Music
This issue of The Soul Beat focuses on information from the network about using music for social change. If you would like to contribute your own experiences, please contact Anja Venth aventh@comminit.com
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1. Leve-toi, Afrique! (Wake Up Africa!) - West & Central Africa
The Wake-Up! song was the centerpiece of a campaign to increase the use of modern family planning methods and condoms among urban and peri-urban populations. Recorded in French and local African languages and sung by nearly two dozen well-known artists, the lyrics call on listeners to become aware of the risks of AIDS, to minimise those risks by taking specific actions (practicing fidelity, using condoms, knowing their HIV status) and to increase the acceptance of and compassion for People Living with HIV/AIDS (PLWA). The campaign included a music video, TV and radio spots and a "behind the scenes" magazine/documentary. Another key element to the campaign was the involvement of local NGOs in disseminating the song's messages at the community level.
Contact Anna Helland ahelland@jhuccp.org OR Amelie Sow asow@jhuccp.org
2. Music for Life Project - Ethiopia
The Music for Life Project is an Ethiopian programme that launched a music CD, entitled 'We shall survive' in an effort to fight HIV/AIDS in the Country. The CD consists of fourteen songs sung and produced by 39 Ethiopian artists residing in the United States and Ethiopia. The lyrics revolving around various thematic areas related to HIV/AIDS were pre-tested among various focus groups including youth and people living with HIV/AIDS in Ethiopia. The objectives of the project are to raise the level of knowledge of the community about HIV/AIDS and its impacts; to reduce the denial, stigma and discrimination around HIV/AIDS; to promote HIV/AIDS prevention, care, and support; and to encourage artists to contribute to the fight against HIV/AIDS in Ethiopia.
Contact Gashaw Mengistu Arce@ethionet.et
3. Africa Alive! - Africa
Africa Alive! is a multi-national initiative to improve the reproductive health and reduce the spread of HIV among African youth. The initiative uses professional artists, athletes and public figures as role models in its campaign to educate people and encourage positive behaviour change for HIV prevention. Africa Alive! operates in eight countries and each national working group has its own mode of implementation. Youth rallies in the form of community concerts on HIV/AIDS aim to reach people with consistent messages promoting abstinence, correct and consistent use of condoms and support for people living with HIV/AIDS. Other activities include drama by young people from schools and local communities.
Contact africaalivek@wananchi.com OR info@africaalive.org
4. Rage for the Revolution - South Africa
Organised by Oppikoppi Productions, the concert invited a diverse range of musicians to perform in an effort to deliver positive messages about awareness and responsibility concerning youth and HIV/AIDS. The organisers believe that it is important to convey the conscious messages of outspoken musicians to youth in order to revitalise the voice of the artist as a vehicle of inspiring and uplifting the masses through their work. The event not only aimed to create the chance for young artists to spread awareness and encourage people to be aware of their social situations, but to provoke youth to ask the question: "What can we do?"
C ontact Annelie Hoffmann info@oppikoppi.co.za
5. Local Voices DJ Programme - Nigeria
This project aimed to train young local deejays in HIV/AIDS prevention and related issues through a 10-day training session by the Internews' Local Voices project in Abuja, Nigeria. Organisers believe that with this experience, the 14 selected participants would be more apt in channelling preventative information and awareness about HIV/AIDS through their artistic productions, particularly as recognised radio deejays in Nigeria. The deejays were joined by a group of rap artists/musicians known as "the Black Family & Skufaze" as well as internationally known DJ Georges Collinet to help the trainees integrate information creatively into their rap between songs. Subsequently, during the training session, the Black Family wrote a song, whose chorus echoed, "Umh-ha Alele. Go-um-ha Alele
oooh, youve got to know your status
"
Contact Internews cece@internews.org
6. Tune in to the Dangers of Malaria (Africa Malaria Day 2003) - Zimbabwe
On Africa Malaria Day 2003, Afro jazz musician Oliver Mtukudzi released a song titled Tune in to the Dangers of Malaria as part of Zimbabwes malaria campaign sponsored by Southern Africa Malaria Control (SAMC). The song was first performed at the Harare International Festival of the Arts 2003 and was released alongside posters and a video-clip used to commemorate Africa Malaria Day and promote public awareness. SAMC and the World Health Organization (WHO) collaborated with the artists and musicians to help build awareness about malaria and its prevention strategies and cures
Contact SAMC murugasampillays@whoafr.org
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ActionAid Seeks Peer Education Programme Details For Global Study
ActionAid, an international development NGO, is planning to conduct research to understand the different approaches to peer education for HIV prevention around the world. They are requesting contact details of as many different peer education programmes as possible (from all over the world). Each programme will receive a short questionnaire within the next few months.
Contact Kumiko Omiya, Action Aid International Kumiko.Omiya@actionaid.org
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7. Impact Data - HEART Campaign - Zambia
A design team made up of 7 young Zambians designed 5 TV spots that included messages (e.g., how a girl can say "no" to sex) and that promoted regular condom use. Producers of radio spots and songs adapted the same messages and concepts to the rural context and translated them into local languages. Other materials such as posters, book stickers, exercise books, messages on buses, and music videos complemented the mass media. Approximately 74% of male viewers and 68% of female viewers said the spots prompted them to talk with others about the advert, decide to abstain from sex until more mature, or use a condom. Nearly 86% of viewers of two of the adverts compared with 72% of non-viewers recognised that a person who looks healthy can be HIV-positive. Among women who are sexually experienced, 82% of viewers contrasted with 69% of baseline and 64% of impact nonviewers reported they feel confident that they have "the ability to say no to unwanted sex".
