The Africa Museum

HIYA!

Finally did it. Downloaded some pictures. Glad to have it done. They're in my photo gallery, somewhere. Hunt it down and you'll see three pictures from this museum. The 4th and 5th of October were holidays and so we were off. The boss' daughter's family came down from the Seoul area for a visit. She wanted to go see the Africa Museum so her daughter could get some exposure to Africa. The girl's about a year old but I suppose there was some sort of impact on her life. Especially the music at the end. What a performance.

When we arrived at the museum, the first thing we went in to see was a lot of murals and huge photograph copies. I noticed that absolutely every picture was a picture of the "bizarre" tribal folk of Africa. Guys and maybe a few women wearing this and that hanging from this or hanging from that, piercing this and piercing that. It's all fine that these pictures were shown. It occured to me though that if someone didn't know any better, they'd think that this was Africa. Sure, it's part of Africa. But there's so much more to the continent. I've hardly been to the continent myself, but, hey, just listening to the news, you know there are cities there too. In fact, I feel pretty confident to say that most people in Africa weren't represented here at all except to say in that there was a similarity in skin color. Some of the pictures and other representations were neat in themselves. It's just the overall portrait of "This is Africa" that I suppose many people walk away with. The "bizarre" part of the world.

We ended the visit with a music show. The performers were great. So I thanked them afterwards. Really enthusiastic and seemed to genuinely enjoy what they were doing. But it was in the tiniest of rooms and the energy and volume that they created was way too much for the room. I mentioned afterwards that they should play outside. A Korean staff guy said they sometimes do play outside.

I enjoyed the performance mostly for the enthusiasm that they expressed both in their beating the drums, in their voices, in their bodies, and on their faces. Smiling and laughing and just really seeming like they honestly enjoyed what they were doing. They beat the drums a lot, sang a lot, and danced a little. But like probably every other performance it was really just that. A performance. There was no context. Well, the Korean lady may have explained a bit about the songs but, that could hardly suffice for a real understanding of the whole thing. Singing, dancing, playing the drums. All of this has a context. A cultural context. And, for me, unless the setting is in the context, it means nothing to me. Sure, pretty girls may dance around on a stage with charming dance moves, dressed up in beautifully adorned clothing ("costumes") but ... so what?!

Four people performed. Three guys and a lady. The lady is attractive and also seemed to have a good time. So visually, she added to my enjoyment of the show.

It was a good trip because I made a little connection with probably everybody from Africa who lives on this island. From Cameroon, I think. They all live and work at the museum.

Troy.