Excited response: "One man - one note" re/calling Siachilaba

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Created: Thursday, 25 June 2015 17:28

The opening of the exhibition on 12th June @ Kunsthaus Deutschvilla in Strobl / Wolfgangsee / Austria was attended by a good crowd of interested people and many friends who have been involved in cultural exchanges several times already. After introductions by Peter Kuthan and the curator Fina Esslinger, the composer Klaus Hollinetz laid out the tune with his "tonga-return" electronic soundscape. Then, Isabelle Duthoit and Franz Hautzinger recalled the whole realm of sounds encountered in Siachilaba a year ago. Finally, Peter Androsch on guitar, Bernd Preinfalk on cello accompanied and complemented Didi Bruckmayr's incredible spectrum of vocal vibes in an acoustic dialogue with the Tonga Ngoma Buntibe Tonkunst.

Such interplay with Tonga music and Tonga culture is also reflected throughout the exhibition. Be it the contrasting juxtaposition of Georg Ritter's and Hanna Piksarv's huge drawing of a Simonga performance opposite to the woodcut "Budima" by Patrick Mweemba. Or the pictures taken by Siachilaba women photographers to represent their living environment, an account which is reflected also in the radio interface "Tales of Resilience" by Austrian Time's up artists. In another room the surrounding walls are decorated by Dismas Sekibaha with a pictorial map of shadowgrams retracing the journey of Simonga and its original Ngoma buntibe drumset - starting from Siachilaba in 1997 via Bulawayo and Harare to the legendary expedition across the Dead Mountains range in Austria, and onwards to the multi-cultural Parade in Linz 2009, ending later on in Vienna's Augarten. Referring to a timeline from 1995 - 2015 there is a range of photographs, videos and sound installations like the already famous "Monolith" by Keith Goddard and Klaus Hollinetz. And a special room is dedicated to pictures taken by Peter Kuthan attending the Lwiindi ceremonies and festival in Sinazongwe. The "Siachilaba backstage" photo installation by Sabine Bitter and Helmut Weber, which was a visual accompaniment to the "Six Reflections on Tonga music" since 1997 is actually matching with Elisabeth Altenburg's most recent sculpture made of twentyfive beautiful Tonga baskets. Of course the Tonga.Online and Tonga.OnAir projects as offsprings of this cultural exchange are represented as well.

A special feature to reach out into the surrounding village of Strobl and to attract attention for the exhibition are some signposts designed by pupils of a local school. They depict and alter original signposts from Binga area like "Beware of crocodiles" or "Keep well left" which are rather strange in this typical Austrian context.

The exhibition meets quite some praise for its professional design and interesting approach. Hopefully it will attract not only attention for Tonga culture and Southern Africa but also raise commitment and support for further cross-cultural dialogue and exchange projects. This would be in line with the wishes and aspirations of our key partners in Zimbabwe and Zambia as expressed in a series of statements in the foyer of the exhibition.
Listen to our friends online: https://www.dorftv.at/video/22794

If you are in Austria or else in Europe, don't miss to visit the exhibition, especially since its closing day is approaching fast.

Finissage + party: Sunday, 19th July 2015, 18 hours – „till late“

Intro / Simonga-Maliko Parade Linz09 Remix: Wolfgang Fadi Dorninger (A)
Otto Lechner & Windhund mit Toni Burger und Karl Ritter (A)
Werner Puntigam's (A) Mbirations feat. Hope Masike (ZW), Klaus Hollinetz (A),

read more: http://deutschvilla.at/event/12-06-2015-12-07-2015-recalling-siachilaba/

Parallel and linked to the exhibition is the project "Sichtwechsel" - Change of Perspective - as part of the ongoing Festival of the Regions in Ebensee / Upper Austria with live radio programs by radio-moderators from Salzkammergut in collaboration with their colleagues from Zongwe FM in Sinazongwe/Zambia.

How do we organize our life together? This question is at the centre of the radio project, Change of Perspective. Already in the lead-up to the festival, the two editors from Zongwe FM in Sinazongwe, Patience Mabuku and Kennedy Kambole arrived in Salzkammergut. Now they report daily live from Ebensee and from various arts projects, supported by a mobile studio on a bicycle trailer. They are covering the happenings at the festival alongside with the reactions of the populace and the observations of the two editors from the South of Zambia.

Zongwe FM is a Community Radio of the Tonga people in Sinazongwe. Since the radio station was set up in 2007, there has been an ongoing collaboration with the Free Radios in Austria facilitated by AZFA and its partners Basilwizi Trust and Panos Southern Africa. This is hopefully to be continued through further exchange of knowledge and capacity building.

more: http://www.freiesradio.at/content/radio-mwabonwa-live-aus-ebensee
www.mulonga.net
www.kunzwana.net
http://www.timesup.org/ToR

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Linz, 25th June 2015
by Peter Kuthan
Austria-Zimbabwe Friendship Association
Linz / Austria
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