We
were over an hour late (arriving while I battled my internal “be on time!”
clock which was chiming loudly even after living in the land of lateness for
over 3 years), finding that they had only just started the praise and worship
session before various budding musicians got up to have their five minutes of
fame. I just love being at these events as they remind me how unself-conscious
Tanzanians can be when there is music around and they just want to dance. All
the singers had impressive moves and once their turn was over many of them were
inspired by the next act and ran back up to join them on stage, imitating their
dance moves and sometimes providing back-up vocals much to the delight of the
lone singer. There was one middle aged man who, when his turn came up, couldn’t
contain his excitement and flung his shoes off into the crowd before launching
into his song and dance routine.
Another
tradition for these events is that the crowd, once fully amped, dances up one
by one onto the stage and stuffs some money into the pocket or hand of the current
singer. It doesn’t end there as you find yourself joining the back-up dancers
and vocalists and it’s not uncommon for large ladies in mumu style dresses to
rival the late M.Jackson as they shimmy and shake their way across the stage.
It
took over two hours before the main act came on-stage but when he did he
impressed us all by combining his singing talent with some acting – dressed up
as a homeless person he cried real tears during his song of sorrow and hope
found in Jesus.
The
biggest surprise of the day was that the MC repeatedly announced that Gody and
I were part of a group of honoured guests who were expected to sit up the front
at a special table. Along with a few others we quietly refused to leave our
comfortably anonymous positions but towards the end were called up rather
forcibly to cut the ribbon on the new CD and announce our monetary contribution
of support. This common practice grates at me as the MC then goes around
everyone in the audience and asks them to also announce their contribution in
front of everyone – those with significant enough contributions receive a clap
and those less fortunate suffer embarrassed silence. On the other hand, Gody
later said that it is a blessing for us to be able to support the work of this
musician and allow him to continue in his work, although I hope he doesn’t give
up his day job anytime soon as he’s also a great teacher!
