PVD WORLD MUSIC INSTITUTE
TITLE: Finding the Spirit of Inanga: A Gallery of Traditional Music Instruments
DATE: April 29th to June 30th, 2022
First Opening Reception April 29th, 2022
Performance and Q&A with Yacouba Diabate - Kora
Second Opening Reception May 26th, 2022
Performance and Q&A with Dr. Silas Pinto - Berimbau & Atabaque
Third Opening Reception June 23rd, 2022
Virtual Performance and Q&A with Inanga Player Olympe
Performance TBA
LOCATION: The Gallery at Machines with Magnets, 400 main st, Pawtucket, RI USA
Amahoro/Greetings
Thank you for all you support Finding the spirit of Inanga: A Gallery of Traditional Musical Instruments journey started in 2018 and we are excited to bring this project to the community. We thank you for your support.
This event provides a cultural learning experience, taking visitors on a spectacular journey through time and space, featuring unique and significant musical instruments and other music related artifacts from around the globe. This interactive musical showcase also offers the exciting opportunity to learn directly from the musicians who own these beautiful pieces of cultural history through three specially curated music education sessions. Our goal is to foster an appreciation for timeless musical traditions and share the rich musical history and knowledge carried by our master musicians and their instruments.
IMPACT AND CONTRIBUTIONS
Finding the Spirit of Inanga: A Gallery of Traditional Music Instruments features musical instruments from Africa and the African Diaspora. It provides an unparalleled global musical experience that is enriching, inspiring, and exciting for people of all ages and ethnicities. As an educational and cultural learning experience, include expert workshops where master instrumentalists will teach interested participants how to understand these instruments.
The gallery showcase is free and open to the public from April 29th to June 30th, 2022 to encourage cross cultural dialogue and to foster cultural learning and sharing among the diverse inhabitants of the City of Pawtucket and the state of Rhode Island.
HISTORICAL AND CULTURAL SIGNIFICANCE
In addition to serving the public broadly, the Finding Inanga gallery event will be of special cultural and historical significance to the Burundian families living in Rhode Island. Providence County is home to over one thousand Burundian families who moved to Rhode Island from refugee camps in Tanzania between 2006 and 2018. Among these families are a number of elderly Burundians who used to play the Inanga regularly while living in Burundi. However, since their displacement and subsequent relocation to Rhode Island, they have not been able to connect with this important cultural instrument or share their musical gifts with the community more broadly. Although some aspects of this cultural heritage are still passed down orally, this event presents a unique opportunity to harness the folk knowledge within this community and share its rich culture with other Rhode Islanders. By hosting this event with the Burundian community of Providence, we hope to share its rich Burundian culture with our fellow city residents , through a free event that is available and accessible to all who live here.
In the long-term, PVD World Music hopes to establish a permanent gallery and workshop to showcase the traditional folk instruments of Africa to the community, and share knowledge about the rich cultural traditions they come from. Through the use of digital archives alongside tangible cultural artifacts and materials, the gallery will allow attendees to embark on a spectacular musical journey around Africa without leaving Rhode Island.
Curating this event is a part of PVD World Music Institute’s ongoing mission to celebrate, promote and enrich the musical traditions and arts of African refugees and immigrants in Rhode Island for present and future generations. We thank our partners, whose generous support has made this event possible: Machines with Magnets, The Center for the Study of Slavery at Brown University and Justice and Rhode Island State Councils for the Arts.
PVD WORLD MUSIC INSTITUTE
TITLE: Finding the Spirit of Inanga: A Gallery of Traditional Music Instruments
DATE: April 29th to June 30th, 2022
First Opening Reception April 29th, 2022
Performance and Q&A with Yacouba Diabate - Kora
Second Opening Reception May 26th, 2022
Performance and Q&A with Dr. Silas Pinto - Berimbau & Atabaque
Third Opening Reception June 23rd, 2022
Virtual Performance and Q&A with Inanga Player Olympe
Performance TBA
LOCATION: The Gallery at Machines with Magnets, 400 main st, Pawtucket, RI USA
Amahoro/Greetings
Thank you for all you support Finding the spirit of Inanga: A Gallery of Traditional Musical Instruments journey started in 2018 and we are excited to bring this project to the community. We thank you for your support.
This event provides a cultural learning experience, taking visitors on a spectacular journey through time and space, featuring unique and significant musical instruments and other music related artifacts from around the globe. This interactive musical showcase also offers the exciting opportunity to learn directly from the musicians who own these beautiful pieces of cultural history through three specially curated music education sessions. Our goal is to foster an appreciation for timeless musical traditions and share the rich musical history and knowledge carried by our master musicians and their instruments.
IMPACT AND CONTRIBUTIONS
Finding the Spirit of Inanga: A Gallery of Traditional Music Instruments features musical instruments from Africa and the African Diaspora. It provides an unparalleled global musical experience that is enriching, inspiring, and exciting for people of all ages and ethnicities. As an educational and cultural learning experience, include expert workshops where master instrumentalists will teach interested participants how to understand these instruments.
