under the baobab tree
coffee breaks by the seaCairo Express
If you happened to pass through Cape Evil in the early 70’s, you might have noticed that there was a little boy sitting on the roof of Sam’s grocery store, singing songs to everyone who passed by or went shopping. Where is this boy now? Has he gone to Cairo? All we know is that the shop has long since been converted into a Kurdish kebab restaurant and very few people, young or old, sing in public these days.
Al-Qahira Expres is a novel about a boy who decides to walk to Egypt. The boy’s world consists of a river, a railroad and the songs he sings on the rooftops. When he learns new songs, he realises that the world is expanding from his home in Cape Evil to distant lands and a world without borders. In this new world, it can sometimes be difficult to understand the mysteries around you, yet it’s always a good time to sing.
القاهرة إكسبريس هي رواية عن صبي يقرر المشي إلى مصر. يتكون عالم الصبي من نهر وسكة حديد والأغاني التي يغنيها على أسطح المنازل. عندما يتعلم أغاني جديدة، يدرك أن العالم يتوسع من منزله في “كيب إيفل” إلى أراض بعيدة وعالم بلا حدود. في هذا العالم الجديد، قد يكون من الصعب أحيانا فهم الألغاز من حولك، ومع ذلك فهو دائما وقت مناسب للغناء
Jarmo Pikkujamsa: Al-Qahira Expres. Takkusaan Books, 2023.
ISBN 979-10-415-2060-2
let the griot play
Quite many years passed since I wrote my first entry on this blog, I can not believe it! It is time again to slow down and find more time for writing, not to mention reading in this crazy, fragmented world of the social media. I have started to write real letters and a hard copy diary, and in the process I completely ignored blogging. Is it just me or has blogging gone out of fashion these days? Oh and as far as writing a diary in a notebook is concerned, believe me it has taken some time to get back to the habit of writing with a real pen. It feels almost a luxury.
I am preparing an exhibition for La Galérie Éthiopiques on traditional Senegalese rhythms, and I would like to document part of this process here. I am now looking for interesting written material about the role of the griot that could accompany the audio samples and other exhibition materials. So far I have been reading the following books, all very good sources to start with: Leymarie, Isabelle: Les griots wolof du Sénégal, Tang, Patricia: Masters of the Sabar and Papis Samba: Musique Sénégalaise, itinerancies et vibrations. If any of you people out there would like to suggest me further readings, please do! The exhibition will be centred around sound and instruments and joined with some audiovisual materials, but the more I manage to do research on the topic in advance the better!
aksum coffee house
Straight from the homeland of coffee, Aksum Coffee House is offering freshly roasted Ethiopian single origin coffee in a lovely surroundings in the heart of Les Marolles in Brussels. The refurbishing work is under way and the opening day is approaching. You are warmly welcome to have a taste of fresh Harar or Limu, or snacks, sweets and drinks out of Africa at Rue Haute 140, Brussels from 17 October 2010 on!
deserts, mountains and sacred cities
Eastern Ethiopia: deserts, mountains and sacred cities from 22 December 2010 to 4 January 2011 by Harmattan Tours.
Our Eastern Ethiopian tour includes the famous Ethiopian Orthodox shrines of Lalibela and the fascinating Muslim holy city of Harar – both Unesco world heritage sites – the savanna of Awash National Park, the rugged Lasta mountains and the surreal lunar landscape of the Danakil desert – an area characterized by superlatives and extremes.
Keep an eye on the Harmattan Tours website for upcoming exciting destinations!
time flies!
A year and a half seems to have passed since I last wrote an entry to this blog. I even needed to dig my username from under some dust to be able to come back and log in.
In the near future we are opening a coffee house that will also be a platform in which African artists and designers can exhibit their work, and there will be a specific blog to promote this. I will from here on share my blogging time between this blog and the new on the coffee house, so more stories on African topics will be on the menu again!
under the baobab tree 