under the baobab tree

Cairo Express

dakar-djibouti — Thu, 25 Jan 2024 09:33:02 +0000

If you happened to pass through Cape Evil in the early 70’s, you might have noticed that there was a little boy sitting on the roof of Sam’s grocery store, singing songs to everyone who passed by or went shopping. Where is this boy now? Has he gone to Cairo? All we know is that the shop has long since been converted into a Kurdish kebab restaurant and very few people, young or old, sing in public these days.

Al-Qahira Expres is a novel about a boy who decides to walk to Egypt. The boy’s world consists of a river, a railroad and the songs he sings on the rooftops. When he learns new songs, he realises that the world is expanding from his home in Cape Evil to distant lands and a world without borders. In this new world, it can sometimes be difficult to understand the mysteries around you, yet it’s always a good time to sing.

القاهرة إكسبريس هي رواية عن صبي يقرر المشي إلى مصر. يتكون عالم الصبي من نهر وسكة حديد والأغاني التي يغنيها على أسطح المنازل. عندما يتعلم أغاني جديدة، يدرك أن العالم يتوسع من منزله في “كيب إيفل” إلى أراض بعيدة وعالم بلا حدود. في هذا العالم الجديد، قد يكون من الصعب أحيانا فهم الألغاز من حولك، ومع ذلك فهو دائما وقت مناسب للغناء

Jarmo Pikkujamsa: Al-Qahira Expres. Takkusaan Books, 2023.

ISBN 979-10-415-2060-2

let the griot play

dakar-djibouti — Mon, 03 Aug 2015 08:59:18 +0000

Quite many years passed since I wrote my first entry on this blog, I can not believe it! It is time again to slow down and find more time for writing, not to mention reading in this crazy, fragmented world of the social media. I have started to write real letters and a hard copy diary, and in the process I completely ignored blogging. Is it just me or has blogging gone out of fashion these days? Oh and as far as writing a diary in a notebook is concerned, believe me it has taken some time to get back to the habit of writing with a real pen. It feels almost a luxury.

I am preparing an exhibition for La Galérie Éthiopiques on traditional Senegalese rhythms, and I would like to document part of this process here. I am now looking for interesting written material about the role of the griot that could accompany the audio samples and other exhibition materials. So far I have been reading the following books, all very good sources to start with: Leymarie, Isabelle: Les griots wolof du Sénégal, Tang, Patricia: Masters of the Sabar and Papis Samba: Musique Sénégalaise, itinerancies et vibrations. If any of you people out there would like to suggest me further readings, please do! The exhibition will be centred around sound and instruments and joined with some audiovisual materials, but the more I manage to do research on the topic in advance the better!

aksum coffee house

dakar-djibouti — Sun, 26 Sep 2010 18:32:47 +0000

Straight from the homeland of coffee, Aksum Coffee House is offering freshly roasted Ethiopian single origin coffee in a lovely surroundings in the heart of Les Marolles in Brussels. The refurbishing work is under way and the opening day is approaching. You are warmly welcome to have a taste of fresh Harar or Limu, or snacks, sweets and drinks out of Africa at Rue Haute 140, Brussels from 17 October 2010 on!

deserts, mountains and sacred cities

dakar-djibouti — Sun, 26 Sep 2010 18:18:48 +0000

Eastern Ethiopia: deserts, mountains and sacred cities from 22 December 2010 to 4 January 2011 by Harmattan Tours.

Our Eastern Ethiopian tour includes the famous Ethiopian Orthodox shrines of Lalibela and the fascinating Muslim holy city of Harar – both Unesco world heritage sites – the savanna of Awash National Park, the rugged Lasta mountains and the surreal lunar landscape of the Danakil desert – an area characterized by superlatives and extremes.

Keep an eye on the Harmattan Tours website for upcoming exciting destinations!

time flies!

dakar-djibouti — Mon, 12 Apr 2010 17:16:38 +0000

A year and a half seems to have passed since I last wrote an entry to this blog. I even needed to dig my username from under some dust to be able to come back and log in.

