Lenses through which live performances expose essence of Afro variety
Agnes Gitau and myself ran into each other unplanned at the Africa Centre Summer Festival 2015, Convent Garden, when Michael Tubi emerged in my line of sight through a thick crowd handing out flyers for a ‘live music photography’ exhibition.
Enter Michael Tubi…
Normally people handing out flyers in urban London do so with indifference. I observed that on this occasion Michael was handing out flyer after flyer whilst having brief conversations with each recipient. I found this attitude to flyer distribution enterprising, given the captive audience at this venue. It was worthy of some investigation. My curiosity was rewarded with a brief but engaging discussion with Michael about his passion for photographically documenting African musicians, mostly at live performances.
I got a flyer, technically an invite to Menier Gallery, and flipped it to take a glance at information on both sides of the flyer to see a name cloud of artists. A slight turn of your head to the left of this paragraph and there we have it.
Back to the ambience at Africa Centre Summer Festival 2015
Taking in audience response to various styles from Bonga’s afro-luso rythms to Aṣa’s soul classics inspired by Gbedu music; a picture of relationships between animated visuals, motion picture, live performance, lyric-making interactive sessions and curatorial skills brought an ‘enhanced performer-audience engagement’ to mind.
I noticed Michael and other photographers covering various angles of view around each performance including the audience in and around the staging area. There was no set up. It became clearer as artists shifted their positions around the stage, particularly when light levels gradually dimmed as nightfall approached, that this is an editorial genre. Deepening the connection between performers and a wider audience through the use of “enriching processes” has potential. Conceptually the canvas for broadening the remit of this gig as an experience was an infinite game.
“Because infinite players prepare themselves to be surprised by the future, they play in complete openness. It is not an openness as in candor, but an openness as in vulnerability. It is not a matter of exposing one’s unchanging identity, the true self that has always been, but a way of exposing one’s ceaseless growth, the dynamic self that has yet to be.” — James P Carse, ‘Finite and Infinite Games: A Vision of Life as Play and Possibility’
I wondered how these images might be set for a gallery audience to feel the moments given live performance photography works by heightening the drama of moments one piece at a time. And what we saw across the performance range on stage were performers punctuating their acts with purring drumbeats, strumming guitars, live action in response to audience feedback, expressive bodies moving in and to the rhythm, artists doing body flicks in the air and poetic spontaneity.
How might Michael curate an exhibition where a viewing audience feel as though they were at the gig whilst making sense of the cultural narrative underlying the exhibition?
A few weeks later at ‘Sounds of Africa exhibition’.
I went to have a look and again bumped into Agnes unplanned, just as we had run into each other a few weeks ago at the Africa in Summer Festival at Convent Garden.
We thought over the fact that we were in an exhibition space hosting a narrative about African live music photography. We observed a London audience trickling in to take and question this alternative narrative relative to what prevails in the media. We decided to have an impromptu discussion with Michael, a long term collaborator of his and few people in the audience about what this exhibition meant to each of them.
Agnes started by asking Michael a few questions about how the show came together.
Agnes Gitau (AG): How did you go about selecting the artists in this exhibition?
Michael Tubi (MT): I made a conscious decision to focus on recent work, as I feel music photography exhibitions about African music or music artists in London or globally are rare.
I focused on work that I found unusual or creative in the moment while I was in close proximity and I wanted to share these images with everyone with an interest in Africa.
MT explains to AG “the journey of putting the ‘Sounds of Africa’ together, this is a labour of love”.
AG: Please tell me, why is this a labour of love?
MT: I wanted to create a platform, to share my work and to showcase some of Africa’s musical giants in the best way I could.
AG: When I think of Africa as represented in mainstream media for niceness so many images come to mind; I see the savannah, Maasais’ jumping and a host of comfy stereotypes enhanced relentlessly. I can’t see Asa, Femi and Seun Kuti, DJ Edu and other artists showcased here as people steeped in contextualized narratives.
MT: Absolutely, I want to show you these images, mostly absent from the mainstream media. I love taking pictures, they tell a thousand tales and I hope the ‘Sounds of Africa’ achieves that. We sing when happy, we sing when sad, we sing at harvest time and even when we mourn.
AG observes and reflects: Michael leaves me to go welcome other visitors now streaming in to the gallery. I look around to see Kenyalin - my daughter - tired of staring at a portrait of Fuse ODG, her favourite artist today, now sitting at a corner reading, while her friend Mariam is sitting on the floor, deep in thought, I guess exploring the gallery for running space.
The girls later insist on signing the visitors book.
Speaking to Michael and seeing his work, I am inspired. He is one of many emerging talent in Africa and abroad documenting ‘The New Africa’ (TNA) as Fuse ODG calls it, in ways that resonate across cultural boundaries.
The new African in the new Africa is confident, tech-savvy, creative, entrepreneurial and ready to participate in the global arena. The demand in the west and Africa for African fashion, food, music, art and literature is primarily influenced by this group.
The ‘Sounds of Africa’ for me was a must attend event. I went out of responsibility and curiosity. Over the last decade or so, I started campaigning for an objective narrative on Africa. The content of this exhibition for me represented a viable story about my continent, a documentary showcase of Africa’s range of music makers.
Michael tells me that ‘Sounds of Africa’ will be back, it does not end here at Menier Gallery in Borough Market. He plans to take this to other cities in Africa and Europe, so watch out for ‘Sounds of Africa’ in a city near you! It comes highly recommended.
We are better positioned to open up the debate about what the future might look like. I know the African storyteller with ideas to share with the world is coming of age.
Young people are dimensioning a different set of tools within ecosystems with which they are bringing a new audience into the life of this story. They are aware that to take what our great forefathers did, through music, photography, dance, literature; they need to re-frame how, and what it means, to engage with audience preferences.
Thank you Michael and many other creative minds using the lens to bring varied ‘Sounds of Africa’ and their provenance to a wider audience.
“The exhibition consisted of fifty plus C Type prints. Established and emerging contemporary performers included Angelique Kidjo, Seun Kuti, Salawa Abeni, Hugh Masekela, Fatoumata Diawara and 2face as well as images printed on brushed Dibond. Music genre on display ranged from Afro-beat, Hi-life, Fuji to Makosa” — metro imaging UK
AG: We will be back with a review of ‘Tango Negro: The African Roots of Tango’.
Tango Negro: The African Roots of Tango — Trailer. Source: Youtube.
As part of ‘Music on Film: Sounds of The Continent’ this movie will be showing at
followed by a Q & A with director Dom Pedro and a tango themed Film Africa 2015 closing party.
Saturday 7 November 19:30 @ The Hackney Picture House 270 Mare St, London E8 1HE
