"Already Egypt, which relies on the Nile for over 90 percent of its water
needs, has a water deficit and is extremely concerned with protecting its
water share. Meanwhile upstream riparian governments increasingly demand a
more equitable use of Nile water resources, arguing that the current
division of Nile water between Egypt and Sudan denies development
opportunities to upstream states"
"... One source at the Foreign Ministry who asked to remain anonymous
voiced that while, "It's encouraging to see and it's a step in the right
direction to bring people closer together, the issue is more than lack of
trust. There are fundamental differences that need to be addressed and no
amount of cultural events and projects will change that."
http://egypttoday.com/blog/2014/04/28/river-runs/#!
A River Runs Through ThemPosted by: yelnarsh in Nile Adventures April 28,
2014 88 Views
*The Nile Project hopes to bring countries -- and cultures -- of the Nile
Basin together through music.*
*By Campbell MacDiarmid*
*Photography courtesy of the Nile Project*
Thousands of Egyptians danced to the beat of a different drum in March
during a series of concerts performed by the Nile Project, a group of
musicians from Nile Basin countries who came together to explore the
region's shared musical roots. Using the instruments of the Nile Basin, the
musicians explored their shared musical heritage, composing a body of songs
inspired by the Nile. At the heart of the Nile's musical identity is the
plucked harp and spike fiddle, versions of which are found in all Nile
Basin countries. But when Egyptian heptatonic modes meet Ethiopian
pentatonic scales, things get interesting. When the Egyptian nay or flute
plays alongside Ethiopian saxophone and Rwandan inanga, a kind of harp
which resembles a surfboard, the result is original music that reveals its
diverse but connected roots.
Since forming in 2011, the group has performed in Uganda, Tanzania, Kenya,
Ethiopia and Egypt. The group's first album "Aswan" was listed by NPR Music
as one of "five must-hear international albums" in 2013 and named by
Songlines magazine as one of the 10 best new releases in its "Top of the
World" editor's choice selection in January. The BBC Radio 3 World Routes
program has produced a two-hour radio program on the Nile Project. Perhaps
most impressive to an Egyptian audience was the performance on the Bassem
Youssef show in March, which raised the project's profile locally, bumping
its Facebook fans close to 50,000.
These successes are secondary to the Nile Project's primary aim though,
says Egyptian ethnomusicologist and project founder Mina Girgis. More than
just a music concept, the Nile Project aims to start a conversation about
sustainable management of the world's longest river. By bringing together
musicians from Nile Basin countries, the initiative hopes it can generate a
grassroots movement for citizens to find common ground aside from the
discourse of division that characterizes interstate Nile Basin relations.
It's hard to overstate the importance of such an endeavor. The river, which
links the 11 Nile Basin states, offers huge potential for development, but
is also the source of potential conflict. An estimated 437 million people
live in Nile Basin countries, and some 200 million of them rely directly or
indirectly on the Nile for food security. The population of the Nile Basin
is projected to grow to 600 million by 2025, placing increasing demands on
Nile water.
Already Egypt, which relies on the Nile for over 90 percent of its water
needs, has a water deficit and is extremely concerned with protecting its
water share. Meanwhile upstream riparian governments increasingly demand a
more equitable use of Nile water resources, arguing that the current
division of Nile water between Egypt and Sudan denies development
opportunities to upstream states.
In the past year the issue of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), a
1.8 kilometer dam across the Blue Nile river, which supplies the Nile with
85 percent of its water, raised tensions between Egypt and upstream
neighbor Ethiopia close to breaking point. While the two countries have
engaged in negotiations over the dam, public pronouncements have raised the
possibility of going to war.
Such threats are counterproductive and dangerous, says Girgis. "The
discourse that is happening is a discourse of mistrust, assuming that
you're not going to act in the best interest, that you will take advantage
of any vulnerability," he says. "War is a possibility. That doesn't mean
it's a solution."
Instead, he envisages a collaborative approach to managing the region's
shared water resources, pointing out that the GERD has the possibility to
benefit the entire region if it is managed cooperatively. Energy-hungry
Egypt could import cheap hydro power. Storing Nile water in the highlands
of Ethiopia rather than in the desert climate of Lake Nasser could also
reduce evaporation by up to four billion cubic meters annually. "If Egypt
were one country with Ethiopia, they would put the dam where GERD is, and
they would forget about the Aswan dam," says Ana Cascão, an authority on
the hydropolitics of the Nile Basin at the Stockholm International Water
Institute. However mutual mistrust means that the two countries have so far
been unable to reach an agreement on shared management of the dam.
