Kinshasa Symphony

Above is the trailer of the film "Kinshasa Symphony", which has been selected for Berlinale 2010, the 60th Berlin International Film Festival. The film celebrates its world premiere at "Berlinale Special" on 17 February 2010, 21.45h (rerun 18 February, 18.00h, Cubix 8).

"Kinshasa Symphony" shows how people living in one of the most chaotic cities in the world have managed to forge one of the most complex systems of human cooperation ever invented: a symphony orchestra. It is a film about the Congo, about the people of Kinshasa and about music.

The Orchestre Symphonique Kimbanguiste has been in existence for fifteen years. Initially a few dozen music-loving amateurs shared the few instruments they had at their disposal. Rehearsals were organised in shifts, so that everyone could have a turn. Today there are over two hundred musicians on the platform when the "OSK" gives a concert.

Most of the musicians are still self-taught amateurs. Even for those fortunate enough to have trained for a profession and found a halfway regular job, everyday life in the metropolis of Kinshasa with its eight million citizens is a constant struggle for survival. For many the working day begins at six in the morning, frequently a great deal earlier for the ones who cannot afford to share a taxi and have to walk great distances to get to their workplaces. Despite this they attend the rehearsals that go on well into the night, practically everyday. A staggering example of discipline and enthusiasm.

In the meantime some of the orchestra's repair artists have a whole collection of self-devised and self-built tools that they need to mend instruments. Their methods are as unorthodox as they are effective. Other members of the orchestra make their concert attire themselves, procure the sheet music required and make sure that the children are fed and looked after during the long evening rehearsals.

Armand Diangenda is the founder and conductor of the OSK. He is the grandson of Simon Kimbangu, a martyr greatly revered in the Congo for opposing the Belgian colonists and establishing his own church, the Kimbanguists. Armand plays the cello and is also a composer. "Music often helps me to think straight and plan my life", he says. "And even though the rehearsals are often uphill work with little immediately appreciable progress, making music together is a compensation for lots of problems".

(Culled from: "Kinshasa Symphony, a documentary by Claus Wischmann and Martin Baer")

There is more of this orchestra here and here.

"We are ready to train your people.." Al Qaeda tells Nigerian Muslims

DUBAI (Reuters) - An al Qaeda group in North Africa has offered to give Nigerian Muslims training and weapons to fight Christians in the West African country, where more than 460 people were killed in sectarian clashes last month.

https://www.reuters.com/article/ozatp-nigeria-qaeda-muslims-20100201-idAFJOE6100EE20100201

The demons inside my head

I woke up one cold winter's morning years ago. I was in love, and I felt wonderful. My love and I had been on the phone the night before and everything seemed fine. It was only weeks previously that we had slept together in this very same bed in which I was now waking up to behold the whiteness and the magnificence of the snowy vista that was the view from my bedroom window. There was not the slightest indication that there might be a problem. I was in love and as I re-entered the bed and curled myself up under the duvet, warm thoughts of this love in my mind, I assumed that this must be what happiness feels like.

This love and I had met nine months before. During that time we had developed the kind of relationship that I had always dreamt of, both of us at par intellectually. The relationship was stimulating and exciting, and the feeling of knowing that this person felt the same as I did was heart-warming. I thought it was a secure place, a place that I hoped would be intact forever. But how wrong I was proved to be, because on this very same day, by sunset, I had received word from this love by email and by phone that unfortunately we would not be continuing with our relationship. In short, I was being told the words "It's over!" An attempt was made at providing an explanation, and the reason given made sense too. We were separated by distance.

But this was a factor we knew about from the onset and one that we had both agreed we would work around, with a view at some point to removing this barrier completely. Somehow, I seemed to have been the bolder more optimistic one, because although I could see no immediate prospect of removing the distance barrier in the foreseeable future, I held on to the hope that our love would see us through. Haven't we all heard that love conquers all? Anyhow, this 'news' hit me like a freight train. I was disbelieving at first and thought it might be just a bad dream. Then I speculated, "No, they couldn't have meant that", trying to make sense of what I'd just been told, you know, trying to rationalise. "They'll soon come to their senses", I would say to myself. But as the hours went by and turned into days, the reality became stronger.

