|
Man Ooman (Man Woman) |
 |
 |
|
News -
The Mannenberg
|
|
Monday, 17 August 2009 08:56 |
Man Ooman (Man Woman)
A film about gender relations in Jamaica seen through dancehall dancing culture. Shot in 2007 in Kingston and Montego Bay, The music is loud and aggressive and the dancing is wild and sexually explicit. A very lively cultural phenomenon, the film investigates the culture behind dancehall dancing and tries to find out how this dance became as absurd as it is today. It gives a glimpse at what kind of people the dancers are, how they live and why dancing is important to them.
Jamaica has more churches per capita than any other place in the world. It also has more murders, except for the times when they get eclipsed by an occasional genocide in Africa. But in the most notorious parts of the gang war infested garrisons, where no cab driver will take a foreigner even at daytime, there's a party going on. Every single night of the week street dances are kept in different ghettos, where rivaling neighborhoods meet unarmed to have fun. The music is loud and aggressive and the dancing is wild, sexually explicit and the dancers often utilize props provided by the surroundings. Loudspeakers, trees, cars and buses are all used for dancing a dance that for the untrained eye looks like a combination of fighting and copulation.
But the dance is a very lively cultural phenomenon where new moves are developed weekly and spread out to the world through bootleg dvds. All dances have a name and a history and at least one person or crew who claims to be the architect behind it. Every year the worlds best female dancer is crowned at the spectacular and heavily sponsored International Dancehall Queen Contest. This film takes place in the weeks around the contest of 2007 - the biggest event ever in this subculture.
The film is shot in 2007 in Kingston and Montego Bay, with footage from the two most notorious street parties Dutty Fridaze and Passa Passa and interviews with some of the biggest dancehall dancers in the world including Momo, Fleshy and Shelly Belly. International reggae superstar Beenie Man talks about the history of dancehall dancing and the interaction dancers and singers have in the dancehall world. One of the main entrepreneurs of the subculture, videoman Scrappy talks about the way filming and distributing dancehall footage has revolutionized the dancing and made it a possible escape from the life of poverty. Well-informed outsiders such as Jamaican-born poet Stacy-Ann Chin and professor at the University of the West Indies Carolyn Cooper help forth a certain understanding of this complex and widely misunderstood phenomenon. And city dwellers and scenesters such as producer Delroy Green, dancehall artist Crazy Chris and radio personality Champagne share their insight of the unquestionable patriarchy that is Jamaica. Where hugging up is against the law, holding hands and kissing is unseen outside the privacy of the home, parenting is done with a firm slap of the hand, girls and boys are treated like different species, homosexuality and oral sex is completely banned both socially and by law and where dancing seems like a ventilation device that blows off explosive sexual steam between women and men - or as it is always put in Jamaica - between Man and Ooman.
Duration 56:30 mins
Documentary, Denmark 2008
Directed by Andreas Johnsen & Rasmus Poulsen
Film Editor Adam Nielsen
Photography Andreas Johnsen
Produced by Rosforth
|
|
|
Cultural explosion at The Mannenberg |
|
|
|
News -
The Mannenberg
|
|
Monday, 20 July 2009 15:10 |
|
Reggae-raga-hip-hop!
SUNDAY 26 JULY 2009
3-6pm + JAM!
IZWI (ZW) & BIKSTOCK Røgsystem (DK)
There will be a great reggae/ragga hip/hop explosion at The Mannenberg Jazz Club's special Sunday opening on Sunday 26 July, with lively cultural exchange between Zimbabwe’s new ‘IZWI’ and Denmark’s ‘BIKSTOK RØGSYSTEM’.
IZWI is a fresh new Zimbabwean music collaboration featuring well known artists Thanda Richardson, Mathias Julius and Innocent ‘Killer Flow’ Masamba backed by the young reggae group ‘Imani Troddaz’.
A powerful and fast-rising singer-songwriter with her own unique sound and style, Thanda Richardson delivers high-energy entertainment, lending her excellent vocal range and skills to the genre, and coming up strong! Matthias Julius shifted from dance to music in 2006, embraced reggae, and is now recording his 19-track Shona/English debut CD “Here I Come”. Together with ‘Killer Flow’ this trio is fresh and energetic, and embodies the spirit of young people of Zimbabwe today, who have known and triumphed through ‘hard times’.
BIKSTOK RØGSYSTEM was the biggest newcomer act on the Danish music scene in 2005 maintaining a strong presence there up to today. But despite all the glitz surrounding these talented guys the truth is that they never meant all this to happen. Spawned from the underground scene in Copenhagen, they just wanted to make a reggae/ragga album with a bit of hip-hop influence for themselves and their friends. Today they have been on the Danish album chart for more than 4 years since their debut Over Stok Og Sten (Copenhagen Records), which achieved numerous awards and a full booked tour-calendar.
Bikstok Røgsystem is a DJ trio consisting of Eaggerman who grew up under his Jamaican dad in the reggae collective in Copenhagen and invented the whole idea of Bikstok; Pharfar; Denmark’s premier hip-hop, dub and reggae producer - awarded at Danish Music Awards as Producer Of The Year 06; and Bukki Blæs; known from the successful Danish hip hop group Malk De Kojn .
The lyrics of Bikstok Røgsystem and their vocal flow are some of the reasons the guys are celebrated by the music critics and the audience alike. It’s been called ‘fun, ironic, sarcastic and poetic’.
Bikstok is loved by the Danes, and has performed throughout Denmark, including 25,000 people at the huge Roskilde Festival in Denmark’s summertime.
In a cultural exchange cooperation between the Danish student organisation Operation Day's Work, the Danish development organisation MS Zimbabwe and Pamberi Trust, young people of the world will be meeting under the reggae banner at a special Sunday 26 July performance at The Mannenberg jazz club in Fife Avenue from 3-6pm followed by a jam session for other artists of the same inclination!
Special Sunday cover charge is US$5.
Penny Yon
For Pamberi Trust
|
|
Jazz Invitation Welcomes Jazzists from the Region |
|
|
|
News -
The Mannenberg
|
|
Tuesday, 02 June 2009 12:44 |
Jazz Invitation is one of Harare’s top jazz groups who extend a warm welcome to all visiting artists who will be joining the Harare Jazz Festival on Sat 6 June at The Celebration Centre. The Mannenberg pre-fest party is a chance for artists and audiences to meet and get to know each other before the big day on Saturday - a comfortable, casual, cool and relaxed evening of jazz, among People of Jazz!
|
|
Read more...
|
|
|
|
|
<< Start < Prev 1 2 3 4 5 6 Next > End >>
|
|
Page 5 of 6 |
