Washington Post
December 17, 2007 | Leave a Comment
VOA
December 9, 2007 | Leave a Comment
‘
Democracy in Dakar’ Film Shows Power of Hip-Hop Among Senegalese Youth
By Jackson Muneza Mvunganyi
Washington
15 August 2007
Interview with Ben Herson and Mcgee Mcilvan
Listen to Interview with Ben Herson and Mcgee Mcilvan
A film on the role of hip-hop in shaping the political discourse in Senegal is getting rave reviews. The documentary Democracy in Dakar is the brainchild of filmmaker and producer Ben Herson, who visited Senegal’s capital, Dakar, in 2003.
Herson first got interested in Senegalese music a couple of years ago, when he was working on his university thesis about Senegalese music. He was amazed at the vibrant music scene in Dakar, given the small resources and financial rewards available to young musicians there. He says he was intrigued by their passion and devotion to music and decided to expand his project into a full-length movie. Herson’s next visit came during Senegal’s presidential election campaign held earlier this year. He witnessed the power of young, politically conscious rappers – and the enthusiasm of their fans.
Democracy in Dakar shows the influence that hip-hop music has among young Senegalese. Herson says it’s a tool that has been used by the youth to voice their frustration with the political establishment. The documentary features rising stars in the Senegalese entertainment industry and plenty of unknown MCs, whose storytelling abilities are much like those of the traditional Senegalese griots.
“The young rappers perform traditional Senegalese rap songs “that tell stories about society, much like ancient griots narrated the lives of ancient societies,” he said.
Young Senegalese musicians, like those in other parts of Africa, have fused traditional music and messages with western styles popular among their fans. Young film director McGee Mcilvan says he saw more than a than a dozen Senegalese rap groups in Dakar which have created unique and distinct sounds.
Many tracks on the video feature what the Senegalese call "ego tripping," a mode of hip-hop that includes bragging. The movie also sheds light on the personalities of the rappers and their inspirations.
Mshale
December 9, 2007 | Leave a Comment
Hip-Hop: The Catalyst of Change in African Politics
Samuel Imende
Africans must pick and choose what aspects of the hip-hop culture to embrace.
The late Ahmed Sékou Touré, the founding president of Guinea, once said, “To take part in the African revolution, it is not enough to write a revolutionary song; you must fashion the revolution with the people. And if you fashion it with the people, the songs will come by themselves and of themselves.”
His message seems to have resonated across Africa into the minds of African hip-hop artists. In the documentary, “African Underground: Democracy in Dakar,” featured in a forum at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, last month, Senegalese rappers seem to have led a hip-hop revolution in 2000 to oust Abdou Diouf. Diouf had been in power since1981.
With the country dissatisfied by President Abdoulaye Wade, Diouf’s successor who many feel has failed to bring about the changes he promised, Senegalese hip-hop artists find themselves once again at the crossroads of politics
The forum at the Wilson Center, moderated by the Africa Program Director Howard Wolpe, touched on the environment in which hip-hop is thriving in Africa. In comparison with other regions of the world, Africa has the highest percentage of youth and the fastest rate of urbanization. With the growing influence of Western culture on African youth, and a vast access to music via the Internet, hip-hop will continue to empower African rappers as instruments of change. There are claims that hip-hop has already become the contemporary manifestation of African culture.
The reality is that hip-hop also brings to Africa the bad and the ugly. American hip-hop artist Tupac, the rapper said to have influenced African artist the most, left a legacy riddled with not only hope, but also with pain from the ghetto. His lyrics and eventual violent death exposed the dangers of hip-hop’s digression to gangster rap, which is notorious for violence, use of profanity and the degradation of women. African social critics have begun putting pressure on rappers, urging them to realize their influence on socio-political culture. The critics encourage artists to express the more positive elements of hip-hop.
In April, while observing the recent elections in Nigeria, I kept hearing Nigerian artist, 2Face Idibaba’s song “E be like say” on the radio, which condemns “shady politicians” for constantly deceiving the electorate for the sake of power. I realized this was a powerful tool of voter education to millions of Nigerians who are neglected by politicians, especially in rural areas. If African rappers continue to educate and give a voice to the scores of youth, who are the primary victims of poor governance and rampant corruption, hip-hop may become a political force to reckon with.
Washington Post
December 9, 2007 | Leave a Comment
African Underground: Herson & McIlvaine Map It Federal Triangle Bethesda
THE INTERSECTION OF hip-hop and activism gets a lot of lip service in the U.S., but the reality is that popular rap music is still mostly about the bling, not the political ring. That’s not the case in Senegal, where political hip-hop thrives.
Ben Herson (Nomadic Wax) and Magee McIlvaine (Sol Productions) have been documenting the Senegalese hip-hop scene with a series of CDs and documentary films, including the multi-part "African Underground: Democracy in Dakar," which can be viewed in its entirety on Brightcove.com. The duo will present the movie and discuss their activities on Wednesday at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, followed by an after party at Club Peju in Bethesda, featuring performances by African hip-hoppers Moussa Sall (Senegal), Dumi Right (Zimbabwe) and Salim Diallo (Mali).
