One of Zimbabwe’s legendary arts and culture hangout, the Book Cafe and Mannenberg, located at the Five Avenues Mall in Harare’s Avenues suburb is scheduled to close its doors to the public at the end of the year due to lack of lease renewal by Old Mutual Property, owners of the property.

The two venues which are managed by the Pamberi Trust, have played a central role in the cultural life of the capital city. In fact, they have been the soul of the creative industry hosting artists of all guise from around Zimbabwe and the globe.

The Book Cafe was recently awarded the 2011 Prince Claus Awards worth €25 000 for its role in “culture and development”, built and focussed on a platform of freedom of expression across music, poetry and theatre with public discussion, film and multi-disciplinary arts.

According to a statement from Pamberi Trust Trust, OK Zimbabwe Pension Fund and its agents Old Mutual Property who own the Five Avenue Shopping Mall served notice to all tenants in the building that they intend to occupy the premise in 2012. Representations to the owners and the agents have proved to no availa, read the statement.

“After 7500 concerts and functions, 650 public discussions, over 70 book launches, 35 theatre productions, staging of 150 international touring acts and countless new local acts and collaborations that emerged within, Harare’s iconic music and performing arts centre, Book Cafe and Mannenberg, will close its doors to the public in Fife Avenue Shopping Mall,” said By Paul Brickhill, Pamberi Trust’s Creative Director .

“About 600,000 have entered the twin venues since opening, as Book Cafe in 1997 with Luck Street Blues, and Mannenberg in 2000 with historic performances by Africa’s great jazz pianist Abdullah Ibrahim. The two venues gave rise to the urban mbira phenomena, a Friday night institution in Harare’s nightlife, pioneered stand-up comedy, championed freedom of expression, laid the foundation for slam poetry, and created major youth and female arts development programmes. The venues were closely associated with many great jazz and blues acts in the early years, and latterly with the reggae renaissance sweeping Zimbabwe.”

Brickhill beamoned the little regard that is paid to civic cultural and intellectual life in Zimbabwe.

“One has to wonder what kind of Zimbabwean spirit and legacy we will create for future generations when the needs of civic cultural and intellectual life are so easily supplanted by those of commerce and profit, even while they can co-exist happily. Book Cafe, for those who truly know its heart, has been a place of beauty, joy and togetherness; and so it never failed to uplift the spirit. 350 artists earn a dignified livelihood at the venues, as well as 45 staff. Never in its history did it offend. All have been welcome, and so all came to visit at one time or other. As Edgar Langeveld once said, if you care to sit at Book Cafe long enough, a week or so, every kind of Zimbabwe will wander through,” said Brickhill.

“The pantheon of music, poetry, comedy, theatre and other artists that emerged through the Book Cafe and Mannenberg is simply the stuff of legend, their number runs not in dozens but hundreds. They know who they are, and in most cases so do the audiences. Some are here, some scattered, some have passed away and some retired. We pay tribute to them all”.

“There are not too many in political, social and media spheres that did not at some time engage in public debate in Book Cafe, and that includes many leaders of yesterday and today. We have been a place of free expression, a platform for exchange of public dialogue”.

“What will happen now is that we will bid farewell to Fife Avenue. The artists, audiences and friends who came to know and appreciate this space may also say their goodbyes, since each had their own way of being part of us and each other at Book Cafe and Mannenberg. This festive season is our last in this venue, and this New Year’s Eve is the last we shall enjoy together at this place, with a hug and a wish for the coming year at midnight”.

“Does the show go on? We will make our announcements in due course. For now, what I can say is that as one door closes in life, so another opens. After 30 years, we have not given up, despite some desperate hardships along the way. We have history. Honestly, it is for us just another bend in the path. To quote my old friend David Ndoro, with whom we invented much of the early years, ‘It is a journey, not a destination’. And so, yes, it will continue”.

“I would like, on behalf of some 1200 artists and our team here, to sincerely and humbly say thank you to every person who has supported, attended or performed at shows and events, who enjoyed themselves, engaged with others in the world of ideas and laughed together. To our many partners in the arts and civil society, as we always said, ‘we are building the kind of Zimbabwe we want to live in’. And so we did. And so we will continue”.

I visited some sort of book cafe that recently opened in our locality. It’s called Mind & Body Book Cafe with my mom and my sisters. The store’s not that spacious but it’s pretty good. They sell healthy snacks and beverages and also some souvenir items like bags and t-shirts. I even found a cool t-shirt with “I Love Books” on it but I wasn’t able to buy it.

Inside the store, there’s a little air-conditioned compartment where they have books which they sell. I bought only one book, Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen.

When my mom gave it to the store manager. The manager sort of smiled and said I had a good pick. “You’re really a book lover,” she also said which sort of made me happy.

