Digital Drama

Teaching and Learning Art and Media in Tanzania

Paula Uimonen

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2013
• Print ISBN:
  9780415894111
• eBook ISBN:
  9781136333538
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Cultural & Social Anthropology

The aim of this book is to explore digital media and intercultural interaction at an arts college in Tanzania, through innovative forms of ethnographic representation. The book and the series website weave together visual and aural narratives, interviews and observations, life stories and video documentaries, art performances and productions. It paints a vivid portrayal of everyday life in East Africa's only institute for practical art training, while tracing the rich cultural history of a state that has mixed tribalism, nationalism, Pan-Africanism, and cosmopolitanism in astonishingly creative ways.

While following the anthropological tradition of thick description, Digital Drama employs a more artistic and accessible style of writing. Dramatic, ethnographic details are interspersed with theoretical reflections and postulations to explain and make sense of the unfolding narratives. The accompanying website visualizes and sensualizes the stories narrated in the book, unfolding a dramatic world of African dance, music, theater, and digital culture.

PART I

MISE-EN-SCÈNE

1

INTRODUCTION

Tuwaenzi Wakongwe ¹

The musicians look solemn as they beat their ngoma²

(drum), while the slideshow slowly rolls on, projecting honorary text against the wall behind them. Maulid Mohammed is seated at the front of the group of drummers, dressed up for the occasion in a blue shirt with decorative stripes and matching trousers. His rhythmic drumming appears effortless, but after a while he breaks out in a sweat, as he speedily moves his long thin arms to beat the ngoma, one fastened between his legs, the other one on the floor next to him. Seated on simple wooden chairs, the handful of musicians are surrounded by a dozen drums of varying sizes, all handmade and decorated with strips of animal hide, in shades of white, brown, and black. Following customary practice, the drums have been tuned over an open fire to get the sound right, and they are played by hand, to accompany the dancers on stage. Master Musician Digalo is seated a few chairs down from Maulid. Both of them have been teaching traditional instruments for decades, and while they lack advanced formal education, their mastery of traditional music is unmistakable. One need not be an expert to appreciate the magic sound Maulid creates when striking the ngoma, while his missing front teeth and agile movements make for a lasting visual impression. Hussein Masimbi stands behind his teachers, rhythmically beating the drum between his legs, his lips tightly sealed in concentration. The special event he has organized is finally coming together and judging from the positive response of the audience, everything seems to be falling into place.

Tuwaenzi Wakongwe (let us honor the legends) is the title of this special commemorative event, organized in tribute to deceased teachers at Taasisi ya Sanaa na Utamaduni Bagamoyo (TaSUBa)³

, formerly known as Chuo Cha Sanaa Bagamoyo or Bagamoyo College of Arts (BCA). The art college was established in 1981 by the government of Tanzania and remains the only institute for practical arts training in East Africa. The college offers a three-year diploma program in dance, drama, music, fine art, or stage technology, and short courses of varying duration. In 2007, the college was transformed into an executive agency, hence the name TaSUBa, which does not have an English equivalent, but translates into “Institute of Arts and Culture Bagamoyo.” Following the ideals of neoliberal public sector reform, TaSUBa is expected to be more business oriented, managed at an arm’s length from its parent ministry, Wizara ya Habari, Utamaduni na Michezo (Ministry of Information, Culture, and Sports). In theory, executive agencies are supposed to deliver public services in a more efficient and effective manner. In practice, the process of institutional transformation tends to be highly problematic. In the case of TaSUBa, it is wreaking havoc with the cultural essence of sanaa (art).

Tonight digital media interlace with traditional ngoma, beaten with bare hands to honor the legacy of past teachers, including the visionary mwalimu (teacher) Julius Nyerere, Tanzania’s first president who sought to build the spirit of the nation in the hybrid form of ujamaa, African socialism. In this postcolonial state, cultural hybridity is a defining feature of the very process of maendeleo (development), along with Pan-Africanism and cosmopolitanism. When taking a closer look at artistic production and training at TaSUBa, through the life histories of its students, alumni, and teachers, we will find an incredible mix of cultural elements, a complex blend of cultures past and present, near and far. And to make sense of this cultural richness, along with the chaos, confusion, and crisis framing artistic production in Tanzania, we will rethink one of the classic concepts in anthropology—liminality— while exploring a new form of statehood—the state of creolization.