The gallery showcase is free and open to the public from April 29th to June 30th, 2022 to encourage cross cultural dialogue and to foster cultural learning and sharing among the diverse inhabitants of the City of Pawtucket and the state of Rhode Island.
HISTORICAL AND CULTURAL SIGNIFICANCE
In addition to serving the public broadly, the Finding Inanga gallery event will be of special cultural and historical significance to the Burundian families living in Rhode Island. Providence County is home to over one thousand Burundian families who moved to Rhode Island from refugee camps in Tanzania between 2006 and 2018. Among these families are a number of elderly Burundians who used to play the Inanga regularly while living in Burundi. However, since their displacement and subsequent relocation to Rhode Island, they have not been able to connect with this important cultural instrument or share their musical gifts with the community more broadly. Although some aspects of this cultural heritage are still passed down orally, this event presents a unique opportunity to harness the folk knowledge within this community and share its rich culture with other Rhode Islanders. By hosting this event with the Burundian community of Providence, we hope to share its rich Burundian culture with our fellow city residents , through a free event that is available and accessible to all who live here.
In the long-term, PVD World Music hopes to establish a permanent gallery and workshop to showcase the traditional folk instruments of Africa to the community, and share knowledge about the rich cultural traditions they come from. Through the use of digital archives alongside tangible cultural artifacts and materials, the gallery will allow attendees to embark on a spectacular musical journey around Africa without leaving Rhode Island.
Curating this event is a part of PVD World Music Institute’s ongoing mission to celebrate, promote and enrich the musical traditions and arts of African refugees and immigrants in Rhode Island for present and future generations. We thank our partners, whose generous support has made this event possible: Machines with Magnets, The Center for the Study of Slavery at Brown University and Justice and Rhode Island State Councils for the Arts.
4th Edition African Film and Arts Festival
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
PROVIDENCE, RI, September 6, 2023: Back for its fourth year, PVD World Music’s Annual African Film and Arts Festival returns to Providence for five days from September 13 to 17, 2023, shining a spotlight on contemporary films and filmmakers from Africa and the African Diaspora. As with every year, the festival will showcase rarely-seen films and highlight important indigenous music histories and traditions in locations around Providence in partnership with local champion organizations. It will also include traditional African music and dance performances and offer opportunities to learn more about the vibrant arts of the African continent.
OPEN AIR CINEMA AND CULTURAL MUSIC IN THE COMMUNITY
DAY 1
Join us for the opening day on Wednesday, Sep 13, 2023 at Brown University’s Watson Institute, Providence, RI 02907, from 5:30 PM to 10:00 PM. We will begin with a welcome at 5:30 PM, followed by traditional music from Burkina Faso, performed by renowned local Kora musician, Yacouba Diabate at 6:00 PM. Our opening feature film Father’s Day by distinguished Rwandese filmmaker, Kivu Ruhorahoza will premiere at 6:30 PM.
At 8:30 PM, we will close the day with a special Q&A session with director Kivu Ruhorahoza in conversation with South African filmmaker, Kurt Orderson.
Tickets are free, and donations are highly encouraged.
DAY 2
On Thursday, Sep 14, 2023 The African film festival will continue at the Providence Innovation District Park at 120 Peck St, Providence, RI 02903, from 6:00 PM to 9:00 PM.
We will begin with music performances by local R&B artist, Nanabcool, with roots in Ghana, from 5:00 PM - 6:00 PM and local Jazz giant, Noah Campbell, from 6:00 PM - 7:00 PM.
At 7:30 pm, we will screen Supa Modo, an acclaimed family-friendly feature film by Kenyan filmmaker Likarion Wainaina.
Tickets are free, donations, highly encouraged.
DAY 3
On Friday, September 15, 2023 We will return to the Columbus Theater from 6:00 PM to 9:00 PM. The event will open with the widely popular major feature film, Xale by Senegalese filmmakerMoussa Sene Absa at 6:30 PM. Next, we will screen Prodigal Son, by South African Filmmaker Kurt Orderson at 8:00 PM, followed by Suga Brown at 9 pm by Clarke Leigh Phillips from Atlanta. At 9:3o PM, we will have a Panel Discussion about path breaking filmmaking in Africa and in the African diaspora, led by local filmmaker Don May, along with Kurt Orderson and Clarke Leigh Phillips.
We will end the day with an After Party at the Courland Club at 10:00 PM, featuring Afronaut Transmission and a special guest, Umamaroon, Rwandese DJ from New York City.
Tickets are sliding scale $10 (plus fees)
COMMUNITY, CULTURE, MUSIC AND MOVIES!
