Nyamirambo Music School

Just had to share this. Spent three hours tuning a piano with a stinking hangover today. About two hours in, I was wondering if it was all worth it, but then my friend Bonanni took it for a test run and it was totally worth it. He's so talented. He used to be the manager at Kigali Music School, but that ran out of funding earlier in the year, so he's decided to set out on his own. He's opened a centre in Nyamirambo and some kind soul gifted him this piano, but they haven't been able to use it because it was so out of tune. The trade-off is, I get piano lessons in return. Poor guy, he doesn't know what he's let himself in for! If you like pianos, there's more about all this over on Kigali Keys.

Musical Interlude: Bob Moses

Holding

I was just rewatching the Graham Norton interview with Stephen Colbert the other day. It was done in September last year, but reminded me that Graham Norton had written a book. I've just treated myself to an Audible subscription and decided to download it.

For those who don't know him, Graham Norton is a massive talk show host in the UK, but is perhaps just as loved for his role as Father Noel Furlong in Father Ted, riverdancing a caravan to death.

Not only did he write the book, he also narrated it, which was nice as he's really expressive and has an easy voice to listen to.

From Graham Norton, the BAFTA-award-winning Irish television host and author of the “sparkling and impish” (Daily Mail) memoirs The Life and Loves of a He Devil and So Me, comes a charming debut novel set in an idyllic Irish village where a bumbling investigator has to sort through decades of gossip and secrets to solve a mysterious crime.

The remote Irish village of Duneen has known little drama but when human remains are discovered on an old farm, suspected to be that of Tommy Burke—a former lover of two different inhabitants—the village’s dark past begins to unravel. As the frustrated sergeant PJ Collins struggles to solve a genuine case for the first time in his life, he unearths a community’s worth of anger and resentments, secrets and regret.

In this darkly comic, touching, and at times heartbreaking novel, perfect for fans of J.K. Rowling’s The Casual Vacancy, Graham Norton employs his acerbic wit to breathe life into a host of loveable characters, and explore—with searing honesty—the complexities and contradictions that make us human.

It's a bit harder to review audiobooks than written ones because you can't glance back at your notes and pick out the specific bits you liked. But the characters were really well observed, led by overweight PJ Collins and a kooky band of villagers. A gentle whodunnit, with a more in-depth Guardian review here.

I really enjoyed it.

Ladies of Horror Fiction

Grateful to Ladies of Horror Fiction for giving me a profile on their site. If you like dark fiction, it's well worth checking out. You can also find them on Twitter.

We believe that women in horror fiction are: underrepresented, often lost in the sea of male authors and often unacknowledged for their brilliance

Ladies of Horror Fiction was created to bring about a multi-dimensional way to support women (either cisgender or those who identify as female) who either write in the horror genre or review in it.

This will be done via the website, the podcast, the yearly Instagram Challenge, read-a-longs featuring said authors, and other activities that have not yet been determined.

The Hypochondriac

 

So proud of my friend Pieter, who runs Thespis Consulting. He directed a play at Kigali Cultural Village last night with an all-Rwandan cast. Molière's The Hypochondriac:

A French play by Molièr, spoken in English, performed by Rwandans, directed by a Dutch guy.

How much more international can you get?

I've put the programme online here. 

It was actually my first time inside Kigali Cultural Village, which is just at the end of the road with Marriott and Serena on it. It's a collection of several tents for events. Really beautifully lit as you walk in.

 

I meant to ask Pieter before I left home whether it was posh or casual dress. I assumed casual, but as I walked in, there were loads of people in ball gowns and suits. It's only when I followed them, I realised I was in the wrong tent - someone was getting married! 

Quick about-turn. I eventually saw a tent with the EU sign outside and assumed that was probably where a production of Molière would be taking place, if anywhere.

I was right, and just like the TEDx talk, there was a full house.

I had absolutely no idea that the play was from the 17th century (1673), so 345 years old. It was only the second time I'd been to the theatre in all my years in Rwanda. The first time was Butare Deaf Theatre back in 2008. I'm not counting Ugandan cabaret at Pasadena in this. 

Theatre here is often a showcase of dance, drumming and visual arts, and in the villages it usually contains an HIV awareness-raising message, as a lot of theatre is commissioned by NGOs to spread health messages in rural areas. It was really interesting to watch a European play delivered in a European style, with a few amendments. There is one soliloquy where a guy is telling his reluctantly-betrothed how beautiful she is, and that was delivered in Kinyarwanda, comparing her soft skin to the gorillas in Musanze, and her slender neck to a giraffe... 