At TaSUBa, the contradictory forces of global capitalism accentuate a hybrid condition of permanent liminality, a sense of life that is always in between, a state of creolization. From the perspective of Tanzanian artists, sanaa serves as a mirror of society. It resides in a space of in between, occupying a liminal position in the social world. But liminality is not just a condition of betwixt and between, neither here nor there, as Victor Turner defined it in his classical anthropological work; it can also be viewed as a condition of being both here and there, then and now. This becomes evident when appraising TaSUBa’s position in the state apparatus. By virtue of being a government agency, TaSUBa is both part of and apart from the state. I propose the term “state of creolization” to capture the complexities of an institutional framework that is as multifaceted as it is dynamic, blending different cultural strands in the context of asymmetric center–periphery relations. Linkages between culture and power in world society are intrinsic to anthropological uses of the concept of creolization, as exemplified in the work of Ulf Hannerz. And since anthropology is a discipline that is very much about the power of the between, as Paul Stoller so eloquently argues, it offers valuable insights into the complexities of cultural hybridity. This book takes cultural hybridity as its starting point, rather than conclusion, to nuance our understanding of globalization and cultural digitization. Having thus spelled out the theoretical gist of this book, let us return to the legends being honored through the power of drums, dance, and digital media.

Hussein got the idea to arrange this special event after the sudden death of Mzee Bazil Mbata on 13 October 2010. The late Mzee Mbata, a Master Musician⁴

at the college, was only a few years away from retirement when he unexpectedly passed away. In addition to being a Master Drummer, Mbata was skilled in making and playing traditional instruments and composing music. Like most teachers at the college, Mbata originated from another part of the country, in his case one of the Makonde tribes in the south, his wife from the coastal region. They had six children, including Shabani Mbata, a recent graduate from the college, who drums together with Maulid, Digalo, and Hussein on this special evening of 17 December 2010. To honor his late father, Shabani is wearing a dark t-shirt, with a hand-painted image of a drum and the name Mbata written on the front.

Hussein Masimbi,⁵

a professional drummer and teacher at the college, is one of the many people Mbata trained and inspired during his almost three decades of work at the college. Now in his early thirties, Hussein spent the better part of his childhood and adolescence at the college, as the son of the first principal of Chuo Cha Sanaa, Mzee (honorary title for elders) Rashid Masimbi. At the time, the family lived in a simple house on campus, near the college canteen. Hussein became friends with many students who passed by his home and the artistic environment inspired him to pursue a career in arts, despite his father’s misgivings about future income and employment opportunities. Hussein was particularly interested in music and learned to play the traditional ngoma as well as the modern drum kit. After graduating from the college with a diploma in arts, Hussein spent some time in Norway, following which he was recruited as a temporary teacher at the college, in dance and choreography. Softly spoken and diplomatic, with a handsome face and gentle smile, Hussein is known and liked by many people. His fluency in English and cultural suaveness are also appreciated by his many European friends and colleagues, making him a cultural broker par excellence. As for his artistic outlook, Hussein’s understanding of sanaa builds on the embodied experience of having spent most of his life at the college, a sense of community that he feels has gotten lost over the last few years, although he is unsure why.

Like many students, alumni, and colleagues, Hussein was deeply touched by Mbata’s sudden departure, so he wanted to organize a special event to mark the 40 days of his death, thus following the cultural practice of ending the customary 40-day mourning period with a celebratory event. But Hussein did not manage to do so on time. His colleagues from the dance department were also keen to organize something; hence they decided to prepare a bigger event, in honor of all departed teachers. Despite the cultural significance of mourning rituals in Tanzania, this kind of performance had never been organized at the college before. If successful, the event would be repeated annually, thus following the Tanzanian custom of organizing annual memorials for people who have passed away, in celebration of the lives they have led and the people they have touched.

In Tanzania, art is very much part of social life, and as such it is also positioned between life and death, embedded in social relations that extend to people who are no longer alive. The Tuwaenzi Wakongwe event was a way of re-establishing a translocal arts community in the spirit of sanaa, honoring past legends, while reasserting social ties between present and past artists within the social context of the surrounding community. In English the event was called a concert, but far from being a celebration of art for art’s sake, it was inspired by a local understanding of art for society’s sake, a truly social musical event.