» EXPRESS: How did you get interested in Senegal — its music and its politics?
» HERSON: I started this project in 1999 with my college thesis titled "Fat Beats, Dope Rhymes and Thug Lives: Youth, Hip-Hop and Politics in Dakar." It was an undergraduate dissertation about the role of hip-hop on the political landscape in Dakar during the 2000 presidential election. After I finished writing the thesis in 2000, I stayed in touch with the MCs who I had been interviewing over the past few years and they asked me if I would be interested in producing or distributing some of their music abroad.
Though I had been playing music professionally and recording, I had never produced a record from the ground up before. I called my cousin — and now co-producer — Dan Cantor of Notable Productions and the two of us went over with a hard disc recorder and a few microphones in the summer of 2001. That recording session focused primarily on groups who had been involved in the underground hip-hop scene in Dakar — who at the time, I felt, were not getting the attention they deserved. Those songs ended up on the "African Underground: Hip-Hop Senegal" compilation — the first of an ongoing series of underground hip-hop compilations, and now films, from Africa. The most recent one, "African Underground: Depths of Dakar," is now out on Nomadic Wax.
» MCILVAINE: I spent my childhood in between Southeast D.C. and Southern and Eastern Africa. With over half of my childhood spent in Zambia, Kenya and Tanzania, the various cultures, languages, and musical styles had a significant impact on my life. As music became more and more a part of my life, I found myself resorting to the musical sounds of my childhood. When I first heard African hip-hop, specifically Positive Black Soul of Senegal, something clicked. It was a kind of music that matched my own experiences at that moment. Hip-hop had been taken from the U.S. and, throughout Africa, made into something new and unique.
Throughout college, I had an international hip-hop radio show and organized small concerts as well. In 2005, I studied abroad in Senegal and this cemented my interest in African hip-hop, particularly Senegalese. Seeing it with my own eyes, the music, the culture, and meeting the artists who I had been listening to from thousands of miles away was an incredible experience. Upon my return to the U.S., I contacted Ben of Nomadic Wax — the only label in the U.S. promoting Senegalese hip-hop — and we began to organize shows together. With a few others, we organized the first-ever-in-the-U.S. international hip-hop festival. That year — my final year in college — I did my senior thesis, which was a documentary film examining the ties between West African griot culture and hip-hop in the U.S. today.
Those projects really cemented my ties with Ben and Nomadic Wax and pushed my involvement in international hip-hop to a professional level. After graduating from college, I began a nonprofit film production company with two other friends. After filming the presidential elections in Venezuela and gaining a great deal of experience filming politics in a potentially unstable country, Ben approached us with the idea of filming the elections in Senegal.
» EXPRESS: How many "Democracry in Dakar" segments are you planning on making?
» HERSON: The "African Underground: Democracy in Dakar" series was filmed and edited on location in Dakar, Senegal. There are six episodes that were recorded during our 2007 trip to Dakar and one segment recorded in New York City and D.C. with Senegalese living abroad. We are currently in the process of editing a 65-minute piece with all the segments to be screened as a feature length documentary.
In April and May the Sol Productions team continued the "African Underground" film series in France with "Democracy in Paris" — a similar series of shorts also focused on the role of hip-hop and politics, but this time in France. We’re working on continuing the series on other countries as well. The goal is to take this format of guerrilla style film making, journalism, video blogging and music production to other countries in Africa. The top choices where we have some excellent contacts are Sierra Leone, Morocco, Kenya and Tanzania.
» EXPRESS: What do you hope these videos inspire in the viewers?
» HERSON: To create a dialog about the role of youth and hip-hop culture on the political, social and cultural landscape in around the world, especially Africa.
Western audiences are becoming acquainted with and interested in urban or nontraditional African culture thought films like "Blood Diamond," "Tsotsi," "The Constant Gardener," etc. We’re looking to take this dialog a bit further and let those living in Africa talk about their experience for themselves. Documentary film is an excellent medium to both reach a captive audience as well as create a platform for people to express themselves.
Part of the concept for this was to use the Internet as a way to facilitate the dissemination of this in both the Western world as well as Africa. Each time we completed a part of the series it was immediately released on every viral media channel that we could access — YouTube, MySpace, Current TV, etc. — in an effort to allow others to watch it, repost it and blog about it. In that sense, it was a massive success. The first episode went to number one on Current TV in only a month and Senegalese people were watching the episodes in the thousands. It’s been amazing to see how both a Western audience as well as an African one has gravitated to the story.
» MCILVAINE: We are among the first to really use music, film, and the Internet for a political purpose. Our films had a political impact in that they told a story that no one else was telling and were picked up by all the major Senegalese media sources. As it was free and on the Internet, anyone could repost them, and we watched as the videos began to spring up everywhere. And with each new reposting of them, we saw the online conversations and dialogue grow.
