Programme description

In 2004 the Concerts Norway entered into a five-year cooperation with PASMAE (the Pan African Society for Musical Arts Education) on the use of traditional African music and dance in teaching in schools in Mozambique, Zambia, Swaziland, Malawi, Botswana and Namibia.

The programme started in Pretoria, where a centre for traditional African dance and music has been set up for the SADC countries – CIIMDA (the Centre for Indigenous African Instrumental Music and Dance Practices). Currently the entire SADC region is characterised by a lack of infrastructure in the field of culture and teaching. In general, culture – and in particular the culture of African traditions – occupies a weak position both in schools and in the consciousness of the population. Music is perhaps particularly vulnerable in areas where western music has historically gained access through colonisation, and since western popular music has been further strengthened due to increasingly improved access to new media.

The goal of the programme is therefore to strengthen traditional African dance and music in schools to enable these art forms to become a natural part of the teaching of children and young people in the SADC countries as a counterbalance to the widespread use of western-influenced music teaching.

A number of workshops are held each year for teachers in the participating countries, and teaching materials are prepared for use in the schools. More MAT cells (Musical Arts Education Action Teams) are constantly being set up in these countries.