I left the shop satisfied but something inside me wants me to go back and hoard all the books in there. But anyway, one book is enough. Their books there are somewhat pricey compared to the bookstore at the mall. Although it’s obviously second-hand it still costs a lot. But the book I bought is just PHP80.00 (approx. $2.00) so it’s still a good bargain.

Samcheongdong is a must-go for cafe lovers – cafe after cafe after cafe! Each of them has interesting architecture and lovely decor, so it is very hard to decide on one! And nestled unobtrusively along the streets of Samcheongdong, is one gem.

Like its name suggests, Book Cafe is filled with books (duh). With tons of books lining the wall of the cafe, it is very easy to while away a lazy afternoon with books and coffee.

A relatively small menu~

Hot Chocolate & Iced Mochaccino (yum!)

No waffles but there's toast - sweet potato with cheese & buttered served with strawberry jam.

A cute cover holding receipts for payment

Charming artwork spotted!

Cool book I chanced upon - it's a collection of poems that comes along with a music score for each poem.

Book Cafe is on the small side, but cozy enough to catch up between girlfriends, quiet enough to study and intimate enough for couples. A place for book-lovers, for sure!

]]> http://freoview.wordpress.com/2011/10/16/what-shall-we-read-at-the-grumpy-sailor-early-in-the-morning/ Sun, 16 Oct 2011 00:55:29 +0000 freoview http://freoview.wordpress.com/2011/10/16/what-shall-we-read-at-the-grumpy-sailor-early-in-the-morning/ The West End of Fremantle has a new cafe, the Grumpy Old Sailor just opened at Fremantle’s best book shop New Edition in High Street. I understand the cafe will also open during evenings.

It is managed by Nathan who many will know from cafes all over Freo and Perth. He is a good and likable operator, so I hope for all involved this will be a success. I love book cafes, as they have a totally different, and more tranquil, ambiance than other cafes.

Here a photo I took at the opening on Friday evening when I happened to walk past.

Roel Loopers

The Culture Fund would like to convey its sincere condolonces to the Mafika family on the untimely passing of   mbira player, teacher and  musician  Taku Mafika.  May his soul rest in peace.

Taku Mafika had 1 album to his name and worked with artists including Alexio, Willom Tight and the late Sam Mtukudzi.Through his career he performed the mbira in Poland, Germany, Italy, Austria Switzerland and Zimbabwe.

The Culture Fund envisions a thriving Zimbabwe that is confident in its innovation and creativity that is nurtured through a culture of open dialogue and creation of knowledge accessible to all its citizens.  The Culture Fund plays a leading role in gearing the country towards becoming a creative society benefiting from a creative economy.  It supports the cultural sphere through results-based programming.

info@culturefund.co.zw

http://www.culturefund.org.zw

Zimbabwe’s longest running longest-running film festival, the Zimbabwe International Film Festival is running until the 7th of October, having officially opened last Friday night at the Harare Gardens. The festival will present presenting  50 screenings of current films from around the world.

The festival has spread its venues out this year in a bid to bring cinemas were none exist and to expose the Zimbabwean audience to different genres of film.

Screenings this year are taking place at various venues including The Harare Gardens, Alliance Française, The Spanish Embassy, National Art Gallery, Pakare Paye Arts Centre and Young Africa Skills Centre.

Other than film screenings the festival is also running workshops at the Mannenburg and the Book Café from the 3rd to the 7th of October with the    aim to stimulate industry’s capacity.  The Festival offers a rich film program, seminars and discussions that engender the exchange of ideas and information focusing on industry development.

The Culture Fund envisions a thriving Zimbabwe that is confident in its innovation and creativity that is nurtured through a culture of open dialogue and creation of knowledge accessible to all its citizens.  The Culture Fund plays a leading role in gearing the country towards becoming a creative society benefiting from a creative economy.  It supports the cultural sphere through results-based programming.

info@culturefund.co.zw

http://www.culturefund.org.zw

A high-quality mix of poets and musicians come together for the Poetry Africa tour, which this year travels to Zimbabwe and Malawi as well as South African cities. Performance showcases take place in Blantyre (8th October), Johannesburg (11th), Harare (13th), and Cape Town (15th) before culminating at the main Poetry Africa festival in Durban from17th to 22nd October.

Organised by the Centre for Creative Arts (University of KwaZulu-Natal), and supported by the National Lottery Distribution Trust Fund (principal funder), Mimeta, and Hivos, Poetry Africa on Tour is an effort to celebrate the beauty and power of poetry with ever-wider constituencies, cultures and countries.

