FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 2, 2009
East Africa's most beloved singer Samba Mapangala hits the road with his Virunga band in July for a summer mini-tour to Philadelphia and New York.
On Thurs., July 9, 7:30 pm Samba and Virunga appear in the "Global Grooves" series at the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts, 260 S. Broad St., Philadelphia, PA 19102; 215-790-5800 http://www.kimmelcenter.org
On Fri., July 10, they play at Lincoln Center's Midsummer Night Swing, along with the rising phenoms Occidental Brothers Dance Band International, the group that participated in Samba's hit pre-election recording, "Obama Ubarikiwe." Damrosch Park, 62nd St. between Columbus and Amsterdam, New York, NY. http://new.lincolncenter.org
The Lincoln Center concert will be simulcast on Rob Weisberg’s "Transpacific Sound Paradise" WFMU-FM 91.1 Jersey City, NJ and archived for future playback. http://wfmu.org/
MORE RADIO WAVES: Don't miss the BBC 3 "World Roots" program on Samba & Virunga at Zanzibar's Sauti za Busara Festival 2009, presented by Rita Ray, broadcast on July 4, 3-4 p.m. in the U.K., 10-11 a.m. U.S. Eastern time. Streaming and archived for one week at http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00lfhy3
Samba also will be interviewed on WVKR-FM 91.3 Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, New York., July 5, 9 p.m. Eastern, on "First World Music," hosted by Akenataa Hammagaadji, on and streaming at http://www.wvkr.org/ http://www.firstworldmusic.org/index.html
Some of Virunga's notable highlights for the year so far have been:
"Africa on the Potomac: The Pan-African Inaugural Celebration of President Barack Obama," co-hosted by the Government of the Republic of Kenya, African Diplomatic Corps, African Union, African Professionals in Washington DC, and the Corporate Council on Africa in Arlington, VA, where the assembled dignitaries were entertained by Virunga and the acclaimed Boys Choir of Kenya.
Headlining the 6th annual Sauti za Busara Festival held Feb. 12-17 in Zanzibar, Tanzania, for which his Nairobi-based Virunga outfit was augmented by his long-time colleagues and collaborators from Congo by way of Paris, legendary Congolese lead guitarist Syran Mbenza and drummer extraordinaire Komba Bellow. The group then returned to Nairobi for appearances at Club Afrique and the Benga Blast at Nyayo Stadium See photos from the tour at our Zanzibar or Bust blog and AfricAmbiance.com
The performance at Kennedy Center's Millennium Stage as part of the UNHCR's World Refugee Day observance on June 20. The video of that performance is archived for viewing at http://www.kennedy-center.org
The release of live recordings from his 2007 North American tour: The digital-only album, Live on Tour, is available as a download from CD Baby.com and iTunes. It also includes bonus remixes of "Obama Ubarikiwe" (Obama Be Blessed).
An extensive feature and review of the Live on Tour album by Radio France Internationale's Bertrand Lavaine: http://www.rfimusique.com/
For more information, contact:
CC Smith, Virunga Management
getthebeat@sbcglobal.net
http://www.myspace.com/sambamapangala
http://cdbaby.com/cd/mapangala6
Statement by Grace Rwaramba Regarding Michael Jackson
The following statement is by Grace Rwaramba:
June 30th, 2009
“Michael Jackson was an exceptional Human Being. He was gifted, deeply compassionate and brought joy to the lives of so many. He loved his family dearly, and above all, his beautiful children.
In addition to being my employer over the past 17 years and entrusting the care of his beloved children to me, he was my dear friend. While our friendship had challenges, as do all friendships, he was loyal to the end. I cherish and honor his memory.
I am shocked, hurt and deeply saddened by recent statements the press has attributed to me, in particular, the outrageous and patently false claim that I “routinely pumped his stomach after he had ingested a dangerous combination of drugs". I don’t even know how to pump a stomach!! In addition, I have never spoken to the Times Online, the original source of the story that has now been picked up worldwide. The statements attributed to me confirm the worst in human tendencies to sensationalize tragedy and smear reputations for profit.
I convey my heartfelt and deepest condolences to Prince, Paris, Blanket and the entire Jackson family. The pain and sorrow I feel over the loss of Michael pales in comparison to what has been taken from them forever.”