Hussein and his colleagues prepared an evening of performances in a style they were all too familiar with, relying on the ethos of pamoja (togetherness). Hussein contacted some music groups he knew in Dar es Salaam and Bagamoyo, some of which he had performed with on past occasions. Even though they would not get paid, artists welcomed the opportunity to pay tribute to Mbata and other past teachers from the college. Some of the groups from Dar es Salaam were led by artists who had graduated from the college. Local groups had been inspired by the college in general, and many young artists had been trained by students at the college. Whether or not they had studied there, all groups were thus connected to the college, in one way or another. Teachers and students at the college were equally enthusiastic, especially those who specialized in traditional dance and music. Management remained rather aloof throughout the preparations, but allowed the organizers and performers to use the splendid facilities of the reconstructed TaSUBa Theater.

Digital Tributes

The slideshow⁶

projected against the wall above the drummers is entitled TUNAOWAENZI KUMBUKIZI (let us honor the legends, in another version), with the subtitle MUNGU AMETOA, NA MUNGU AMETWAA (God gives, and God takes). The words are in capital letters, as is customary for headings written in Kiswahili. The honorary title and religious statement are followed by three slides with bulleted lists of names: Basil Mbata, Dr Hukwe Zawose, Ms Luiza Maganga, Martin Buriani, Thomas Umila, Kazaura Menard, Godwin Z. Kaduma, Lubeleje Chiuta, John Kyando, Kisaka A. Kisaka, Mbota Nyangi, Lugwisha Christian, Frank Makulugo. The slideshow runs in automated mode, the names appearing one at a time, thus accentuating each individual teacher, before listing them in groups of four or five. The effect is spectacular; combining digitally produced textual tributes with the sights and sounds of drummers and dancers on stage, thus connecting past and present individuals within the context of a vibrant community. The slideshow is running from a laptop placed on a simple desk below the stage, next to it another desk with the projector. It is a makeshift arrangement, accentuating TaSUBa’s peripheral position in the global network society, far from the metropolitan centers of the global art world. Yet the creative combination of digital media and traditional art forms reminds us that the digitization of culture is a dynamic process, one that builds upon and blends with preexisting cultural forms in innovative ways. In the state of creolization, cultural digitization tends to be low tech, yet high impact.

From time to time, David Estomihi runs over to restart the slideshow. In his mid-twenties, David is one of the youngest teachers at the college. He graduated from TaSUBa in 2009, with a major in fine arts and minor in stage technology. Talented, bright, and hard working, David was awarded “Best student in academics” upon graduation. He was retained at the college as a teacher assistant in fine arts, and to assist in the information and communication technology (ICT) building, which is how I know him. David is a very softly spoken young man, with a slender physical build and gentle demeanor. He is from the wachagga tribe, born in the Kilimanjaro region, which is where his mother lives, working as a secondary school teacher. When he was a student, David was very good at drawing and painting, so he figured it might hold a future for him. He heard of the Bagamoyo College of Arts from a friend of the family who was studying at the University of Dar es Salaam (UDSM). David consulted his grandfather and they agreed that since he had a talent in arts, he should apply. In 2006, David took a short course at the college, and then he enrolled in the three-year diploma program. Since he majored in fine arts, David followed a curriculum that included a graphic design course in his third year and he also got the opportunity to attend extracurricular classes in computer animation led by Dutch students from the Utrecht School of the Arts (HKU). Having shown great talent in computer-mediated art work, and a general interest in technical matters, David got to work as an assistant in the ICT building after his graduation, helping out with ICT classes, technical troubleshooting, and website maintenance. Thanks to this position, he has regular access to computers, allowing him to create new forms of art work, which he often posts in Facebook. David likes to combine handmade and computer-based techniques, thus exploring the traditional–modern hybrid genre that distinguishes the more innovative forms of art production at TaSUBa.

The ICT building⁷

where David works has been the main

hub on campus for my fieldwork (2009), and before that, the main product of my years of engagement at the college as an ICT consultant (2004–2007), contracted by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida). I like to think of the ICT building as my baby, especially the room that students call the Internet room, the only place on campus where they can access the Internet. It was only in 2004 that Chuo Cha Sanaa got Internet access, a milestone in the college’s history corresponding to local aspirations for membership of an interconnected world of arts. Most students have not used the...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Half Title page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Contents
• List of illustrations
• Acknowledgments
• Abbreviations
• Part I: Mise-En-Scène
• Part II: Cultural Transformations
• Part III: Cultural Dependencies
• Notes
• Bibliography
• Index