The line-up includes critically-acclaimed writer of poetry, fiction, nonfiction and plays Kwame Dawes, who was born in Ghana but spent most of his childhood and early adult life in Jamaica. He is also an actor, playwright, producer, an accomplished storyteller, broadcaster, and was the lead singer in Ujamaa, a reggae band. Winner of a Pushcart Prize, Dawes has produced a prolific sixteen collections of poetry. In addition to poetry performances, Dawes will also be presenting a Poetry Writing workshop in Johannesburg and his seminal lecture on the Politics and Culture in the Lyrics of Bob Marley in Blantyre and Harare.

Kenyan Shailja Patel’s US publishing debut, Migritude (2010) – a striking portrait of women’s lives and migrant journeys – went to number one on Amazon’s bestsellers in Asian Poetry. This Kenyan poet, playwright, political economist and activist has received numerous awards and fellowships and her work has been translated into 15 languages. Named in 2011 as one of Fifty Inspirational African Feminists by the African Women’s Development Fund, she is a founding member of Kenyans For Peace, Truth and Justice, which helped pull Kenya back from the brink of war during the 2008 elections. Patel will present a lecture in Johannesburg and Durban on the resulting Kenyan Trials currently unfolding in the International Criminal Court.

Always a popular performer is iconic South African poet, MC, actress, television presenter and producer Lebo Mashile. She was in 2006 awarded the Noma Award for Publishing in Africa for her first poetry collection, and has been involved in innovative cross-media collaborations such as that with choreographer Sylvia Glasser and Moving Into Dance Moiphotong.

From neighbouring Botswana comes poet, writer and voice-over artist Tjawangwa TJ Dema. Chairperson of The Writers Association of Botswana, she is the founding member of the Exoduslivepoetry! collective, who have coordinated Botswana’s sole annual poetry festival since 2004.

Musical dimensions enrich the tightly packaged Poetry Africa programme. Winner of a string of major awards, Senegalese rapper Didier Awadi is the most visible figure of Francophone West African hip-hop, and previously toured in Southern Africa with his legendary outfit Positive Black Soul. Awadi’s hard-hitting lyrics and consciousness-raising protest songs voice the hopes and fears of Africa’s young generation today. Awadi is accompanied by guitarist Tibass Kangu from the DRC.

Defying the tradition that women in Zimbabwe do not play the mbira, Chiwoniso has emerged as one of the defining experts in the art, accompanied by her incredible singing. Chiwoniso was a core member of the multi-country all-women band Womens’ Voice, and has her own acoustic group Chiwoniso and Vibe Culture.

Then there is the brilliant Chris Abani.  Abani’s first novel, Masters of the Board (1985), about a Neo-Nazi takeover of Nigeria, got him arrested, and his play Song of a Broken Flute (1990), resulted in a sentence as a political prisoner. Currently a Professor at the University of California, and the recipient of major PEN awards, Abani’s most recent book of poetry, Sanctificum (2010), is a sequence of linked poems, combining religious ritual, the Igbo language of his Nigerian homeland and reggae rhythms.

Special guest from the Netherlands for the Harare and Cape Town legs of the tour is poet, performer and composer Jaap Blonk, world-renowned for his highly original sound poetry – a whole new language that evokes a new way of listening, and thinking!  Blonk was the founder and leader of innovative bands Splinks (modern jazz) and Braaxtaal (avant-rock).

In Johannesburg the Poetry Africa Showcase will include Myesha Jenkins and Oswald Mtshali. Jenkins was part of the Feelah Sistah Collective (which included Lebo Mashile), and will launch her new poetry collection at the Poetry Africa festival in Durban.  Oswald Mtshali is a legend of South African literature, whose poetry and stories have enchanted readers since his first book Sounds of a Cowhide Drum came out in 1971.

The tour is joined in Cape Town by Gabeba Baderoon and Sandile Dikeni. Baderoon is author of three well-received collections of poetry, and recipient of the DaimlerChrysler Poetry Award amongst others, while the charismatic Dikeni, also with three poetry collections to his credit, makes a welcome return to the scene following a car accident a few years ago.

Talented Malawian poets Babangoni Kubvala Chisale, Benedicto Wokomaatani Malunga and Qabaniso ‘Q’participate in the Blantyre Showcase; Zimbabweans Dikson and Xapa will share their skills in Harare.

Apart from the performance showcases other activity programmes include panel discussions, seminars, workshops, schools programmes and meetings with local artists.

One of the tour objectives is the development of partnerships and exchange with cultural organisations in the respective centres, and principal partner organisations for this project are African Arts Institute in Cape Town, African Synergy in Johannesburg, Pamberi Trust and Book Café in Harare, and the Blantyre Arts Festival in Blantyre.

