ZANZIBAR S Sauti za Busara (a Swahili term meaning sounds of wisdom”) is one of Africa’s largest and most popular music festivals, yet it is unabashedly noncommercial.
Most other African festivals feature stars performing Americaninfluenced commercial music. But Sauti za Busara’s mission is clear: it firmly supports the immense diversity of traditional African music styles. Many of these genres are under threat of extinction due to the dominance of Western popular music on radio.
For more than a decade, Sauti za Busara has drawn thousands of visitors both local and international to the island of Zanzibar every February.
On Sauti za Busara’s musical menu you can taste anything from east African giants of classic taraab such as the late Bi Kidude, to young innovators in the western Africa jali tradition such as Dawda Jobarteh.
However, this February, there was no Sauti za Busara. Busara Promotions, the non-profit organisation that plans and manages the festival, cancelled the event due to a shortage of funds in 2016.
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Like many African non-profit organisations, Busara Promotions partially relies on foreign funding. Ticket sales only cover 30% of its revenue. International donors, embassies and commercial sponsors provide most of the support. Much of that did not arrive this year.
Busara Promotions CEO Yusuf Mahmoud attributes this to a confluence of factors, including the end of a three-year grant from the international donor Hivos. He also points to an ironic consequence of Sauti za Busara’s rising profile as an international festival. Many donors believe that, because the festival is so well attended, their money is not needed.
The cancellation points to an under-reported yet significant aspect of global economic inequity international donor dependency. In 2013, Africa received an estimated total of $56-billion in official development aid.
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It comes mainly from wealthy nations in northern Europe, North America and largely eastern Asia.
The only African entity listed among the top 10 donors is the African Development Bank, also largely foreign funded.
The festival’s cancellation also turns the focus on the lack of local support.
There has been zero support” from government despite tourism being the fastest-growing sector of Zanzibar’s economy, it generates about 80% of foreign exchange earnings and accounts for about 27% of economic output.
The reasons for the general lack of local support are not clear.
It may be that Sauti za Busara is seen as generating enough revenue, and that it can fund itself.
Busara Promotions is not the only African arts body facing this dilemma. The Nairobi-based non- profit organisation Ketebul Music finds itself in a similar position.
Founded by long-time music mogul Tabu Osusa, Ketebul Music’s mission is promoting eastern Africa’s diverse musical traditions in a number of ways. It creates documentary films about eastern African music history.
Ketebul Music’s recording studio in Nairobi generates revenue from local artists who pay to record their music there but still needs funding.
With limited local government or private sector support for their work, this gap is filled by international donor organisations. These sources have not always been consistent.
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Arts play a powerful role in shaping the culture of any society. But with limited local economic support these independent African arts organisations are forced to rely on inconsistent global funding streams.
This suggests that cultural expressions of African identity may partly be reliant on the apparent whims of donors in foreign capitals.
McNamara Morin is director of Individualised Studies at Dixie State University, USA. Source: https://theconversation.com