.

Of course there have been some vocal artistes but they are just a handful, notable ones are late PK Chishala, his song Common Man that bemoaned the rising cost of living was banned from Radio in the 1980s, in the 1990s 2wices Tomato Balunda (Tomato prices are up) received the same treatment, in the 2000s a young duo called Impi -- Jordan Sinkala Kedrick Kafula -- released corruption-bashing hits Bantalamisoka and Ba Sakalanyonga that beckoned leaders to stop thieving. In one incidence the duo narrowly escaped with their lives when attacked by members of a political party, top Zambian dancehall artiste Petersen Zagaze – real name Mukubesa Mundia – is also known for prodding politicians with eye-opening lyrics although his strong messages are often lost in his creativity and people end up dancing instead of listening to the sense that he is voicing. When it comes to the comedians, well they appear to have found a comfort zone in satirizing low hanging fruit like prostitution. As for the visual artists, only cartoonists such as this newspaper’s resident gagman Choklet Roy Kazembe or the uncompromisingly direct Kiss Brian Abrahams have managed to stand their satirical ground politically, and sitting presidents have never been spared.

As for press freedom, for fear of intimidation, Zambian journalists, just like the artistes have been reduced to the point of mediocrity, except for them, the prospect of jail is perhaps greater. In his 20-something-years career in the media, the award-winning editor of this newspaper Fred M’membe has been in and out of jail several times under different governments and it is just last week on Friday that he was released on bail after spending a night in custody. M’membe and reporter Mukosha Funga were granted a K60, 000 bail by a Lusaka Magistrates Court in a case in which they had been charged for a story the paper ran on April 17 which indicated that the Anti-Corruption Commission Director General had written to Lungu informing him that presidential aide Kaizer Zulu was being investigated for a US$ 1 million bribe from a Chinese contractor in order for him to fix an appointment with the President. The state objected the bail application but Magistrate Humphrey Chitalu dismissed this noting it was ill conceived. The case has been adjourned to August, 17 for mention.

Nevertheless, when it comes to being the mouthpiece of the general public, journalists and artistes are cut from the same cloth. Both Zambia’s media, and creative practitioners should therefore find ways in which they can work together and mobilize for the urgent repeal or amendment of very old restrictive laws against freedom of expression, many that are colonial by-products, in order for them to go about their duties with less restrain. Of course they do not live in a vacuum and a few may tend to align themselves to certain agendas on behalf of politicians, but surely, there should be a few good professionals out there that are equal to the challenge, picket parliament, sing songs write stories, help make a change. 

How do the arts move you?

By Andrew Mulenga

You probably go to bed after watching a favourite television programme or a movie, doze off to a novel and then wake up unintentionally humming away to a popular tune playing on the radio, maybe you even glance at a painting, drawing or photograph hanging in your living room before you step out of the house.

Visitors to the National Arts Festival in Grahamstown,
South Africa read some comments in response to the question

If so, you consume and enjoy the arts without even giving it a thought, everybody does one way or another. But have you ever really asked yourself how the arts make you feel; poetry , film, dance, music, sculpture or paintings. Do they make you feel anything at all; do they make you happy, sad, or annoyed do they even move you at all?

“How do the arts move you?” this is a question that was posed to visitors at the National Arts Festival 2015 in South Africa last week. As part of “#artmovesme” a community engagement campaign being conducted by Business and Arts South Africa (BASA), a none-profit company whose primary aim is to: “promote mutually beneficial and sustainable business-arts partnership that will benefit society as a whole.”

The question was placed on a large inter-active board that has captivating artwork by Zimbabwe-born artist Sindiso Nyoni. Roughly the length of a wall from a fairly sized room, it comes with three hanging felt markers enabling passers-by to respond to the question by scribbling something on the wall.

BASA CEO Michelle Constant

“This particular board is the third iteration last time we took it to Hollard (an insurance company) and business professional all filled it in. It’s all very interesting to see how different it is in a business space and at an arts festival; here at the festival they scribble all sorts of thinks including graffiti. Some write terrible things, some great things, all of which is fine,” explains BASA CEO Michelle Constant.

She explains that although the board has been displayed in business houses during her organisations meetings with them, this was the first time it was being presented to the general public. It was strategically placed at the 1820 Settlers monument building, the hub of activities during South Africa’s largest arts festival.  

“More broadly we just want to start seeing what people are saying and why they are saying it. The big question is how you argue the importance of sponsoring the arts to the business world. You see, BASA’s function is to leverage the relationship between business and arts but what we have seen in the past two years is that given the current economic climate where the Rand is dropping dramatically the challenge is that businesses are shutting down on their marketing budgets,” she says.