For Senegalese, these films have had a major impact on the Senegalese diaspora communities. For non-Senegalese, we have watched as thousands of people from all over the world have compared the situation there to their own, from Australia to the U.S. What became quickly obvious was that, even if you are not Senegalese, there is much to learn from this story.
» EXPRESS: Did you face any difficulties from politicians or police while making the videos? And have you heard from any Senegalese authorities since the videos have gone online?
» HERSON: At the time of making the videos we had virtually no problems at all. Everything is rather informal in Senegal and, for the most part, no one really seemed to care we were filming. Having said that, no one in the government knew that we were making this film. The videos have gotten close to 70,000 views since March, so I wouldn’t be surprised if someone in the Senegalese government has seen them, though I have not heard anything about it.
» MCILVAINE: The videos have been picked up and posted by all the major opposition newspapers, so I am sure the government has seen them.
» EXPRESS: I know hip-hop is popular in many parts of Africa, but outside of South Africa — where, in reality, kwaito rules — is Senegal the African home of hip-hop right now and why?
» HERSON: The Senegalese have over 1,000 years of musical and oral traditions that are very similar to hip-hop. Tassu is a griot style of chanting/singing over beats where rhyme and wordplay is a key element. Tallif is a freestyle form of poetry without music — similar to a hip-hop a capella.
And as a side note: Leopold Senghor, Senegal’s first president, was a poet. So for Senegalese, they really feel that hip-hop was born in Senegal and was taken to America, via the slave trade, and re-exported back to them. Ask any Senegalese rapper where hip-hop was born and many will say "Africa" — or even more specifically "Senegal" before they say the "South Bronx."
» Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, Ronald Reagan Building, One Woodrow Wilson Plaza, 1300 Pennsylvania Ave. NW; Wed., 5 p.m., free with RSVP to leadership@wilsoncenter.org; 202-691-4000. (Federal Triangle)
» Cafe Peju, 4867 Cordell Ave., Bethesda; Wed., 8 p.m., free with RSVP to rsvp@nomadicwax.com (put "DC/After Party" in the subject line); 301-523-0480. (Bethesda)
BBC
December 9, 2007 | Leave a Comment
Hip-Hop in Dakar
Luke Branston looks at Dakar’s current hip-hop scene and its influence on politics.
Senegal has adopted hip-hop music since its first occurrence in the early 80s and has made contributions to the international hip-hop scene since the 90s with groups such as Positive Black Soul and Daara J having made an indelible mark on both hip-hop and world music scenes. Unfortunately since then, the newer underground generation of young MCs and lyricists have made less of an impact internationally.
New York label Nomadic Wax diligently aims to discover, record, produce and promote the wealth of underlying talent within the hip-hop scenes of Africa. In 2001, label founder Ben Herson travelled to Dakar armed with a portable hard disc recorder and a set of microphones and managed to lay down some vocal tracks from the cream of the crop of MCs in the region. This campaign became the ‘African Underground: Hip Hop Senegal’ compilation, which received wide acclaim from many music publications and shone some light on an impassioned musical movement in Senegal.
‘Depths of Dakar’ is the second release in the series, on this occasion the studio became an open mic scenario, anyone who could take the mic was recorded, this lead to a mixture of both well-known and amateur artists being selected for the final result. Released as an accompaniment to the ‘Democracy In Dakar’ documentary, the project intends to investigate the effect of hip-hop on Senegalese politics.
Rap is a powerful vocal medium for many of the youth in Senegal and the use of rap is seen as something of a political weapon. In 2000, for example, a series of politically aware songs were released. These fiery protest raps played a major part in influencing the votes of the poor and the young which lead to the then ruling party (whom many saw as corrupt) being removed from power in one of the most democratic elections known to West Africa. The ‘Democracy in Dakar’ documentary follows the 2007 election and gives a down to earth perspective on the public opinion on the current leadership alongside interviews and performances from Senegalese rappers, giving their honest, undiluted stand point on the state of the country. The documentary alone is an intriguing insight into the socio-political structure of Senegal.
The album has tunes rapped in a mixture of Wolof, French and local dialects, the songs are loaded with percussive organic beats, skillful sequencing and plenty of live instrumentation, featuring parts played by members of Antibalas and drums from the legendary reggae drummer Leroy Wallace . As well as politics, the tunes also deal with social problems and morality. OMZO , a well-seasoned rapper, returns with several cuts, most notable “Goor Yombul”, a piece which highlights the familiar moral issue of polygamy. Female lyricist Fatim delivers ”Real Woman”, a striking afro-funk/hip-hop mix, her compassionate lyrics are projected in a no-nonsense fashion whilst the soaring raw horns and accented congas give it a hypnotic groove. Other highlights include Adama ’s celestial reggae-infused tune “Aduna Bi” which rings a sweet melody of hope and Zoo Squad ’s “Fresh Time”, another song saturated in funk, sharp trumpet hooks and cool Rhodes piano with nothing but perfectly executed lyrics.
If you are looking to get a deeper outlook on what’s happening in Senegal both musically and politically or if you just want to listen to some fresh African hip-hop, then you must take a look at this highly motivated, politically conscious project.
