Why Our Upcoming Leadersship Center is Digitising Africa’s Musical Treasures

By Nele Winter

Music is an important part of the immaterial cultural heritage of a country. Much of the old Kenyan music is recorded on tapes, cassettes and other perishable media, which could be lost soon due to natural decay.

Because of this, The Youth Cafes upcoming project will seek to digitise some of Kenya’s musical treasures for future generations. Digitization of music is vital in order to preserve the cultural heritage of Kenya, and to preserve the music is important in itself. But it is also important to make the digitized music accessible for the Kenyan society, as well as for the rest of the world. For instance, it would give tourists new insights into local, regional, national and international cultural heritage, it would provide journalists, musicologists, researchers and many others with valuable material, and it would help promote Kenyan music and culture at home and abroad.

One important objective is to make young musicians aware of their musical heritage and to empower them to include local elements and traditions into their modern music. To promote this The Youth Cafe will organize workshops where young musicians can listen to and be inspired by the digitized music tracks from the past. We will also bring together young and old musicians and artists to bridge the intergenerational gap. The old musicians will be able to teach young musicians some of the traditional music styles and instruments, like the Nyatiti or Kayamba. This will inspire young artists to look into their own culture rather than just copying American or European culture. Moreover, we also want to offer such workshops for kids and youth in general. Workshops will be offered at schools, orphanages and to other youth groups, to inspire them and to make them interested in their traditions. These workshops will aim to familiarize kids with traditional instruments, dances and music.

But not only the music itself is important for the project. The story behind the music is also important. To focus on this as well the Youth Cafe will try to find more information about the digitized songs, like information about the artist, the lyrics, the background and inspiration for the songs as well as which instruments were used. This information can then be used in the workshops, to make youths aware of the past and troubles musicians have been facing.

The digitized music and additional information will be made accessible to Kenyans and foreigners alike in the upcoming Youth Café Leadership Center, which could also be developed as a tourist attraction. At the moment the Youth Café’s impact is limited by its inadequate office space. The upcoming center will serve as a regional hub and it will bring greater efficiency and effectiveness to the way we manage our transformation training and signature leadership programmes. For example, it will be used as a space to bring together two generations of musicians, to help young people with competence for the next step in their lives. We will be matching the right people with right opportunities and prepare young Africans to take responsibility for the future of African Development Strategies in general.

You can get involved into this project in several ways. If you know how to play or build traditional Kenyan music instruments or if you know traditional dances and want to teach youths these instruments and dances, contact us! Also, if you are a young or old musician and want to take part in bridging the intergenerational gap and get in touch with other musicians, or if you have recordings of old Kenyan music and would like to share those with us, feel free to contact us.

We are seeking financial and in-kind contributions at all levels per individual/company. Please be assured that all contributions would be acknowledged and receipted for tax purposes. In return, The Youth Cafe has specially-designed gifts and offers for different tiers of contribution that include but are not limited to: decorative bricks, prominently displayed “Thank You” board, as well as naming rights to individual training rooms, restaurant and the entire building. If you want to support us financially to fulfil our dream, you can contribute here.