The desire to educate and effect social change using artistic mediums has been around since the Romantic Era of the late 18th Century. Bavubuka is no different, it is an intellectual movement with the goal to bring about change. What we are seeing in East Africa at the moment is a change in direction against societal norms through its music, art and literature. We are seeing an intellectual revolution designed to change lives, opinions and stigma. Silas Balabyekkubo aka Babaluku from Bavubuka is the founder and leader of the Hip Hop movement based in Kampala. Thanks to the power being out the Wonderous Wanderer got the chance to sit down in the candlelight at their headquarters in Makindye for an inspirational conversation with Silas.
A lot of people think of hip hop groups or people promoting the spread of hip hop a lot of people associate that bad language, behaviour, violence and drug use. This is a common misconception which we have acquired from certain American rappers. In fact the Hip Hop movement is well known in the US to have saved lives due to its ability to turn negative energy into positive energy using creative means. The hip hop movement encompassing MC’s, break dancers, graffiti artists and beatboxers has been a creative outlet for underprivileged youth since the 1970’s and with a little help from Silas and Bavubuka it is changing lives in Uganda. Silas is a founding member of Bataka Squad one of the pioneering hip hop groups in Uganda introducing the country to the Lugaflow style.
Bavubuka began as a dream of Silas’ when he was living in Canada, “For a good two years I was dreaming of coming to Africa. While I was in school the vision started to manifest as to what I could really do...I needed to find a good reason why I should come back. I wanted to be of purpose to be of use.” Silas did come back to Uganda with his dream in tow in 2005 which marks the beginning of the Bavubuka Foundation and long road ahead filled with dreams, music and interesting people. What exactly does the Bavubuka Foundation do? “Bavubuka provides spaces for young people to self express, not only that but its focus is to really empower young people to be leaders and take up responsibilities in their communities. To be a part of the solution to all the issues that are going on. So really equipping them with the power to be able to narrow down things that are happening and being part of the solution bringing the change that they want to see. Not only that but giving them a platform to start being consciously aware of things that are going on around the world and to build a global citizenship.” According to the Bavubuka website their aim is this “The Bavubuka Foundation is proud to be in parternship with the Temple of Hip Hop created to assist in the building of Hip Hop as a legitimate community of prosperous and peace-filled people. We are highly supportive of their belief that Hip Hop is an alternative behaviour capable of raising one's self-awareness, self-worth, and self-respect and support their Hip Hop Declaration of Peace which embodies these principles.
You might be wondering how encouraging youth to be creative helps them accomplish all this, how can equipping someone with certain skills motivate them to perpetuate change in their community? Silas likes the term revolution when speaking about the Foundation, “being a part of Uganda, you can ask a University kid here what is revolution and they won’t be able to explain to you what the term revolution really means because there are no platforms there for creativity. To me when I was coming home as an artist I said I want to leave a mark of using creativity as a tool for transformation.” Like any movement based around change through creativity there are always going to be critics, just like Edgar Allan Poe or Bob Marley and the Wailers had so too will Bavubuka. “If you have exercised yourself in the field of getting out and meeting the people and meeting real stories of true life challenges then you would understand the need of creativity especially in poverty stricken environments” says Silas.
Something that is really interesting about Bavubuka is that they are not simply mimicking the hip hop of other countries they have been responsible for what Silas terms “indigenous” hip hop in Uganda. That is the beautiful thing about hip hop is its ability to traverse countries and cultures and become adapted by people worldwide and modified to suit different languages and issues. The only thing that doesn’t change is the power and influence the music has for disaffected youths. “Empowering young people to embrace their culture, to embrace their tradition which has gained us a lot of respect from the elderly. Showing the people that you can convey positive messages, educational messages and awareness messages through the art form of using your indigenous language” says Silas of the importance of using language.
“The first mandate that we’ve used is really using music as a tool for social change.” – Silas Balabyekkubo
The unique point of difference Bavubuka has over other movements or organisations is the importance placed on youth speaking out about problems. “We focus on our MC’s to understand that they have a responsibility in their community to speak for the people. Most of all our slogans are inspired by the people, for the people, so the work that’s done among young people is actually preserved in the whole community.” As a nominee for the recently indoctrinated Young Achiever Award in Uganda Silas points out the difficulties faced here as there has been no appreciation for youth efforts in the country. “On a grass roots level what we have achieved, we have bred a generation of advocates. We’ve bred a generation of smart, young people who are starting to exercise their entrepreneurial abilities. We have bred a generation that loves to be educated by creating spaces that allows them to be creatively attached to the need of education to enhance what they’re putting out.”
Three young boys walk into the studio, so after all this talk, it’s only fair to ask Silas what he thinks these young boys will grow up to be. “These (boys) are some of the youngest MC’s in Uganda. They’re still in school and I always tell people when they come to Bavubuka, the kids that come here are not only rappers, you’ve got young ones that are aspiring to be lawyers, electrical engineers, graphic designers, you’ve got actors. We’re a part of young people aspiring to achieve our dreams but creating a platform whereby we springboard of each other’s strengths. So really these young ones are the young leaders, I mean these young kids are freestylers. One thing that I have seen among them as they have proved is that at this age, because the art of freestyle is the art of critical thinking, so you have a kid like this talking about child issues. I think it’s adding to another creative realm of Uganda. It’s showing young people that hey we’ve got a voice and we can speak up!”
If you’re worried that Bavubuka Foundation will end any time soon, fear not! Silas has assured Uganda that the movement is a lifetime commitment, “it’s a legacy, we’re aiming to establish a dynasty! It will live in the memoirs and the memories of the many kids that have walked on this property.”
One Love.
Photos by Roshan Karmali (the fabulous, super talented Roshan Karmali)
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