"... I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands...."
Wow...it always puzzled me how could he identify all that diversity of people groups, tribes and languages when they were all dressed in white ...interesting isn't it?!! they should have looked REALLY different from one another :-)...
I was at this "AFRICA FESTIVAL" this last 4 days and I have to say it was the best Festival I 've ever been... It was in a beautiful place, a big garden with nice trees, next to the river Tagus and "Torre de Belem"... It was really well organized, all the musicians were amazing and it was for free, so anyone could enjoy the blessing...There were musicians from different African countries, like Angola, Cape Verde, Mali, Senegal, Guine-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Zimbabwe and Mozambique...
There were also some performances of nice local bands in a smaller stage, like Refillon and Ebano and also an african drums' performance... They also offered some workshops of African Dance, both for children and adults, drama for children, masks, dolls and instruments out of recycled materials and African dance also for kids...
The crowd couldn't stand still of course...some more professionally, some more naturally, some just the way they would feel the beats...it was beautiful !!! everyone was enjoying... Yesterday I was just trying to imagine how it would be in Heaven, with all the different peoples coming before God's throne and offering Him worship in all sorts of languages, rhythms, stiles, instruments, dances, etc... all the best of each culture in the whole world...wow..I guess it's too much for me to even picture...But It's gonna be awesome !!!
If you wanna check their sound try to find in Google... Bonga (Angola)...Cheikh Lo (Senegal)...Tcheka (Cabo-Verde)...Oumou Sangare (Mali)...Djumbai Jazz (Guine-Bissau)...Tiken Jah Fakoly (Ivory Cost)... Stella Chiweshe (Zimbabwe) and Eyuphuro (Mozambique)...
Stella Chiweshe, a sweet African mama, is the only woman in Zimbabwe to lead a band...she's the queen of Mbira, an instrument which was forbiden during the colonial regime because they feared its magical powers... well, I don't know about that, but it's definitely a beautiful instrument and she also play it beautifully... probably that was the "church" suggestion who like to label a lot of things as "sacred", "pagan", "demonic", "holy", "christian", etc...we've been losing so much with that kind of attitude and we've been also pulling so many people away from God because of our own human rules...on that time people could even go to prison if they would play it...so it was pretty revolutionary to dare to play it, and so I admire this woman for fighting for her culture...
we all know there are many bad and wrong things in every culture, but to point out instruments, dances and outfits it's silly... look at our "western culture"...and look at the church so influenced by it (and I'm not speaking about music instruments here...)
There were also a tribute to Ali Farka Toure who died on March 7, this year, from the bone cancer that he had been battling for years...they had a nice photograph exhibition with some biography... He played last year's "Africa Festival" and I recommend his music... I even appreciate his work more after knowing a bit more about him... He was not only a musician, but also a politician, a farmer, a wise man, a family man and a social activist... In 2004 he put his music aside to dedicate himself to his city in Mali, Niafunke. He was elected president and really made a change in the 53 villages he got in charged of...His first great work was to irrigate the dry fields, taking the water from the Niger River...among many other things, he improved the sanitary infrastructures, fixed the roads, planted trees everywhere, put traffic signals where was needed due to the immense accidents they had in the city, he made available one bus with 70 seats for the kids in school and also supported youth activities in the city, he also developed a sports area and in less than 2 years equipped all the City Hall services with phone lines, electricity and water. For the population to be aware of what's going on in the world he also made available more then 50 Tv channels from his own antena to those who had Tv at home. He started his own Foundation through which he donated more then 10.000 Euros in music material to help support other musicians from the area like Khaira Arby... He also used his international influence to mobilize authorities from other cities like Milan, Rome, Nice and Lisbon to help his village of Niakunfe... he also dedicated his life to assure that people of Niakunfe would have enough food coz he said "when we're hungry we cannot think about anything else"... so he made available 6.000 square meters for a garden and 25.000 to plant rice, corn, lettuce, collie-flower, potatoes, carrots,etc... he also planted 3000 Mango trees, oranges, lemons, gwaba and pine fruit. he also had cows, sheep, goats, camels and donkeys... For each village he made sure it had a school and a nursery hospital...he gave work and food to his city and because of that he was requested by the people to be their president...
Wow, definitely a man who was not living for himself... I would even say he was living by God's kingdom big rule - LOVE :-)
What an example and inspiration !!!
May you be blessed and inspired by that !!!
PEACE
1 comment:
the festival was lots of fun baba....
a couple times i wasnt just dancing and singing a long for fun...it was worship, worship under the stars, on a big grassy field, with warm wind, and rastas, freaks, africans, portuguese, estrengeiros and close friends.
it was good!
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