Immediately following the tour, a busy week of poetry activities commences at the Poetry Africa festival in Durban, involving a full contingent of twenty poets from a dozen different countries. For more details on Poetry Africa, and the tour, contact the Centre for Creative Arts on +27 31 2602506 or visit www.cca.ukzn.ac.za

…read more

Zimbabwe’s Book Cafe, flagship venue of Pamberi Trust, is a laureate of 2011 Prince Claus Awards. It is amongst the most prestigious global awards in culture, presented annually to individuals and organisations in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean for outstanding achievement in culture and the positive effect of their work on the wider cultural or social field. Quality is a sine non qua for an Award.

The award has been described as “a momentous achievement for Zimbabwean performing arts, and for Book Cafe”, which becomes one of the first live performing arts venues of this kind in the world, built on a platform of freedom of expression and focusing across music, poetry and theatre with public discussion, film and multi-disciplinary arts, to win the acclaimed global award. Book Cafe was awarded the prize for its role in “culture and development”.

Four African recipients in performing arts have previously received the award; Baaba Maal (Senegal, music), Werewere Liking (Ivory Coast, spoken word), Yousour N’dour (Senegal, music) and Zimbabwe’s Edgar Langeveld (comedy), who fittingly achieved his major successes in Book Cafe. Coincidentally, the award for Book Cafe comes as it commemorates its own 30 years of history (including Grassroots Books, the famous radical bookshop that transformed into Book cafe in 1997).

The Jury Report for the 2011 Price Claus Award to the Book Cafe reads:

“The Book Café (launched 1997, Harare) is a vibrant platform for free cultural expression in a country suffering political and economic upheavals, repressive laws, stringent censorship and a lack of cultural infrastructure. Operating under the umbrella of the Pamberi Trust, with creative director Paul Brickhill, and a dedicated team of staff, this unassuming café and bar presents more than 600 cultural events a year to enthusiastic capacity audiences of people from all racial and cultural groups and all sectors of Zimbabwean society”.

“Its open door policy welcomes all genres and disciplines as well as new fusions and experiments. Live performances encompass spoken word, poetry slams, stand-up comedy, literary readings, drama and all types of music, from traditional mbira, blues and jazz to hip hop and rap. It has developed strong links with the African music scene, frequently organising exchanges and hosting visiting musicians including stars such as Abdullah Ibrahim. Many of its performers, like Chiwoniso Maraire, have gone on to develop international careers”.

“The Book Café runs artistic workshops and practical training programmes throughout the year, and provides access to rehearsal space and equipment. It emphasizes gender equality and youth development, running special initiatives such as FLAME (Female Literary, Arts and Music Enterprise) to promote women in the arts, and BOCAPA (Book Café Academy of Performing Arts) open-mic sessions which are well-subscribed opportunities for new talent. Home to Zimbabwe’s thriving movement of protest poets, the Book Café is renowned for debates on current issues such as land justice or journalistic ethics, and for staging often controversial performances”.

“The Book Café is awarded for its exemplary support of culture and development in Zimbabwe, for the diversity, quality and wide reaching impact of its activities, for stimulating creativity and fostering aspiring young talent, and for its tenacity and commitment in upholding freedom of expression in a difficult context”.

Each year the Prince Claus Fund invites 250 international experts with expertise in the field of culture and development to nominate candidates. It is not possible to nominate oneself or one’s own organisation. Nominations are confidential. The Fund receives about 80 nominations and thoroughly researches the nominations and asks for advice about the nominations from advisors in its network. The Prince Claus Awards Committee meets twice a year to decide the final laureates.

The Award is extremely broad in scope, and mainly presented to individuals across Africa, Asia, Latin America and Caribbean. In winning the award Book Cafe joins a world-acclaimed group of philosophers, choreographers, writers, architects, fashion designers, art critics, film makers, fine artists, cultural magazines, publishers, comedians, cartoonists, photographers, radio and TV stations, poets, book fairs, festivals and carnivals, record producers, dramatists, music schools, museums, curators and designers.

The principle Prince Claus Award for 2011 went to Cape Town’s arts magazine, “Chimurenga” which has broken new ground in cultural journalism in South Africa. Chimurenga is a pan-African publication on culture, art and politics. It is an innovative platform for free ideas and political reflection by Africans about Africa.

The other laureates, joining Zimbabwe’s Book Cafe in 2011, include Kazakh artist Said Atabekov, Nicaraguan rural community arts organiser Nidia Bustos, the photographer Rena Effendi from Azerbaijan, Guatemala’s radical performance artist Regina Galindo, the Ilkhom Theatre from Uzbekistan, Haitian writer Kettly Mars, performance artist Rabih Mroué from Lebanon, the RIWAQ Centre for Architectural Conservation in Palestine and Tibetan writer Tsering Woeser.