urbanwasanii

Although the Wasanii International Artists Workshop is an established event by now, this year (the 6th to run) has two key differences. Firstly, it is focussed specifically on artworks which relate to public space. Secondly, it is interdisciplinary. Ukoo flani, a hip hop collective from Mombasa form a key part of the workshop. In collaboration with Cultural Video Foundation they are composing a new song and making a music video about ‘Maskani’, a form of public space intrinsic to Mombasa.

Whilst in Nairobi maskani means basically ‘neighbourhood’ in Mombasa it describes the public street space where you will meet with your friends to hang out; your corner on the block. When this emerged in discussions between Ukoo Flani and CVF they decided to write a song about what the maskani means to the Ukoo Flani members. On Friday night I visited them in the studio to witness the song’s production. It was a very fun experience.

We entered the studio by an unmarked door on Moi Avenue. There was not a single light on the three flights of stairs leading up the recording area, but we did meet a couple of voices in the dark checking that we were friends. When we arrived at the top of this Jacob’s ladder we were greeted by a highly industrious atmosphere. Signs on the walls discouraged idleness and there was a palpable sense of concentration amongst the Ukoo Flani family. Thats not to say they weren’t having a laugh; there was some powerful liquor doing the rounds, but everyone had written out their own lyrics and were wondering back and forth rapping quietly to themselves.

I popped my head into the small recording booth and then continued up to the rooftop. Here, more members were quietly pacing around, rapping their new rhymes to themselves. The recently full moon was now waning but still cast an ethereal glow over downtown Mombasa. I chatted a bit with Vincenzo and Sylvia from Cultural Video Foundation and we speculated about the nature of the public space discourse and how it generally seems to stay within ‘academic’ circles. Nevertheless it is obviously an issue which affects all of us.

As Vincenzo said the other day, if you never inhabit a public space with people who are from a different socio-economic background from you then they will forever remain a symbol, and never become an individual. So if rich and poor never actually come into direct contact with one another, as you might speculate is the case in a city like Nairobi, a city of automobiles forever ferrying human cargo through the city space, then that has a potentially huge impact on the cohesion of that society…

Anyway, I’m digressing a bit, as what I wanted to say was that here, in Mombasa in a small studio on a Friday night, non-academics (Ukoo Flani) were writing lyrics about what public space means to them. It seemed really significant to have this input from normal people talking about everyday experience rather than from academics. We will post the lyrics as soon as we can.

What was intended as a short visit ended up as a bit of an all-nighter. Even ‘tho Ukoo Flani are efficient with the studio time, song production still takes a while. Each member is recorded separately and then the producer assembles them all in a master track. It was a real education watching the song build layer by layer as each Ukoo Flani member added their personal touch. By 5 in the morning we were done, and after the only taxi journey I’ve had in Kenya where the driver is actually getting high whilst we were driving, we got home and I crashed into bed. More soon.