8. Yizo Yizo: This is it? Representations and Receptions of Violence and Gender Relations
by Rene Smith
The first section of the paper begins with an analysis of the text and context of Yizo Yizo and includes comments on audience reception at a macro and micro level. The second section of the paper comments on text and context by exploring the genesis and aims of Yizo Yizo. Looking at issues surrounding the production of an 'educative' series dealing with township high school life leads to discussions on students/learners; notions of youth, subculture, and music - the local genre, Kwaito in particular. The Yizo Yizo compact disc recording (CD) featuring Kwaito artists informs the discussion on the intertextuality of the series.
9. Afro-Asian Music Connection Helps AIDS Awareness
by Sonny Inbaraj
The defining moment for USA-born Thai folk-rock musician Todd Lavell Tongdee, in terms of relating to the AIDS deaths of African musicians to his own crusade back home in Thailand, was when he played with Nigerian Afro-rock star Femi Kuti and his Positive Force Band at an international concert in Beijing, China. In an interview with IPS Health News, Todd Lavell Tongdee talks about the impact that Nigerian musician and anti-military activist Fela Anikulapo Kuti had on him.
10. Effects of Folk Music and Community Outreach Drama Performances on HIV and AIDS Awareness in Niger State of Nigeria
by Mohammed Kuta Yahaya
The paper shares the experiences of using participatory drama and folk music in a campaign to address issues of gender inequality and HIV/AIDS in Nupeland of Niger State, Nigeria. A drama was performed at various outreach programmes to create awareness on the dangers of gender discrimination in education, and folk music by a popular musical group was used to create awareness about HIV/AIDS. According to the paper, music is deeply rooted in most cultures across the globe. There are several advantages to using folk music to educate rural audience. It is popular, can provide immediate feedback, is inexpensive and comes from a perceived credible source. The presenter mentions that music has been used for development purposes across the globe and positive results have been achieved
11. On the Move: The Response of Public Transport Commuters to HIV/AIDS in South Africa
by Warren Parker, Salome Oyosi, Kevin Kelly and Susan Fox
The Commuter AIDS Information Project was a two year activity developed bythe HIV/AIDS and STD Directorate of the Department of Health, South Africa. The project targeted the commuter population through providing basic HIV/AIDS information, referral information, condoms and leaflets via kiosks located at 20 urban commuter sites countrywide.The kiosks, which were managed by Comutanet, were situated prominently at each site and regularly used for consumer product promotion. Training and support was provided by DramAidE, and the project promoted by Comutanet utilising exterior taxi signage, kiosk signage and advertising inserts on Star Music. The Star Music concept involves the free distribution of popular local and international music interspersed with short commercials to taxi drivers on a bi-monthly basis.
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African Youth HIV/AIDS Best Practice Hand Book: Call for Projects
Development Partnership International ActALIVE and the International Federation of Medical Students Associations, Standing Committee on Reproductive Health including HIV/AIDS, invite youth-led HIV/AIDS projects throughout Africa to be included in a African Youth HIV/AIDS Best Practices Handbook.
Approximately 100 projects will be profiled in the handbook, which we hope to present at the XIV International Conference on AIDS and STI in Africa, being held between the 5th-9th December in Abuja, Nigeria. All projects submitted for consideration must be youth-led, have been carried out within the last three years, and should demonstrate a positive impact on the community where they are operational, and/or on the issue they has been created to address. Information requested includes a short abstract on the project, timeline, number of beneficiaries, team and sustainability. The deadline for submissions is October 15, 2005.
If you have questions or to request an application, please contact Oluwatosin Omole tosinom@yahoo.com Mpaka Lawson mpaka@developmentpartnership.org or Janet Feldman at kaippg@earthlink.net
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12. Hali Halisi: A Documentary of Rap as an Alternative Medium in Tanzania
by Martin Meulenberg & Thomas Gesthuizen
Hali Halisi, which means "the real situation" in Swahili, is a documentary about rap as an alternative medium for urban youth in Tanzania and Zanzibar. This 30-minute documentary was filmed in 1999 by the Madunia Music Foundation, a non-profit non-governmental organisation based in the Netherlands that promotes African music and supports local initiatives of African musicians. The film aims to discuss the pros and cons of hip hop as an effective medium for communication and an instrument for social change, using the example of Tanzanian "emcees" (rappers) and the positive messages of their rap in Swahili.
13. Haba na Haba/Little by Little: Stories of Culture, Health & Community
Filmed in Kenya in 2003, this 38-minute documentary aims to explore the relationship between traditional culture and community health. Cultural scholar Kimani Njogu travels to the coast to visit traditional Digo herbalist Mzee Abdullah, who is working to protect the Kaya Kinondo sacred forest from encroaching land development and tourism, and training several apprentice healers in the medicinal uses of forest plants. The Tomwo Women's Group of West Pokot takes ethnobotanist Patrick Maundu into their arid landscape to sample traditional wild foods. Through songs and dances, they are teaching people in other villages about the nutritional value of these plants, which were staple foods in the pre-colonial era, but are now almost forgotten. On the shores of Lake Victoria, the Luo tribe faces HIV infection rates that have soared above twenty percent in some places. In one small village by the lake, Mama na Dada is working to revive traditional dialogues between elders and youth about sexuality.
See Also
Stop Excision [CD]
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The Soul Beat seeks to cover the full range of communication for development activities. Inclusion of an item does not imply endorsement or support by The Partners.
Please send material for The Soul Beat to the Editor - Anja Venth aventh@comminit.com
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