Moving differently with ''Next Level''
In recent years, cultural diplomacy is taking centrestage when it comes to the building of transnational relationships. The US State department has taken this to heart and several projects, taking American dance and music to the world, have been initiated. One of them is “Next Level”, which aims to spread the hip-hop genre of music and dance to all corners of the world.
What, then, is hip-hop? It began as an underground cultural practice of the marginalized African-American and Latino-American communities of North America to voice their protest through 'street' music and dance. The vibrancy of hip-hop instantly caught the imagination of young US Americans and slowly but surely that of the young people all over the world.
Hip-hop, significantly, uses 'rap' (spoken or chanted rhyming lyrics), 'dj-ing' (art of manipulating sounds and creating music using digital turntables), graffiti (writing or drawings that have been scribbled, scratched, or sprayed illicitly on a wall or other surface) and breakdance.
From November 7 to 17, 2014 the American Center partnered with Shadhona, a well-known cultural organisation in Dhaka, to conduct a hip-hop workshop at the EMK Center where four musicians from the USA worked with 50 young performers of Bangladesh, from both the contemporary and traditional arts. Together, they produced a two-hour long presentation that took place at the National Auditorium of the Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy (BSA) on November 17, 2014 in front of a packed audience.
Hip-hop is not new to Bangladesh, although it is still an 'underground practice' of protest by young people who have music and dance in their hearts, but not the elaborate training to do so. The workshop by Next Level will go a long way in giving direction to these young performers. Dancer Amirah Sackett, MC Gabriel Benn, DJ Andre Barden, and Beat-maker JocElyn Ellis stole the hearts of this young group with the enthusiasm and love with which they guided the hip-hoppers through new moves and sounds.
The presentation on Monday had the house on their feet dancing and cheering the performers through the rocking performance. Significantly, besides the hip-hop performances, there was traditional Kathak dance, folk 'lathi' dance by Shadhona and songs by Baul Shafi Mondol accompanied by Nazrul on the dhol; all juxtaposed with the amazing new music and dance. The audience was taken by surprise by the agility exhibited by the Bangladeshi hip-hop dancers, flipping over, somersaulting and moving with ease with the vibrant music. An instant success was a short musical battle between six different hip-hop crews hosted by an ardent Bangladeshi hip-hopper Shanto. The crews participating were from Anonymous, XDC, Heart Touch and Blue Poppers.
Lubna Marium, Artistic Director of Shadhona, explained that performance of all sorts is valuable as it gives young people a platform to exhibit their innate musical talent. The performance was addressed by Calvin Hayes, Cultural Officer of the US Embassy in Dhaka, Ann McConnell, Director of the American Center, and Lubna Marium of Shadhona.
Comments