- Grace Rwaramba
Michael Jacksons Nanny is Ugandan
The graves of Job Rwambara (in a shade) and his son Philip at their ancestral home in Beshenyi. Inset is Grace
By Raymond Baguma
GRACE Rwaramba, the woman who took care of Michael Jackson’s children for 12 years, was born and raised in Ishaka, Bushenyi district, in western Uganda.
Though she had lost her job as a nanny two months ago, Rwaramba is at the centre of a custody battle for Jackson’s three children who, after the death of their father, have reportedly requested for her return to the Los Angeles home.
Sources said 42-year-old Rwaramba had an increasingly central role in the children’s lives, who called her “Mum”.
Her close friends and schoolmates in Uganda describe her as friendly, good-natured and sociable. She grew up in a family of about 15 children.
Her father, Job Rwaramba, a medical worker at Ishaka Adventist Hospital, and mother, Magdalena Kinyogote, had fled to Uganda after the first troubles in Rwanda around 1960.
“She had many sisters who have since settled in the US,” a source told The New Vision.
“They all followed the elder sister, the late Teddy, who left Ishaka in the early seventies. Another sister, Rose, got married and settled in Fort Portal.”
Described as fluent in Runyankole, Rwaramba, who left for the US in the early 1980s, often returns to Uganda for private visits. She was reportedly here at the end of last year to visit relatives, some of whom live in Kasese, and stayed at Kampala’s Sheraton Hotel.
According to her former classmates, Rwaramba attended Ishaka Adventist Hospital Primary School and later moved to an undisclosed school in Kasese before joining her elder brother and sister in the US.
She went to high school in Connecticut and obtained a Bachelors degree in Business Administration at the Atlantic Union College in Massachusetts.
Her father died in 1980 and was buried at the family home in Ishaka. Her mother passed away two years ago upon returning to her native Rwanda.
The family homestead stands on a large acreage in Ishaka town.
Prominent is the main house, a recently renovated, self-contained bungalow. Near her father’s grave is the tomb of her brother, Philip.
Neighbours said the bungalow with electricity and piped water is occupied by tenants.
The UK’s Daily Mail reported that Rwaramba started working for his company in 1991, dealing with insurance for employees.
She is described as Michael’s most trusted employee. When his first child, Prince Michael Joseph Jackson Junior, was born in 1997, she became the boy’s nanny.
In the early days, she is thought to have had a short-lived romance with Jackson’s brother, Jermaine, although some American and British media reported that she had secretly married Michael.
It was later revealed that she wedded Stacey Adair in Las Vegas in February 1995. It is believed that she is still married to Adair since no record of a divorce has come to light.
Michael Jackson’s father, Joe, yesterday declared in the strongest terms that he and his 80-year-old wife have sole authority over the singer’s children.
[Additional reporting by Abdulkarim Ssengendo in Bushenyi-New Vision]
Jackos Memorial
Thank you for your music and much more. May you find the happiness you deserve in Heaven.
thankyou so much for all your music you really changed people lives and will be missed greatly
hope you find your peace Photos : Ayoub mzee
France: academic freedom under threat
By Frances Webber
A campaign to safeguard intellectual freedom has been formed in France to support a researcher who faces disciplinary action in connection with his work on Islamophobia.
Vincent Geisser, a researcher who has worked to dispel anti-Muslim prejudices and authoritarianism, is to appear on 29 June before the disciplinary commission of the government's National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS), charged with public statements damaging to the institution. Geisser, a researcher at the Institute for the Study of the Arab and Muslim World (IREMAM), part of the CNRS, is an experienced and reputable scholar with a strong history of research and study on north Africa. He led a research project on migration of students and intellectuals in the Mediterranean basin, the results of which were published in 2000 by CNRS. In April 2005, he launched a CNRS-funded study into the contribution of Maghrebi researchers and academics to the diffusion of French scientific research.
Meanwhile, as Geisser explained in a statement, he had come under attack from the extreme Right for his book The new Islamophobia, published in 2003, and came under surveillance by the CNRS' defence and security officer (FD), of whose existence he was at the time unaware. In September 2004, the FD emailed the director of IREMAM indicating that there were problems with the research. He also announced that the IREMAM was to be reclassified as 'sensitive', and that the director was obliged to provide him every month with a list of all trainees from outside the EU. It has become routine for CNRS lab directors to send a monthly list of 'foreigners' working within their walls. So in Geisser's words, the sociological research had become 'sensitive' in a 'sensitive' establishment, about a 'sensitive' population in a 'sensitive' part of the world.