There was a lot of laughter throughout the performance, and the jokes came across well, which was impressive as it's quite wordy English. But, as Pieter explained, the play may be over three-hundred years old, but the themes are universal and still relevant: parental pressure to marry someone you don't love, a rich guy being surrounded by friends who adore his money more than him, someone pretending to be sick for sympathy... everyone can relate.

For most of the actors, this was their first time in front of a live audience, and they did superbly. 

This is my friend Pieter sitting to the right of the stage. They put the play together in five weeks, which was really impressive.

Afterwards, I took a little wander around the tent - it's really nice in there, showcasing various Rwandan craft makers.

Reception desk with reed mats, agaseki peace baskets,
bark cloth, milk urns, drums and spears.

Imigongo paintings, traditionally from magic huts.

After the performance Pieter and I went for drinks and dinner at the top of Ubumwe Hotel, which has a fabulous view of the city.

TEDx Rugando

 

Went to a fantastic TEDx event last night in Kigali. It was hosted by Westerwelle Startup Haus. 

 

This place is in a building close to Lemigo Hotel and it has an incredible rooftop view. 

(panoramic, click to enlarge)

(panoramic, click to enlarge)

On one side you had a clear view of Kigali Convention Centre, which is currently the most expensive building in Africa. 

 

On the other side, you can see the Parliament building. Since 1994 bullet holes have been plastered over on residential properties, but they left a massive shell crater in the side of Parliament as a reminder. If you look up as you drive past, you can see it.

 

They were still putting the stage together as I arrived, but the place soon filled up. It was a really good crowd - looked like close to 100 people.

 

It was a really nice venue, and kudos for the funky lighting setup.

There were six speakers and two TED videos. My only criticism is that it would have been nice to have more information about the speakers on the programme, as the info on the website really focused on their business backgrounds rather than their idea and what they were going to talk about. Quite a few of us turned up expecting it to be more of a business promotion event and it was really pleasing to discover the diversity of speakers and topics. It was a really energising evening - as a good TEDx talk should be.

The first speaker was Kevine Kagirimpundu, co-founder of Uzuri, Made in Rwanda shoes, explaining how she took her love of fashion to the high street with the help of a local shoe maker. Next was Betty Tushabe, who founded Spoken Word Rwanda. Her talk chimed really closely with my own TEDx talk, in which she spoke about being forced to study law because of her mother's expectations, then finding her passion for policy making later in life - that 'click' moment.

There was music by Rwandan singer Mike Kayihura, performing a mixture of cover songs and original work. Captivated the audience - really beautiful voice.

The two TED videos were Andrew Youn, founder of the One Acre Foundation who are very big in Rwanda, on how we can end poverty, and Wanuri Kahiu on the importance of art for art's sake.

The second half of the session featured Clement Uwajeneza, who masterminded Irembo, a government services portal, with the ambition of making all government services accessible to everyone, cutting out trips to government offices and reems of paperwork. 

Norbert Haguma, co-founder of AfricaGen, talked about leapfrogging technology in developing countries. This is a big topic at the moment. The West took centuries and an industrial revolution to get to where they are technologically today, whereas Africa is in the strange position of having that technology (internet, computers, iphones) but a large portion of the population still using Bronze Age equipment to farm fields and cook with. Leapfrogging is how you bypass the need to replicate an industrial revolution by introducing non-technologically advanced populations to the technological solutions we have today. It's called leapfrogging, because you're jumping over industrial evolutionary steps to fast-track progress. This is why it should take less time for developing countries to catch up to developed ones than it took for developed countries to become developed. During his talk he mentioned the Great Green Wall, which is a project I'd heard about some years back, but didn't realise was still going ahead. It's a project to plant trees across 8,000 km of Africa to stop the progression of the Sahara Desert.

The last speaker was Gael Vande Weghe, who recently published an aerial photographic journal of Rwanda's diverse ecosystem, This is Rwanda. The talk was accompanied by many beautiful examples from his work.

During Norbert's talk about the future of technology and artificial intelligence, I felt like a Victorian woman listening to a lecture on the potential of electricity. Such a sense that we're so far behind what we're going to become. Exciting, yet unnerving.

Betty Tushabe, founder of Spoken Word Rwanda

I bumped into a couple of the speakers on the roof before they were due to go on. I didn't envy them their nerves, and we laughed about that universal sense of panic every performer gets before stepping on stage - and how that's multiplied tenfold with TED because you know it's being recorded. It was nice being in the audience this time.

A really excellent evening, very glad I went. Plenty to think about. Hopefully the first of many TED events in Rwanda. The talks should be available online in a couple of months. I'll post them once they're up. For now, you can see more at #TEDxRugando

Best Explanation of Iambic Pentameter I've Ever Seen