Since I was so mentally and psychologically unprepared for this calamity, the full impact of it was lost on me for a few days yet. But when the pain and the rejection eventually crashed upon me, I was a complete wreck. Its impact on me was that it is likely that I didn't eat a proper meal for weeks, and I have a vague recollection of wandering the streets aimlessly, sometimes not even remembering to wear a coat to keep out the cold. I failed to turn up for work for about a month, and remember once being brought home to my front door in a police patrol car in the middle of the night. I think I must have been found walking alone, dazed, on the deserted street. The fact is that I basically lost my mind.

It took a gargantuan effort on my part to get through this period and to pull myself together. But the pain, always, the pain. It caused me to dig deep into my emotional and mental reserves and forced me to button up, sit down and study for my qualifying exams, which I had been putting off for years. But the emotional wound was deep and it healed very slowly indeed. 

I was never going to let this happen to me ever again, I promised myself. So going forward I seem to have carried with me to any new relationship the baggage from this episode in my life. I am constantly haunted by the fear that this will happen again, and this fear has influenced my conduct within subsequent relationships that I've been in. And I'm not sure if it's a good thing, since I'm constantly treading carefully (perhaps overly) being too fearful to commit and to give my all as I know I'm capable of doing.

I have written this post in the hope that talking about it will purge my mind of this fear. My self-confidence and self-esteem have taken a severe bashing. Its impact upon my life is profound and I have considered seeking some kind of professional help. Sometime this week I'm booked to see a psychiatrist. I guess this sounds like I'm a bit wonky in the head, but really I think it's for the best.

Great stuff, Steve Bloom..

I've recently become a fan of Steve Bloom, a "writer and a photographic artist who specialises in evocative images of the living world. Born in South Africa in 1953, he first used the camera to document life in South Africa during the apartheid years. He moved to England in 1977 and co-founded one of London's leading photographic special effects companies."

I stumbled upon this image, which is speculated to be the "world's widest panoramic photograph.." and parts of an interview of Mr Bloom by the BBC, where he talked about his new book, Trading Places: The Merchants of Nairobi

On how he took this photograph, Mr Bloom states: "I started at the Hilton Hotel at the far end on the right, and moved along to the Jeddy Hair Salon, taking a photograph every four paces. I used a 50mm lens, which approximates the field of view of the human eye for the 35mm film format, and a small aperture to maximise focus. The resulting images are painstakingly stitched together. As the eye moves along the photograph, the viewpoint changes continually, as if the viewer is physically moving down the road. Because we read the image from left to right, the viewer goes backwards in time through a period of about forty-five minutes. Some of the traders such as the knife sharpener, are seen repeatedly going through their business in different parts of the road at different times. This image opposes the 'decisive moment' approach to photography and is more cinematic in its structure."

I understand that in the book, this image stretches across the title page and sixteen pages of the introduction. When printed, the print is about 40 metres long. Pretty amazing..

Not Haiti again...

AP/REUTERS

Before and After photos of the presidential palace in Port au Prince, Haiti

It bothers me that we wait until an event such as this devastating 7.0 magnitude earthquake in Haiti occurs, before we rush in relief aid and assistance. Haiti, which in geographical terms is a close neighbour of the world's wealthiest country is ignored for much of the rest of the time, except by aid agencies and the US authorites when threatened by what is perceived as an influx of Haitian migrants desperate for the chance of a better life..

How unfair this world can be. Considering that is was not that long ago that this country suffered from severe floods, it seems that it is the poorest and therefore the weakest that Nature targets for the harshest treatment...

Dispelling rumours of his death..

Nigeria's president not seen in public since going into hospital in Saudi Arabia for heart treatment in November has told the BBC in a telephone interview that he is recovering. The BBC reports it here.