Live music, storytelling, and a whole lot of dancing was how the International Library of African Music (Ilam) chose to celebrate its 60th anniversary on Friday 17 October.
Live music, storytelling, and a whole lot of dancing was how the International Library of African Music (Ilam) chose to celebrate its 60th anniversary on Friday 17 October.
The outreach concert which took place in the packed out Ilam Amphitheatre featured some of the best local musicians and performing groups in Grahamstown.
The event lasted just over an hour and was a wonderful tribute to the heritage archive which saw its humble beginnings back in 1954.
Ethnomusicology students performed a number of African-style marimba songs before Ilam director Professor Diane Thram said a few words about Ilam’s history. Thram also spoke about her recent trip to Tanzania along with Kenyan music producer Tabu Osusa to repatriate African musical recordings done there by Ilam founder, Hugh Tracey over 60 years ago.
“Most of the people in the communities we visited had only ever heard of the musicians, but since many of the musicians passed away, they never actually heard it being played. So being able to give them those recordings was fantastic,” Thram said before emphasising the importance of a heritage archive like Ilam and its place in the world of African music.
The rest of the show saw a number of musical acts in various forms, all demonstrating different aspects of African music. Former Ilam director Andrew Tracey performed traditional Shona storytelling songs on the kalimba, local musician Sebastian Jamieson performed two of his own songs, and the Access Music Project performed a number of rearranged classics from local artists like Brenda Fassie and international artists including Jason Derulo.
It was the Sakhuluntu Cultural Group that stole the show, however. With a three part performance comprising the younger dancers, a gumboot duo, and the older group of dancers, the Sakhuluntu students made sure that everyone in the amphitheatre was clapping and dancing along to their traditional performance. Sakhuluntu isn’t all about traditional dance, though, as their organiser Vuyo Booi explains.
“The children meet at my house every week and they enjoy the dancing and the drama. But sometimes they want to do their own type of dance, so we will sing and just dance and have fun,” says Booi.
“It’s a great way to keep them off of the streets and for them to put their energy into something creative and worthwhile.” While Sakhuluntu Cultural Group is a registered non-profit organisation, they are looking to become a community organisation with consistent funding and more staff or volunteer members.
If you’d like to become involved with Sakhuluntu you can email Booi at sakhuluntu@gmail.com or call 082 297 7535.