'It's true', he says, 'that at the beginning we didn't make the link between the strictly scientific object of our inquiry and the "security climate" which has overtaken certain institutions. It's reading the email correspondence later which has revealed the "climate of suspicion" surrounding our lab generally, and certain researchers in particular, specially those who, like me, had the "misfortune" to work on questions of Islam, Islamism and authoritarianism in the Arab world.'
From that time, pressure was exerted on local, regional and national authorities of CNRS to limit Geisser's scientific activities. The FD interviewed him in Aix-en-Provence (where IREMAM is sited) in February 2006, in the presence of the director of the research unit and the regional delegate of CNRS Provence. This was ostensibly to finalise the conformity of the project with security requirements, but after two hours he started to ask questions about Geisser's other writings, conferences and press statements, and Geisser was amazed to realise that the FD had a complete dossier on his public activities. He was asked to justify public positions he had taken, and a simple professional encounter turned into a political interrogation where all his scientific, philosophical and political activities were under scrutiny.
Despite the work done to ensure compliance with security requirements, the CNRS never forwarded the project to the relevant department, although neither Geisser nor his unit director was ever informed that it had been shelved. Then, in March 2007 an order came from the CNRS Secretary-General to destroy everything connected with the inquiry. Geisser's conclusion is that the FD's sole purpose was to 'bury' the project, under the pretext that its author was a suspected 'Islamophile' - a belief confirmed, in his view, by a colleague, who said he had been approached by the ministry of defence about the project in the context of 'the risk' of 'the establishment of a Arab-Muslim lobby' inside the CNRS. At that point, he says, he confided in his research colleagues and others, who advised him to go public. However, Geisser did not want to damage the reputation of CNRS. Then, in July 2008, he was warned that the FD was seeking sanctions against him for the opinions expressed in his writings. He says that the 'moral harassment' was beginning to affect his health, but again he made no complaint, not wanting to damage the interests of his lab or of CNRS.
On 4 July 2009, Geisser wrote privately by email to the Committee for the support of a young researcher, Sabrina, whose research allocation had not been renewed because of the FD's intervention. He accepts that in his private message of support to someone he saw as a fellow victim, he compared FD's actions with those against the Jews, expressing his dismay that the logic of security was prevailing over the logic of science. For this private email, he faces disciplinary action for publicly bringing the CNRS and its security and defence officer into disrepute.
A campaign has been set up to support Geisser and other researchers who fall foul of France's security state. The director of IREMAM, Ghislaine Alleaume, is a founder member of the campaign, called the Collective for safeguarding the intellectual freedom of researchers and teachers in the public sector. The Collective sent an open letter in support of Geisser to the minister for higher education and research, Valerie Pecresse, in which it points out the importance of 'the element of critical thought indispensable for preserving democracy'. The letter continues:
'Our societies, too often dictated to by the media and the internet, need this free thought ... In our society most intellectuals work in the public sector, but this doesn't make them subject to the institutions or to political power ... What shameful compromises must we accept to avoid the humiliation of a disciplinary tribunal? Is France, birthplace of the rights of man and freedom of expression, in danger of losing its soul? How can we continue to work, to embrace our vocation, under the constant threat of sanction? What are we? Simply mouthpieces for our bosses and institutions, or autonomous men and women freely exercising our profession, honestly, responsibly, at the service of free thought and knowledge, with no restriction other than the common good? To impose duties of restraint on intellectuals makes them disappear as intellectuals ... What has happened to our colleague is extremely serious and affects all citizens. His unworthy treatment brings shame to our profession and to France.'
The Collective's petition in support of Geisser has attracted widespread support from academics and intellectuals, both in France and elsewhere and grassroots community organisations. It can be signed at: http://petition.liberteintellectuelle.net/
By Frances Webber
A campaign to safeguard intellectual freedom has been formed in France to support a researcher who faces disciplinary action in connection with his work on Islamophobia.
Vincent Geisser, a researcher who has worked to dispel anti-Muslim prejudices and authoritarianism, is to appear on 29 June before the disciplinary commission of the government's National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS), charged with public statements damaging to the institution. Geisser, a researcher at the Institute for the Study of the Arab and Muslim World (IREMAM), part of the CNRS, is an experienced and reputable scholar with a strong history of research and study on north Africa. He led a research project on migration of students and intellectuals in the Mediterranean basin, the results of which were published in 2000 by CNRS. In April 2005, he launched a CNRS-funded study into the contribution of Maghrebi researchers and academics to the diffusion of French scientific research.