Other proposals for developing the Nile would require even greater levels
of interstate cooperation. The Jonglei Canal, which aimed to bypass the
Sudd wetlands in Sudan, in which much of the White Nile evaporates before
ever reaching Egypt, was one such planned mega-project. Construction of the
planned 360 kilometer canal began in 1978 but was halted in 1984 by
conflict in Sudan, fueled partly by fears that draining the wetlands would
threaten the way of life of the residents. In 2008, Sudan and Egypt agreed
to restart the project but construction is yet to resume.
While previous state level attempts at interstate coordination have
floundered, ordinary people are ready to take on initiatives to find
solutions, Girgis believes. "They're exhausted by these empty geopolitical
arguments that we know will not solve any problems," he says. "We're
working on an answer, we're working in a different direction."
The project offers a space for citizens to engage in a discussion about
Nile Basin issues. The audience at Nile Project concerts is invited
afterwards to attend workshops to discuss sustainable management of the
Nile Basin. Later this year the project plans to launch a Nile Prize, to
promote food sustainability and "support Nile Basin university students in
the design and implementation of local solutions based on principles of
sustainable, community-centered design."
Beyond performing, the musicians have relished the opportunity to engage
with their audience. "I'm excited to bring the conversation away from the
politicians and to the people," says Ethiopian saxophone player Jorga
Mesfin.
Moreover, music offers a template for how the discourse might be changed
from combative to cooperative. "Music is a great place for other
disciplines to learn how to come and listen," Mesfin says. "Most
disciplines are based on arguments, and theses and proving. Music does not
have that agenda." When people are intent on proving each other wrong, "it
makes me want to go home and practice my instrument," he says. "If people
have trust issues and other agendas, they're not listening. But you can't
listen to music like that, it hits you differently."
The first Nile Project residency in Aswan in January 2013 brought together
18 musicians from Egypt, Ethiopia, Eritrea, South Sudan, Sudan and Uganda.
Egyptian singer Dinah El Wadidi faced the challenge of learning music in a
pentatonic mode, which has five notes and is typical of Ethiopian music,
rather than the seven notes of the heptatonic scale she was familiar with.
When the 14 musicians from Burundi, Egypt, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Sudan
and Uganda assembled in Kampala for the second residency this year, El
Wadidi worked with Ethiopian vocalist Selamnesh Zemene to compose a song
combining the Egyptian heptatonic modes and the Ethiopian pentatonic modes.
"You could superimpose them on top of each other," she says.
Girgis sees in this as an analogy for how people's different worldviews
shape their perspective. "It's a metaphor for two different realities," he
says. "We might be seeing something very similar but from very different
perspectives."
"That level of empathetic listening and collaboration is really what we
need," he says. "What we're doing among musicians is something the world
could learn from."
Many of the Nile Project's fans agree. "After decades of bad foreign policy
on the part of Egypt toward other Nile Basin countries, it's amazing to see
musicians taking action and calling for peace and understanding among us,"
says Manar Mohsen, a social worker who attended the Nile Project concert in
Cairo's Al Azhar park on March 5 March. "The concert was a great way to
build bridges."
The Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) in Egypt also saw
the Nile Project as worthy of support. Director Romain Darbellay says with
relationships between governments strained, civil society initiatives like
the Nile Project are important. By exploring the shared musical heritage of
the Nile Basin, citizens may discover that they have more in common than
they realized, he says. "Simply listening to the music of the Nile Project
it's quite obvious the link is there."
But not everyone agrees. One source at the Foreign Ministry who asked to
remain anonymous voiced that while, "It's encouraging to see and it's a
step in the right direction to bring people closer together, the issue is
more than lack of trust. There are fundamental differences that need to be
addressed and no amount of cultural events and projects will change that."
Still, Girgis hopes that over time the Nile Project will succeed in
changing attitudes about the Nile and that these changes will lead to
changes in behavior. "We'll encourage a small minority of people who want
to go there," he says. "That small minority will grow until it becomes
mainstream and everyone will be like, 'OK, we get it now'."
Saxophonist Mesfin recounts the challenge faced by Ugandan musicians
Lawrence Okello and Michael Bazibu at the first Nile Project residency as
they tried to play an Egyptian scale on the marimba, a kind of xylophone.
"What it took for them to tune it was they had to take machetes and hack
away at the instruments," he says. "That kind of sent a message. To create
unity, unless you're willing to drop some stuff, you can't win, you can't
tune with each other.
"I wrote a song called 'Sacrifice' based on that." et
Received on Mon Apr 28 2014 - 09:31:11 EDT