One of my greatest fears as a person of the African Diaspora, is where will Africa be in my lineage in 20 or 30 years to come? If I don’t speak my native dialect and if I cant be classed as distinctly ‘African’, what hope will my yet born children have, and their children to come? This topic has been the theme of some of my poetry and it is something that truly haunts me, because I know I’m not the only African in the Diaspora who shares the fears of our cultures fading. Funnily enough even in Africa, the fear of our traditional culture, filled with its folktales and distinct nuances dying out in favour of more Western ideals, is not without merit. This afternoon I came across a video on CNN’s African Voices, which gave me a sense of hope, a sense of ease.
Nigerian Jimi Solanke, is a performer, poet and a story teller. He performs live to children and has had two successful children’s shows in Nigeria. One of his many aims is to ensure his culture never dies out.
“People like us, we will keep the flag of our ancestors flying, no matter what other spiritual concerns. At least at my age, I’ve lived it and seen it, I’ve taught it, I’ve discussed it, so I believe it can never be totally pushed into extinction”
For those of us outside Africa, especially in Australia where to find anything African is not as commonplace as in the UK for instance, I thank God for TV shows like Tinga Tinga Tales. I was so excited to see this cartoon, depicting African folktales, on TV.
“Based upon animal creation stories from all over the African continent, Tinga Tinga Tales brings to life tall tales of how your favourite animals came to be the way they are today.”“It’s a world where you can fly too close to the sun, jump off clouds, and summon musical storms; where you can sing and dance with the dawn chorus, or fall asleep under the Tinga stars. A magical world where animals transform before your very eyes!”
Away from home, we may not have grandmothers and grandfathers to relay traditional folktales of how things came to be or why things are the way they are but I hope we see more initiatives like these, to keep ourselves and generations to come rooted, wherever we find ourselves.
SOURCE: AFRICAN VOICES