It can be tough being black in Taiwan but Pan Africana Cultural Troupe aims to change that through the power of music.
The group has been banging the drum of African culture for four years, gigging at festivals, clubs, pubs, business functions and schools.
The seven band members play traditional African drums and songs, perform dances and acrobatics, as well as updating traditional music with rap, soca, reggae and dance hall sounds.
PHOTOS: JULES QUARTLY, TAIPEI TIMES
Tonight Pan Africana brings its message to Bliss, in Taipei. It's a message worth listening to.
“On the MRT or bus sometimes people don't want to sit by us, or hold their nose,” group founder Ben Stobite Sampson said. “It's difficult for people to get to know us because of what they've read or seen on the TV.”
“It's natural for people to be reserved to begin with, but after they listen to us and know us they will love us and we will come together as one.
“Chinese culture is traditional and strong so it can be hard to change people's minds. But generally, we have found Taiwanese to be kind and once they know who we are they are very friendly.”
Often enough, Sampson said, Westerners are the first to appreciate their music and dance. “They show the way and when locals see this they think it's OK and get involved themselves.”
Sampson is a thoughtful and enterprising man from Ghana, who saw the need for cultural understanding on his travels around Asia as an import-export businessman.
It was in Guangzhou (廣州), China, that the 33-year-old saw an African troupe entertaining a crowd and thought, “I want to do this too.” But he decided to do it in Taiwan, which he had visited and liked.
He returned to Ghana in 2002 and completed a course in cultural studies, then bought some drums and costumes and returned to Taipei.
“Luckily I met Kim [Douglas] and we thought we could do something, a collaboration, and it's all worked out since then.”
For the past two years they have been building up a reputation as entertainers and cultural ambassadors. Last month the government finally approved Sampson's application to run his business here.
With a visa and residency the aim is to consolidate Pan Africana as a community organization in Taiwan and eventually spread the message to other parts of Asia.
As well as performing, Sampson and his group teaches African dance and drumming, participates in conventions and work shops, and exhibits clothing and crafts from the continent.
“A lot of people have presumptions about black people, many of them false. So music builds a bridge between us,” Douglas said.
The political science student has lived in Taiwan for four years, speaks good Chinese and has a fair understanding of his adopted home. He comes from Dominica, a small country in the Caribbean, where his father was prime minister.
“The Chinese [Taiwanese] like a fairy tale, there's a lot of stereotypes about Africa and Africans, so we're trying to reverse that and put out a more positive image. You know, black is beautiful.”
Cobby Hoffman, from Ghana, said it's sometimes difficult being black in Taiwan because of the reaction of people to his skin color.
“But I really like being black. It can be a disadvantage but I wouldn't change it, it's part of my ancestry. There is ignorance but not necessarily discrimination.”
As for the music, Douglas said, “It's an international trend to equate black people with mainstream culture in America like rap music. But our roots are in Africa and this is the music we promote.”
“We just want to introduce African music to Taiwan. It's never been done. When I first came here I was like a social butterfly, but I wasn't happy with the scene, socializing and hip hop. I got put off by all that,” Douglas said.
“The drum transcends everything, it's real culture from a black man's perspective, not just spinning records.”
Group members play a range of instruments, including the djambe, doundoun, sousaphone, finger cymbal, maracas, tonton-sansan, castanets and talking drums.
They wear traditional African costumes when they play because it adds to the authenticity.
“We get a lot of people, mostly women, coming up to us after shows asking where they can buy our clothes. The fact is they are very colorful and beautiful. We're going to start importing them,” Sampson said.
Most performances are in two parts: The first section is dedicated to traditional rhythms such as adowa, kpanlogo and mapuka. A second segment moves the tempo up a notch to hi-life, reggae, dance hall, soca, calypso and even rap — when Douglas transforms himself into DJ Rankin Kim.
According to Douglas, a majority of modern popular music is “rooted in the African drum” and even dance hall is just “a watered down African beat.”
Though the group has members from the Caribbean, Cameroon and elsewhere, it sees itself as representing Africa as a whole, hence its name.
“We started up with the traditional beats and we're now becoming more versatile as a band,” Douglas said. He has even written a song recently with Mandarin lyrics.
“We have formed a fan base outside of Taipei because of our shows,” Sampson said. “The idea is to keep building and develop the brand.”
On the way they will change hearts and minds, as surely as the drum has a beat.
For your information:
Pan Africana performs at Bliss tonight, from 10pm. Entrance is NT$300 and includes a drink. Bliss is at 148 Xinyi Rd Sec 4, Taipei (台北市信義路四段148號).
For further information about Pan Africana Cultural Troupe and future gigs visit www.panafricana.blogspot.com or contact the group by sending an e-mail to panafricana@buffalo.com.
Taiwan has next to no political engagement in Myanmar, either with the ruling military junta nor the dozens of armed groups who’ve in the last five years taken over around two-thirds of the nation’s territory in a sprawling, patchwork civil war. But early last month, the leader of one relatively minor Burmese revolutionary faction, General Nerdah Bomya, who is also an alleged war criminal, made a low key visit to Taipei, where he met with a member of President William Lai’s (賴清德) staff, a retired Taiwanese military official and several academics. “I feel like Taiwan is a good example of
“M yeolgong jajangmyeon (anti-communism zhajiangmian, 滅共炸醬麵), let’s all shout together — myeolgong!” a chef at a Chinese restaurant in Dongtan, located about 35km south of Seoul, South Korea, calls out before serving a bowl of Korean-style zhajiangmian —black bean noodles. Diners repeat the phrase before tucking in. This political-themed restaurant, named Myeolgong Banjeom (滅共飯館, “anti-communism restaurant”), is operated by a single person and does not take reservations; therefore long queues form regularly outside, and most customers appear sympathetic to its political theme. Photos of conservative public figures hang on the walls, alongside political slogans and poems written in Chinese characters; South
Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) announced last week a city policy to get businesses to reduce working hours to seven hours per day for employees with children 12 and under at home. The city promised to subsidize 80 percent of the employees’ wage loss. Taipei can do this, since the Celestial Dragon Kingdom (天龍國), as it is sardonically known to the denizens of Taiwan’s less fortunate regions, has an outsize grip on the government budget. Like most subsidies, this will likely have little effect on Taiwan’s catastrophic birth rates, though it may be a relief to the shrinking number of
Institutions signalling a fresh beginning and new spirit often adopt new slogans, symbols and marketing materials, and the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is no exception. Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文), soon after taking office as KMT chair, released a new slogan that plays on the party’s acronym: “Kind Mindfulness Team.” The party recently released a graphic prominently featuring the red, white and blue of the flag with a Chinese slogan “establishing peace, blessings and fortune marching forth” (締造和平,幸福前行). One part of the graphic also features two hands in blue and white grasping olive branches in a stylized shape of Taiwan. Bonus points for
RSS