DAY 4:
On Saturday,Sep 16, 2023, the African Film and Arts Festival will take place at the Southside Cultural Center of Rhode Island, 393 Broad Street, Providence, RI 02907. We will have events that celebrate, honor and educate about African musical heritages through free movies, music, dance and local pan-African food!
We will also have live music outdoors featuring distinct musical traditions from Africa and African Diaspora. The Inziragukanya Burundi Ritual Drummers of Providence will celebrate the local African community by honoring the music of the people of Urundi from 4:00 PM to 5:00 PM and will be followed by the Kwaku Kwaakye Obeng Band from 5 pm to 7:00 PM.
Alongside the music, we will screen three films indoors from 2:00 PM to 8:30 PM. We will begin at 2:00 PM with a children-friendly short-film AL-SIT by Sudanese filmmaker Suzannah Mirghani, followed by Kmedeus by Cape Verdean filmmaker Nuno Miranda at 3:00 PM and No Simple Way Home by acclaimed South Sudanese filmmaker Akuol de Mabior at 4:30 PM. We will also showcase Vuta N’Kuvute by Tanzanian filmmaker Amil Shivji outdoors at 7:00 PM.
Tickets are free, donations, highly encouraged.
DAY 5
The closing ceremonies for the 3rd Annual Festival will take place on Sunday, September 17, 2023 at Dexter Park, 31 Dexter Street, Providence, RI 02909 from 5:00 PM to 10:00 PM.
We will begin with local legend Sidy Maiga and the Afromanding from 5:00 PM and Afrobeat icons Baba Commandant and the Mandigo Band at 7:00 PM.
We will close our exclusive line-up with two exciting short films. Une Vie En Couleur by Burundian filmmaker Lionel Nishimwe at 8 pm and A Little Bit of Chili by Nigerian filmmaker Esosa Ighodaro.
Tickets are $12
The African film festival seeks to celebrate, educate and and promote cross-cultural dialogue and understanding between the diverse communities that call Providence home. We hope you can join us to celebrate, promote, and enrich traditional music, arts and films from Africa and around the world so that they may be enjoyed and cherished for generations to come!
The 4th African Film and Arts Festival is made possible by the generous support from our partners, collaborators and sponsors:
CURATORIAL TEAM
Laura Twagirayezu
Kayleen Vicente
Norissa Hemedes
Jetrie Ndikumwenayo
Chance Kinyange Boas
Norissa Hemedes
FESTIVAL PARTNER AND SPONSORS
Rhode Island Council for the Arts
Providence Department of Arts, Culture and Tourism
Papitto Opportunity Connection
Providence Innovation District Park
Columbus Theater
Southside Cultural Center of Rhode Island
Social Enterprise Greenhouse
Ruth J Simmons Center for Slavery and Justice at Brown University
Africa Initiative of the Watson Institute at Brown University
Courtland Club
Cricket Film Cinema
Events by Maïlyse
SMALL MIGHTY TEAM. BIG COMMUNITY DREAM!
This event was made possible through tireless work of the PVD World Music 2023 team:
OUR STAFF AND VOLUNTEERS
Chance Kinyange Boas
Padini Nirmal
Dominique Sindayiganza
Ian Lyle
Jetrie Ndikumwenayo
Norissa Hemedes
Samia Cohen
For more information contact info@pvdworldmusic.com or visit pvdworldmusic.com.
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See Great African Films
Special Selection: Une Vie en Couleurs
Synopsis / Review of Une Vie en Couleurs for 2023 African Film Fest, Providence, RI
By Samia Cohen
The starkly beautiful short film Une Vie en Couleurs (Burundi, 2022) centers on a married couple gripped with personal tragedy while struggling to maintain composure for one another’s sake. Sarah, played by Laura Sheïlla Inangoma, has received a terminal cancer diagnosis and finds herself with only months to live. Her birth family cannot visit her thanks to an unnamed pandemic, which also keeps the couple confined to their small house. Meanwhile, Sarah’s husband Phil, played by Jean Rige Nkurunziza, has become her sole companion and caretaker. As the days lurch forward, both confront the imminence of Sarah’s passing with ever-shifting emotions, simultaneously together and alone.
Une Vie en Couleurs was filmed entirely indoors, in black and white, to dramatic effect. Too small for the intensity of what the characters are living through, the domestic space becomes less a sanctuary than a waiting room before a future that is bound to arrive too soon. Indeed, the waiting becomes the whole shape of the world, and yet, the couple’s devotion to one another seems to sustain them.
Un Vie en Couleurs was written, directed, and produced by Lionel Nishimwe, a young artist from the Burundian town of Bujumbara, where the scenes were also shot. In addition to the African Film Fest in Providence, the film has screened at multiple festivals including FESTICAB (Burundi), Mashariki Film Festival (Rwanda), and the Luxor African Film Festival in Egypt. As Nishimwe’s international debut, it is a subtle achievement of filmic poetry, and not to be missed.