Meanwhile, as Geisser explained in a statement, he had come under attack from the extreme Right for his book The new Islamophobia, published in 2003, and came under surveillance by the CNRS' defence and security officer (FD), of whose existence he was at the time unaware. In September 2004, the FD emailed the director of IREMAM indicating that there were problems with the research. He also announced that the IREMAM was to be reclassified as 'sensitive', and that the director was obliged to provide him every month with a list of all trainees from outside the EU. It has become routine for CNRS lab directors to send a monthly list of 'foreigners' working within their walls. So in Geisser's words, the sociological research had become 'sensitive' in a 'sensitive' establishment, about a 'sensitive' population in a 'sensitive' part of the world.
'It's true', he says, 'that at the beginning we didn't make the link between the strictly scientific object of our inquiry and the "security climate" which has overtaken certain institutions. It's reading the email correspondence later which has revealed the "climate of suspicion" surrounding our lab generally, and certain researchers in particular, specially those who, like me, had the "misfortune" to work on questions of Islam, Islamism and authoritarianism in the Arab world.'
From that time, pressure was exerted on local, regional and national authorities of CNRS to limit Geisser's scientific activities. The FD interviewed him in Aix-en-Provence (where IREMAM is sited) in February 2006, in the presence of the director of the research unit and the regional delegate of CNRS Provence. This was ostensibly to finalise the conformity of the project with security requirements, but after two hours he started to ask questions about Geisser's other writings, conferences and press statements, and Geisser was amazed to realise that the FD had a complete dossier on his public activities. He was asked to justify public positions he had taken, and a simple professional encounter turned into a political interrogation where all his scientific, philosophical and political activities were under scrutiny.
Despite the work done to ensure compliance with security requirements, the CNRS never forwarded the project to the relevant department, although neither Geisser nor his unit director was ever informed that it had been shelved. Then, in March 2007 an order came from the CNRS Secretary-General to destroy everything connected with the inquiry. Geisser's conclusion is that the FD's sole purpose was to 'bury' the project, under the pretext that its author was a suspected 'Islamophile' - a belief confirmed, in his view, by a colleague, who said he had been approached by the ministry of defence about the project in the context of 'the risk' of 'the establishment of a Arab-Muslim lobby' inside the CNRS. At that point, he says, he confided in his research colleagues and others, who advised him to go public. However, Geisser did not want to damage the reputation of CNRS. Then, in July 2008, he was warned that the FD was seeking sanctions against him for the opinions expressed in his writings. He says that the 'moral harassment' was beginning to affect his health, but again he made no complaint, not wanting to damage the interests of his lab or of CNRS.
On 4 July 2009, Geisser wrote privately by email to the Committee for the support of a young researcher, Sabrina, whose research allocation had not been renewed because of the FD's intervention. He accepts that in his private message of support to someone he saw as a fellow victim, he compared FD's actions with those against the Jews, expressing his dismay that the logic of security was prevailing over the logic of science. For this private email, he faces disciplinary action for publicly bringing the CNRS and its security and defence officer into disrepute.
A campaign has been set up to support Geisser and other researchers who fall foul of France's security state. The director of IREMAM, Ghislaine Alleaume, is a founder member of the campaign, called the Collective for safeguarding the intellectual freedom of researchers and teachers in the public sector. The Collective sent an open letter in support of Geisser to the minister for higher education and research, Valerie Pecresse, in which it points out the importance of 'the element of critical thought indispensable for preserving democracy'. The letter continues:
'Our societies, too often dictated to by the media and the internet, need this free thought ... In our society most intellectuals work in the public sector, but this doesn't make them subject to the institutions or to political power ... What shameful compromises must we accept to avoid the humiliation of a disciplinary tribunal? Is France, birthplace of the rights of man and freedom of expression, in danger of losing its soul? How can we continue to work, to embrace our vocation, under the constant threat of sanction? What are we? Simply mouthpieces for our bosses and institutions, or autonomous men and women freely exercising our profession, honestly, responsibly, at the service of free thought and knowledge, with no restriction other than the common good? To impose duties of restraint on intellectuals makes them disappear as intellectuals ... What has happened to our colleague is extremely serious and affects all citizens. His unworthy treatment brings shame to our profession and to France.'
The Collective's petition in support of Geisser has attracted widespread support from academics and intellectuals, both in France and elsewhere and grassroots community organisations. It can be signed at: http://petition.liberteintellectuelle.net/
