Our study focuses on revival of Orchestre Impala, a popular band from the Habyarimana era of the 1970s-80s. We hope this musical revival signals a politics of cultural healing in Rwanda, and coming to terms with the cultural past. This example shows how popular music can contribute to peace-building in post-genocide Rwanda, and perhaps elsewhere.
“If we could combine the autonomy and respect for local talents of the Kampala Biennial with the website and communicative power of KLA ART 14, an ideal contemporary African art festival could be created in the future in Kampala. African contemporary artists are quite able to organise themselves and speak for themselves, provided they can secure enough funding to cover transport, logistics, materials and expenses. The ‘help’ of expatriates should be more or less invisible, and this was not the case at KLA ART 14.”
Helen Hintjens reports from the Kampala Art Festival.