“In 2003 I wrote a song dedicated to the people of Somalia. The song is called O
fican. Fican means fine. Through this song I set out to keep hope burning.
I also set out to grow an indigenous African Sound called Free Kiba Afrophonia. The
overdue diligence in mainstreaming indigenous knowledge and technology, into a
discourse that is buttressed by its own philosophical and value system, while
allowing to be influenced as it will invariably influence other music approaches and
orientations,” he says.
“Coming from apartheid discourse, pontificating about what needs to be
done would not be helpful. Something tangible had to be done. One clear task lay
ahead of me: find a model, research it, develop its comprehensive definition and
discourse, understand the structural and aesthetic elements of the music and its
performance protocols, compose a comprehensive body of work to exemplify the genre
and style, and do transcriptions for documentation and enable access, and then
present it over and over again, sharpen discourse and technique, repeat this
process.”
This year, 2011, Pula concert sets out to highlight the plight of the people of
Somalia, through the hope for a rebirth as captured in hopeful spirit of the song
‘Oh Fican’.
The show already on at the State Theatre has been to Polokwane and ends at Market Theatre on 28 and 29 October 2011. The concerts also celebrate all the musicians who have departed who have been recorded in Max Mojapelo’s classic “Beyond memory”: a book on the history of South African music.
This book will be available at the concert. Be ready to get yourself all the Free
Kiba CDs and DVDs as well.
“Free Kiba music is the driving sound behind all this. I believe culture is not static, but dynamic. Even traditions evolve and create new cultures. All people are not homogenous. All people respond differently to the stimuli of rhythm and time in life. My natural being is constructed in a way that finds affinity and connection with melo-rhythm and choral polyphony of Kiba, Tshikona, Taarab, and Tuareg and
Wodaabe-Fulani influenced by the Tuareg Tamashek and the Wodaabe Fulfulde languages
of Niger,” he concludes.
Presented by KAMR and the Market Theatre: Dr Sello Galane’s Pula Concert, Market Main Theatre, Friday 28 October and Saturday 29 October at 8pm. Book at Computicket.
