Mnazi: Vuta N’kuvute
(English: Coconut tree: pull and I pull you)
Poem by Abdilatif Abdala
Performed by Alai K and Musa Adam
Directed by Alumbe Hellon
Musical direction by Alai K
Musicians: Rajab Ramadhan (twari – Swahili drum) Hassan Hussein (flute), Muhamed Bakari (twari)
Abdilatif Abdala
is a lecturer in Kiswahili Language and Literature at the Institute for African Studies, University of Leipzig, Germany. He worked at the Kiswahili Dept. of the BBC World Service, Bush House, London as Programme Assistant in the early 1980s and then as Managing Director and Editor-in-Chief of Africa Events, an international current affairs monthly magazine on Africa, published in London. He was actively involved in Kenyan politics in the 1960s and was imprisoned in 1969 after being found guilty of a seditious crime. His Swahili anthology ‘Sauti ya Dhiki’ (penned while serving a prison term during the Jomo Kenyatta government in post independent Kenya) is considered to be one of the best collections of contemporary Swahili poetry. His poem Mnazi: Vuta N'kuvute ('Coconut tree: pull and I pull you' is about a confrontation between two brothers and is related to the struggle between two Kenyan political parties.
Hassan Hussein (Musical back up)
Singer and player of wind Instruments especially the Flute
Rajab Ramadhan (Musical back up)
Musician and Dancer
Muhamed Bakari (Musical back up)
Musician and Dancer
Musa Adam (Recitor)
Actor, Musician, Rapper and Song writer
Alai K (Musical Director & Recitor)
Musician and Actor. Cultural background, Bajun from the Kenyan coast of Lamu
Alumbe Hellon (Artistic Director)
is a consummate storyteller with vast experience in both local and international storytelling circuit. Hellen currently stands out as a leading Kenyan female professional storyteller who has developed a strong personal creative stature over the last 12years.