Felt pens were tied to the board so
passers-by can scribble how they
felt about the arts

“Given that at the moment, they currently give most of the money to the arts through marketing one of the challenges for us has been to shift what our log frame is, in the past we have always said ‘business loves the arts and therefore business gives money to the arts’ now what we have had to say is if we do certain activities and we show business the value of the arts then business will consider giving to the arts, so we thought about a social campaign that will get people talking about the arts and why they are valuable to them.”

But although BASA's purpose is to: “attract corporate sector support for the arts and culture, whether financial or in kind and to lift the profile of the arts and artists within South Africa.” Constant points out that her organisation has sprung beyond South African borders and she recently returned from two regional tours, one in Zambia and the other in Mozambique respectively.

“I just returned from Zambia, and one of the reasons we went there was to have a meeting with quite a good number of businesses. This was set up by the National Arts Council of Zambia (NAC). We are lucky in South Africa there is support which may not exist in Zambia but this is a challenge that you can lose very quickly,” she says.

The board attracted a lot of graffiti but a
good number of responses tried to
address the question

“We did not talk about setting up an independent body, but how we can support other countries, how we can support Zambian businesses and how we can support Zambian government to think differently. All of that is just around lobbying and advocacy”.

In Zambia, through NAC, she met with mining companies and other business houses. She believes they were very excited and interested in getting involved and that the response was extremely positive.

Constant indicates that her organisation puts the challenge to businesses in South Africa telling them that when they stop funding the arts, South Africa it will become like any other country that does not fund the arts. People will forget why they do it, how to do it. She points out that BASA wants arts sponsorship to become a principled argument and that if the arts are not funded there simply will be no more arts.

“In Mozambique we were working mostly with government, working with how members of the Ministry of Culture think about the arts and activate around the arts, it was interesting and very positive,” she says.

“In Mozambique the conversation was also with individual government officials, asking them when they last went to see an arts event, is it a few days ago, weeks ago, did they go a year ago it’s disturbing sometimes to notice how far ago they went that’s why these boards are interesting”.

Detail - The board was design by
Zimbabwe-born artist Sindiso Nyoni

She observes that lobbying for the arts brings perception to the fore and the argument becomes a matter of principal, and the only way you can prove principal is by showing the sponsors how the arts impact so many people and this inter-active board is a perfect example.

“Look, for the board here at the festival, these are not just grown-ups, these are also children, these are children that are having the opportunity to see the arts. With a board like this, it is the first time we have accessed the youth and society so it is very important to us, the findings are exciting,” she adds.

“As much as sponsoring the arts is serious, art is also play, so we like to keep it playful and do not mind the playful responses. Someone has wrote ‘Art is like a blunt pencil, I do not see the point’, well the fact that they have given it such an artistic metaphor is as good enough response, again it asks what is the point of art, or where is the point in producing or sponsoring the arts”.

After the festival, Constant and team’s next stop is the Reserve Bank of South Africa where BASA will be working around the banks extensive art collection and its relation to the staff. The team will be exploring how the bank gets its staff to engage in that collection and talk about it and how it impacts them generally.

Nevertheless, NAC must be commended in making an effort to draw upon the insight and expertise of BASA to engage the Zambian business community and attempt to remind it of the importance of the arts to society as well as appeal to the generosity of companies through their social responsibility programmes. BASA has the experience, it was founded in 1997 as a joint initiative between the (then) Department of Arts, Culture, Science and Technology (now the Department of Arts and Culture) and the private sector, and it has peer agencies in the UK and Australia and has over 160 corporate members. Its aim is to promote mutually beneficial, equitable, and sustainable business arts partnerships that will over the long term, benefit the broader community.

But truth be told, the root cause in the lack of patronage of the arts in Zambia is far deeper than corporate houses, NAC might want to push further and the best way to nip the problem in the bud is to engage government officials directly, something similar to how BASA engaged Mozambique.

What would be really interesting is to have a scribbling board in the foyer during a session of parliament in Zambia. To ask Zambian MPs to write down what the arts really mean to them, how they are moved by the arts, when did any single one of them attend a play, a poetry session, visit an art exhibition or buy at least a piece of handicraft without mumbling. Yes a few of them do enjoy live music and are well known to have exceptional dance skills as has been exhibited in the press particularly when popular artistes from neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo visit Zambia. But what do the arts really mean to a top Zambian government official? Are members of parliament aware that funding the arts as a sector is a direct move towards poverty alleviation and job creation? , tasks that are supposedly held to be among the roles of an MP.

Even now, as law makers none of them appear to be intent on quickening the process of enacting the draft “Arts, Culture and Heritage Commission Bill” as things stand the bill is still gathering dust somewhere, so perhaps the arts do not really mean much to them. Maybe the arts are a pencil whose point Zambian MPs and government officials cannot see. As of Tuesday this week, Zambian parliamentarians ruling and opposition alike are focusing on a pay rise for themselves.