Well, I went to see the African Children's Choir last night at the playhouse theater. I was so impressed with the abilities of the 26 children, ages 6-10. The first ten minutes was a real big struggle for me. I have been to Africa and seen the poverty and despair first hand, so seeing what these children are able to do with help from us, I was overwhelmed with emotion. I had to give myself a figurative slap in the face so I could enjoy the concert. I realized that a lot of the songs and dance moves had been westernized for us. The dances in Africa were quite a bit different than what I was watching on the stage. The overall theme was that God loved them and they were giving praises back to him.
After taking Educ 442, and learning about the residential schools, questions about the children on the stage started popping in my mind. "Were these children allowed to speak their language and keep their cultures? Were they happy with their lives? As I read the brochure when I got home, more questions came to my mind. "Were other people profitting from the concerts being preformed or were all the funds being directed back to the children and the schools they came from?
To get back to the performance, I loved the harmonies and solos. The children danced with excitement and enthusiasm. Some of the songs were in English and some were in a foreign tongue ( I don't know which tongue). Many of the children's talents and abilities were show cased here and many of them will go home to become great leaders in Africa. This was one comforting thought; they would have died on the street, because one or more of their parents had died from aids and they never had enough food, if any, to live on. This school took these children in and provided them with the essentials for living.
Drama and public performance helps cultivate a quality in leaders that is necessary for them to fulfil their roles in life. Children from the first choirs, 23 years ago, have gone on to be doctors, teachers, preachers and goverment leaders. This school has thousands of children in attendance in many cities and from those children the staff chose the gifted children to mentor and prepare for leadership. I like this thought. The staff do not want to tower over these children all their lives, they want to prepare the children to lead their own country.
We are taught to analyse art and I think that is what I have been doing with these comments. Looking what underlies the dance and music.
If none of this makes any sense, disregard it. It is late and I'm a little burnt out.
Night, Bev
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2 comments:
Sounds like I really missed out!
Bev, it made perfect sense. I loved how you brought in the socio-economic and societal influences on their culture. When we are entertained at different cultural performances the performances reach so much deeper than entertainment and are shaped by so many political forces (why would they need to westernized their dances?)Having seen the despair in Africa, and then seen the success of the choir must have been an emotional experience. Cultural performances are so rich at all levels - I am proud we live in a country that encourages multiculturalism.
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