In the near future we are opening a coffee house that will also be a platform in which African artists and designers can exhibit their work, and there will be a specific blog to promote this. I will from here on share my blogging time between this blog and the new on the coffee house, so more stories on African topics will be on the menu again!

idrissa guiro: barcelone ou la mort

dakar-djibouti — Sun, 26 Oct 2008 07:18:53 +0000

Barça ou Barzakh (Barcelone ou la mort, Barcelona or Death) is Idrissa Guiro’s first film and an eye-opener that shows the link between the massive overfishing by the EU fishing fleets in Senegal (and West Africa) and migration to Europe. The strength of this documentary is particularly in the fact that it shows what is behind the faceless figures of immigrants you read from the news; practically everyone for instance in Thiaroye-sur-Mer, where fishing used to be the main source of income, has a brother, father, uncle, or friend who risked their lives in hope of a future for himself and his extended family. Some of them manage to make it to Europe but many die on this trip, and yet new candidates keep trying despite the risks involved, in lack of better alternatives.

Keep an eye on this excellent documentary and go and see it if the opportunity arises!

Here is a short clip from Barça ou Barzakh in You Tube (in French)

More information on the impact of overfishing

donkey mobile library

dakar-djibouti — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 07:32:18 +0000

Have you ever heard of donkey mobile library? If not, have a look at this inspiring clip from Awassa, Ethiopia, featuring Yohannes Gebregeorgis’ fantastic initiatives that help children in Ethiopia to have access to books also outside school. Gebregeorgis first opened a children’s library at his own home and has now gone mobile in rural areas. This idea is worth disseminating widely!

donkeys bearing gifts clip

launch of A24 Media

dakar-djibouti — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 09:02:57 +0000

This link will take you to the website of A 24 Media, a recently launched online delivery site for material from African journalists, broadcasters and NGO’s. Now you have the opportunity to have access to news material without international crews covering local stories. Indeed a very welcomed African perspective on issues affecting the continent!

support training through donated technology

dakar-djibouti — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 15:44:07 +0000

The Ndiagamar School Project in Dakar would like to encourage companies and individuals to donate computers and computer equipment so that voluntary-based schools in Senegal can put them to work for a while longer.

Donating computer equipment to the Ndiagamar School Project is a safe way to discard used equipment when you upgrade your computer. Before taken into use in schools, we will send your computer to a refurbisher, who will ensure that the equipment works well and runs legal copies of software, and that any e-waste is disposed of properly. If you can, include the keyboard, mouse, printer, modem, packaged software, or any other accessories you use with the computer. Schools can almost always put them to good use.

If you donate to a non-profit organization, you are eligible for a tax deduction. Business donors can deduct the un-depreciated value of the computer, and individuals can deduct the current market value of a computer. We can provide a tax receipt upon request.

Please forward this information to companies and individuals that may consider upgrading their computer equipment and are looking for possibilities of donating in the following locations: Brussels, Paris, London, or Dakar. If you would like to donate or find out more about this project, please contact us via info@ndiagamar.org or visit our web site.

Avoid e-waste – reuse!

sons of bilal, sons of the bambara

dakar-djibouti — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 07:36:54 +0000

The qnawa are the descendants of the black African slaves that were brought into the Maghreb from the 17th century onwards. They venerate the memory of Bilal Ibn Rabah, an Abyssinian Christian slave that was freed and who became the Prophet’s muezzin and one of his most loyal companions. Bilal is said to have been the first person who recited the adhan, the call for prayer, in public.

I have been a fan of gnawa music for a long, long time and have just found a new album that I would like to recommend to anyone reading this blog. It is called Gnawa Home Songs, a collective recording that has been made in a homy atmosphere in Tamesloht. This is a first-ever gathering of some great Moroccan voices, such as Hamid Kasri, Amida & Hassan Boussou, Abdelkebir Merchane, Abdelkebir Amlil and Zef Zaf, who also sings in Bambara. This is simply a fantastic album to all those who can easily forget yourselves into the incantatory blues of the gnawa.

It would be great to attend a gnawa festival, or even better, a lila, which is a complex and intimate and fairly ecstatic combination of music and dance practised by the brotherhood. As I will soon have the opportunity to visit Marrakesh again, at least I will buy myself a couple of pairs of qaraqib, those neat metal castanets used to produce that profound trance-like beat to the qnawa music.