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.
A few weeks ago I found myself at a Family Mart talking with the morning shift worker there, who has become my coffee guy. Both of us were in a funk over the “unseasonable” warm weather, a state of mind known as “solastalgia” — distress produced by environmental change. In fact, the weather was not that out of the ordinary in boiling Central Taiwan, and likely cooler than the temperatures we will experience in the near-future. According to the Taiwan Adaptation Platform, between 1957 and 2006, summer lengthened by 27.8 days, while winter shrunk by 29.7 days. Winter is not
Taiwan’s post-World War II architecture, “practical, cheap and temporary,” not to mention “rather forgettable.” This was a characterization recently given by Taiwan-based historian John Ross on his Formosa Files podcast. Yet the 1960s and 1970s were, in fact, the period of Taiwan’s foundational building boom, which, to a great extent, defined the look of Taiwan’s cities, determining the way denizens live today. During this period, functionalist concrete blocks and Chinese nostalgia gave way to new interpretations of modernism, large planned communities and high-rise skyscrapers. It is currently the subject of a new exhibition at the Taipei Fine Arts Museum, Modern
March 25 to March 31 A 56-year-old Wu Li Yu-ke (吳李玉哥) was straightening out her artist son’s piles of drawings when she inadvertently flipped one over, revealing the blank backside of the paper. Absent-mindedly, she picked up a pencil and recalled how she used to sketch embroidery designs for her clothing business. Without clients and budget or labor constraints to worry about, Wu Li drew freely whatever image came to her mind. With much more free time now that her son had found a job, she found herself missing her home village in China, where she
In recent years, Slovakia has been seen as a highly democratic and Western-oriented Central European country. This image was reinforced by the election of the country’s first female president in 2019, efforts to provide extensive assistance to Ukraine and the strengthening of relations with Taiwan, all of which strengthened Slovakia’s position within the European Union. However, the latest developments in the country suggest that the situation is changing rapidly. As such, the presidential elections to be held on March 23 will be an indicator of whether Slovakia remains in the Western sphere of influence or moves eastward, notably towards Russia and