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| Entertainment |
| Artists generate freedom debate |
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by
Herbert Chandilanga, 16 June 2006
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06:35:48
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The street carnival the artists in Blantyre staged on Freedom Day—Wednesday––was one of its kind, never seen before and worth people’s attention. It brought about both rare fun and a strong debate on whether the freedom being celebrated was living up to characteristics expected of it.
This was evidenced in the way the mobile street party turned to be an object of intriguing interest as it went along its scheduled path––from the Independence Arch in Chichiri to The Warehouse in Blantyre via Ndirande.
After observing a one–minute silence in honour of the country’s late political icon Chakufwa Chihana who died in South Africa on Monday in South Africa, the party left its starting point promising to chill. And it did just that. Those who saw the carnival will tell you it surely must get back on the road next year, and the years after.
The carnival allowed time for stopovers in various places where the larger-than-life puppets told stories to paint a picture of how democracy should be safeguarded.
So, the puppets’ shows, coupled with short plays staged by drama groups like Bahece, Damascus and IPI, got people stretching their necks to have the best of gazes at the crafty displays at the heart of the carnival.
According to one of the organisers Melissa Eveleigh, artists in the country want to hold on to what is good about democracy.
“The reason we had the march was because of the events in recent times, There have been worrying moments in the past few months, for instance the arrest of journalists. But still the fact that we were allowed to have the march shows there is freedom to some extent. We wanted to send a strong message to artists not to let democracy to die. We wanted to provoke questions around people’s role in democracy.”
“This was depicted in play we staged, depicting mother Malwi giving birth to a child––Freedom. But the freedom could not sustain itself because some old and restrictive rules are still at play,”said Eveleigh.
Veteran musician and actor Mafumu Matiki, joined Eveleigh in hinting that, from an artistic point of definition, “democracy is allowing to be questioned.”
He observed that if the country’s artists had that much needed freedom to the level they expect, they would have governement and the public sector helping them look into human nature and its demands.
They said art should be a mirror to reflect what is really on the ground so that those who can see their faces on it can have a chance to make self evaluations and correct their mistakes.
Matiki said it was important for artists to use Freedom Day as an opportunity to debate what good or bad democracy has brought about.
One of the artists who took part in the march, Mankhamba held that artists are critics and carriers of vital messages.
“So we need the freedom to tell our minds. I might, on one hand, say there is freedom because so far I’ve not heard of musicians getting arrested for what they sing. You can throw in some irony into your songs and get away with it.
On the other hand, I should also note that the freedom is not yet as bright as we would wish it to be. But so far, so good, no arrests or intimidation,” said Mankhamba.
Director of Damascus Drama Group, Landson Chingeni, concurred with Mankhamba on the existence of freedom saying “the drama sector too has not experienced arrests or intimidation aimed at stiffling talent.” |
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