Soap Opera Jazz - the 2005 CTIJF
The carnival of dreams
The Gilberto Gil series
Time Space Change
The revolution will be commodified
The return of the patron
The emergence of the Lion
Reggae riddim and rain
A story ten foot tall
Damn I love Easter
Praise song for the people
Life without waiting for Brenda
Music mines its own business

THE EMERGENCE OF THE LION

The MASA and FESPAM pan-African festivals can contribute significantly to peace and social transformation in Congo and Cote d'Ivoire. 

1. Independence at the wink of the Lion

The Free State of Congo was King Leopold of Brussels prize possession from 1886 to 1906 when Belgium annexed it back from him. They couldn't take the embarassment any longer. Back then Leo would have called it My Congo, and the capital city was Leopoldville. 

In June of 1960 Patrice Lumumba and his men won independence for Congo, and Leopoldville became Brazzaville. Two months later in August, Cote d'Ivoire signed its independence from France and a couple days later Kinshasa did the same. Independence came under the wink of Lion constellation, but it hasn't been all roses since then for these lion states. And the only time any of these three countries has laid back with the absolute peace and satisfaction of the well fed lion has been when a musical celebration was taking place.

2. To do the freedom cha cha you gotta get the right dates

A country's greatest celebration is its celebration of freedom. In Brazil it's the carnival and freedom from the Portuguese. In Angola last year dos Santos the president put on an extravagant 10 day festival of music in Luanda to celebrate independence.

Congo-Brazzaville has Fespam, the greatest festival in Africa. It happens in August every second year. The first edition in 1997 marked the end of civil war for Congo-Brazza and so Fespam and the month of August has a significant place in the country's psyche. It is a celebration of freedom that is starting to extend across the dividing Congo River into Kinshasa, and the move to bring the two former brothers closer together is gaining pace.

The next greatest festival is Masa, which until this year took place in February every second year in Abidjan. Now it has moved to August. And at a casual glance it looks like Masa is sidling up to the brilliance of Fespam, trying to imbibe some of its spirit and soul. 

On a more thorough look though, it seems that actually what Masa is doing with its move - of which current political machinations certainly paid a part - is validating itself. A country must celebrate its anniversary of freedom, and Masa is that celebration. Somehow they just got the dates wrong. And finally they realized that.

3. Mr MASA and Mrs Fespam - united in music

It's a brilliant move. Because Fespam at this stage appears to need a lot of help. It was a great affair in 2001, but the committee changed, the fabulously dressed director has replaced the government's Madame de la Culture and the lovely lady in turn has headed elsewhere in government (hopefully toward the presidency. She was the real star of 2001 and I suspect an excellent candidate to replace Sassou n'Guesso). They turned their backs on the people that made Fespam a success in 2001, signed up Ernest Adjovi of the Kora awards to bring all the sound and technical crew up from South Africa, and it seems they left a trail of dishonoured payments and rude behaviour. There seems to be nothing of the noble hand that the Madame played previously. It's all in the men's hands now and they're up to dirty tricks.

Fespam needs the help, and Masa's move is the key. Africa's two greatest festivals are now back to back, and two of Africa's most persistent political enemas are aligned and united in music. And now they can work together, linking so that musicians can move between the two and an exchange can be developed. Rebecca Malope can play at the Palais du Parliament in Brazza and then a week later at the Palais da la Culture in Abidjan. Bonga could do the very same, and Youssou n'Dour too.

What should evolve from here is that Fespam and Masa become one month-long festival over three cities - Brazza, Kinshasa and Abidjan. It would be a political victory, and it would open up extraordinary possibilities for tourism and revenue. You could stay at the Meridien Hotel in Brazza, hang out at the Palais du Parlement for the music and the Tennis Club on the river for the Africana fashion show and the Bordeaux. You can take the ferry over to Kinshasa for a couple gigs at the football stadium, and a night on the town with Wendo Colosoi and the girls from the Africana show. A slow boat cruise up the Congo River to Mbandaka for a day or two of forest peace and fishing. Then off to Abidjan for four nights of music and shopping from the 10th floor of the President Hotel, tall and beautiful on the precipice of the city. Fun fun fun at the Palais de la Culture and Capitane fish market at the fish boutique in Laimes. A couple of days on the beach for the beautiful weather, quietly warm with nothing of the discomfort of mid December swelter. It's an incredible holiday package.

4. Spectacular and Espectacles

French and Portuguese have a lovely word for concerts. Spectaculo/espectacle. The words are beautiful in suggestion. You are not seeing simply a show, you are seeing a spectacle, something spectacular. Something with magical proportions that moves people to change. This idea sits at the heart of what festivals are trying to be.

Masa happens in a bright white block on the great river that runs through the center of the city. The building is called the Palais de la Culture, it was a gift from the Chinese. It's quite a gift, with pricetage of a hundred million dollars and a prize concert hall that is extravagant in velvet curtains, audiophile sound system and enough plush red seats for 1500 people.

The 2001 Masa was the first in the Palais. The Abidjanis were bristling with pride, all the big stars of the event were from Abidjan and you couldn't move in the place. O`Nel Mala's swing was big South American gospel funk, Boni Gnahore was afrobeat opera and the reggae star with the people's limp and the hit songs was Ishmael Isaac. He's the third in the lineage of African reggae stars after Alpha and Lucky. The masked piper of afrobeat was Lagbaja, he's at large in Lagos but he was a little disappointing in Abidjan. There was Magic System, whirling dervishes, and the most beautiful dancing from Djibouti, a country that few had heard of until the concert.

But it was in the aftermath of the coup and there was edge to the streets and the hustle and not much humour about. As much as Masa was a refuge from the edge, it was all about politics. The festival's main man, Thomas Yablough, was nowhere to be seen throughout, he was indoors putting out fires the whole time. The coup was on everyone's mind. By contrast Fespam's main man in 2001 was everywhere, he was on top of the game and keeping people smiling.

5. MASA, the emergence of the real lion

This year's Masa is a turnaround. Yablough was out and about with his dancing shoes on encouraging the magic. There's less money than before, and so none of the stars of the previous edition. But what's happened instead is that the money has been focused on turning countries into stars. Nigeria was a hit with Orlando Julius, so was Ethiopia with Yeshiwork Tschakle and Sossena Guebre Yessus and tiny Iritrea, still at war with Ethiopia, had the glorious Faytinga. South Africa was a hit with the Ngcoko traditional singers. This is a team of the hippest old aunties imaginable, purred the District Six Museum's Music Master Liz Broackhart before she left for Abidjan. And the response to the swinging aunties was quite overwhelming.

Running an African festival is like running a small country. It requires just about the same level of energy and infrastructure, and its just as unwieldly. Pulling it off requires magic, money and a couple of backdoor deals. And a sense of humour. Fespam this year lost its humour and tried to turn itself into a Grammy styled affair like the Kora. It seems they wanted to put up a real show of power and flex muscles they haven't properly developed yet. So they brought Ernest Adjovi, all the sound gear and a team of 70 technicians up from South Africa. And along the way lost the plot and the love of the people that made it work prevoiusly.

Masa the second cousin emerges triumphant out of all this. This is the real lion, and Yablough has worked the festival into a position where it can now make a massive impact on the future of the continent. And so it is his responsibility to make the real Pan-African move and take Fespam by the hand in collaboration. It's going to be tough and its going to need a lady's touch. And I believe that with characters like Ms Couliballi, Masa's PR dame, Nomadlozi Khubeka Fespam's archangel sweeping the continent from her base in Bulawayo, and the former Madame de la Culture de Brazza, the possibility is grand indeed.


originally published in Rootz Magazine