For the first time ever, the African Students Association hosted “Birima Night.” Birima, a word from the Senegalese language Wolof, means “festival.” Though the night was indeed a celebration, sobering issues were weaved in a powerful and seamless manner.
Dance group Boucher opened the show with a traditional Senegalese dance. The young women performing, dressed in traditional garb, grinned throughout the dance number, choreographed by Ndeye Gueye ’06. It was difficult not to be moved by the infectious beat; several audience members could be seen dancing or clapping to the music. As an introduction to the rest of Birima Night, Boucher succeeded in warming up the audience and setting a festive mood.
Rahwa Yebio ’05 impressively followed the dance act with a slam poem titled “Prince of Peace.” The poem described a guiding moral force, in the form of a prince, leading the speaker away from a self-destructive lifestyle. Yebio’s demure onstage presence was deceitful; her delivery style made one hear her words and understand the transition in the poem.
“Unsatisfied I took shots, smoked weed,” Yebio said.
Later in the poem she elaborated on the work of her “prince.”
“He put confusion to order, making me see.”
An anonymously written poem, “I am a Woman”, was recited next by Phelele Fakudze ’07 and Ewurabena Hutchful ’07. The poem contrasts the lives of two women, one rich and the other poor. At first, they seem similar, but as their lives change with what seems to be a civil war of sorts, the message of the poem becomes clear. The wealthy woman describes her leisurely life and the luxuries she is afforded, and the poor woman sadly describes the loss of life and suffering she has experienced. As a revolution to gain equality for the impoverished is attempted, their situations change.
“We had to eat beans,” complains the well-off woman.
“We had beans!” declares the struggling woman.
Embodying the voices of the poem, Fakudze and Hutchful expressed the disparity between rich and poor and how easily privileges are taken for granted.
“I thought it was enlightening, how differently the two speakers of the poem saw something as simple as beans. It definitely makes you realize the excess in our lives, and how we assume it will always be there,” said Elaine Lai ’08.
Continuing the topic of struggle was the presentation of “Peace Under Fire,” a United Nations documentary on the Sudan genocide. The Wesleyan Student Campaign for Child Survival organized the screening of the documentary for Birima Night. Member Nishita Roy ’07 gave a brief explanation of the group’s mission as well as the various on-campus events related to the crisis in Darfur.
Jason Lalor ’07 delivered a witty politically-charged poem entitled “A Revolution.” In the style of Gil Scott Heron’s “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised,” Lalor’s one liners sharply mocked our consumer culture.
“This revolution will be brought to you by Coca Cola,” he said.
Funnier still were jabs at the Wesleyan community.
“The revolution will not be here when you get back from Weshop,” Lalor said.
“Some of my students are in this…it’s great,” said Alice Hadler, Assistant Dean of Student Academic Resources and Adjunct Instructor in English.
For anyone who ever asked an African about lions or huts, the next skits would have been uncomfortable. Hosts Coco Lampty ’05, Lorraine Githiora ’06 and Rhoda Tamakloe ’05 had a spoof question and answer session with the audience. Discussing whether or not there is a universal African accent, and the merits of “Coming to America” as the greatest film about Africans poked fun at ignorance and brought to light the lack of true-to-life Africans in entertainment. This topic was made humorous again when performers gathered on stage and said short statements dispelling common myths about Africa.
“I don’t know about your country,” said one performer,“ but the only naked people I’ve seen are in Westco.”
Another performer mocked the misperception of Africa as a desolate land with few foreigners.
“Oh my god, you’re from South Africa? I went to Kenya once. Did you see me? Did you see me?”
The Wesleyan Capoeira club made its routine interactive, involving audience members on stage and teaching simple lyrics to be sung during the performance. Capoeira is a dance and martial art combination that is most often associated with Brazil. However, as the club’s members explained, it originated in Angola, where it was also called “zebra dance”.
The club members took turns displaying their skills, mesmerizing the audience with the slow, deliberate movements they made look easy.
The dancers in Boucher graced the Crowell stage once more with the same contagious energy they brought at the very beginning. The African Students Association’s Birima Night ended cheerfully, with the promise of becoming an annual tradition at Wesleyan.
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