Chido Murambiwa, Grade 11
UWC Waterford Kamhlaba
Africa is mainly celebrated for its resilience, suffering, natural beauty, and children riding on lions to school. Africa night is one of the few times I see Africa being celebrated just for being it. It’s a time when it's not being honoured for overcoming something but for embracing something. It’s the few times when being African doesn’t feel so alienating but empowering and a source of growth.
Africa week is a time dedicated to celebrating the diversity in the continent and the various ways of life. The beauty standards set are dismantled and celebrated as a form of ‘true beauty the different attires are praised and commended when worn. The various ethnicities are put on a pedestal when they were always in the back seat of a car they didn’t ask to be in. The event I look forward to the most is Africa night it is the biggest event of the week.
Africa night consists of various African fashion brands being promoted, poetry in different languages, and songs in different languages. The main types of dances are afrobeat, amapiano and gum boots. The history behind these various performances is explored and people are able to gain insight into the continent.
The Africa night we had this year was mind-blowing. The heads of Africa week put in so much work to get sponsorships to make the event bigger than it usually is. The singers were outstanding and they sang in their languages or songs from their languages in English. The dances as usual were incredible and made my bones hurt from watching them. They are all talented and represented consistent factors in the different regions of the continent. Everyone at the school by now probably knew what afrobeats or amapiano was. It was the beats and dances that originated from traditional events. In southern Africa, the traditional dressing doesn’t consist of many articles of clothing.
People who have reviewed traditional dances and attires from the global north have deemed them sexualizing and fetishized women. However, realizing how offensive it was was another thing altogether. As I saw the people dance in their attires dances meant to celebrate femininity and show pride in being a woman made been muggled. The praises that were given to the people were outstanding people who stood up and clapped for them because they were validating parts of different cultures that had been deemed immoral and provocative. I was proud of the people who danced. They danced even if for example gumboot was used to cope with the oppressive and human rights violating conditions in South African mines. The night was so much fun, the parts when someone would sing a song and you wouldn’t know the language but remembered it being played on the radio for all of 2015. People were courageous enough to try and learn the lyrics of a song and then practice the pronunciation of the songs. It was validating to see people put in the effort to learn and discover the different ways and tones that another language used.
Africa week is a time dedicated to celebrating the diversity in the continent and the various ways of life. The beauty standards set are dismantled and celebrated as a form of ‘true beauty the different attires are praised and commended when worn. The various ethnicities are put on a pedestal when they were always in the back seat of a car they didn’t ask to be in. The event I look forward to the most is Africa night it is the biggest event of the week.
Africa night consists of various African fashion brands being promoted, poetry in different languages, and songs in different languages. The main types of dances are afrobeat, amapiano and gum boots. The history behind these various performances is explored and people are able to gain insight into the continent.
The Africa night we had this year was mind-blowing. The heads of Africa week put in so much work to get sponsorships to make the event bigger than it usually is. The singers were outstanding and they sang in their languages or songs from their languages in English. The dances as usual were incredible and made my bones hurt from watching them. They are all talented and represented consistent factors in the different regions of the continent. Everyone at the school by now probably knew what afrobeats or amapiano was. It was the beats and dances that originated from traditional events. In southern Africa, the traditional dressing doesn’t consist of many articles of clothing.
People who have reviewed traditional dances and attires from the global north have deemed them sexualizing and fetishized women. However, realizing how offensive it was was another thing altogether. As I saw the people dance in their attires dances meant to celebrate femininity and show pride in being a woman made been muggled. The praises that were given to the people were outstanding people who stood up and clapped for them because they were validating parts of different cultures that had been deemed immoral and provocative. I was proud of the people who danced. They danced even if for example gumboot was used to cope with the oppressive and human rights violating conditions in South African mines. The night was so much fun, the parts when someone would sing a song and you wouldn’t know the language but remembered it being played on the radio for all of 2015. People were courageous enough to try and learn the lyrics of a song and then practice the pronunciation of the songs. It was validating to see people put in the effort to learn and discover the different ways and tones that another language used.
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