Project Nur: Africa Underground

By Broadside Staff Reporter Erica Terrini
Photo by Broadside Photographer Erica Terrini

There are stories of poverty, social injustice and failing democracies, which feature the voices of young hip-hop artists coming from the ghettos of African countries. In certain regions of the world and many others, hip-hop music is not used to advertise or represent the lifestyles of the wealthy.

According to those regions and a recent discussion forum from Project Nur, hip-hop is used as a voice of the people, as a tool for democracy and as resolution to conflict.

Many United States citizens remain unaware of the high interest and use of hip-hop in other countries. While this is because the music industry for hip-hop in the U.S. has topped the charts since its creation, this is knowledge that holds promise for conflict resolution so that groups like Project Nur are working to raise awareness to the issues. The word “nur” itself in Arabic means “enlightenment” or “light.”

The chapters of Project Nur are a part of a national movement to unite Muslim and non-Muslim students on college campuses throughout the world.

The focus last Monday, however, was on the hip-hop in democratic governments and social aspects of Senegal, which has a high number of Muslim citizens, and Uganda.

George Mason University’s students working for Project Nur organized the viewing of a documentary and a discussion with a panel of international hip-hop artists as well as a closing performance in the Johnson Center Cinema.

The Mason students worked with Sana Saeed, who is the head of the three chapters of three universities for Project Nur and Stacy Willyard who is a graduate student at Mason, a conflict and resolution major and the festival director for Project Nur. Saeed is the head of Project Nur at Mason, George Washington University and American University.

“We want to increase student activism and bring awareness to campus,” Saeed said. “We promote dialogue and conversation through culture and we use that as a vehicle to promote dialogue on campus and there is also an inter-faith aspect to it.”

With integrative aspirations where communication is the goal, those working for Project Nur presented the documentary Africa Underground: Democracy in Dakar a look at Hip-Hop and Conflict Transformation, directed by Ben Herson and Magee Mcilvaine to jumpstart a discussion centered on the role of hip-hop in conflict of Senegal and Uganda. The documentary film covered the 2007 presidential election in Senegal and incorporated interviews with hip-hop artists, journalists, citizens and professors.

This presidential election was a major event for the people of Senegal who are forced to endure poverty and political instability.

The youth of Senegal began using hip-hop as a tool of civic engagement and to give the public a voice to affect the outcome of the previous presidential election in 2000, but their elected president has not positively affected the living conditions for the people and it has gotten to the point where many people of Senegal are fleeing the country.

It is this influence of hip-hop on the government that can be seen internationally and it is now being used to unite people and resolve the social, economical and political conflicts.

“In its essence, at the very beginning, that’s what hip-hop is,” Mcilvaine said, “conflict mediation.”

This was noted in the panel discussion after the documentary was shown. The panel consisted of hip-hop artists Azbac from Senegal, Silas Babaluku from Uganda, Seb Roberts from Uganda, Mister Aw from Senegal, Baay Musa from Senegal, female artist Abeer or Sabreena Da Witch from Palestine, Dumi Right from Zimbabwe, Artemis Thompson or Ardamus from Washington D.C., Willyard and Mcilvaine.

The discussion was interactive with the audience and raised awareness on the work that these featured artists were doing for their countries and internationally which is to better conditions for their countries, unify and resolve conflict.

Babaluku said, “You’re not allowed to speak your own language in Uganda and you never get respected for following tradition.”

“I’m here to represent the truth where I’m from. It’s a new learning curve that hip-hop has given us, it has given is the power, the impact,” said Babaluku.

Following the discussion the international hip-hop artists took the stage and performed both in English and some chose to rap in their traditional languages. According to the audience, the closing performances were powerful on their own and enough to bring the audience together to the stage.

This unification through music that is becoming a global concept was displayed at Mason and provided the Mason community with the opportunity to further integrate and become immersed in different cultures.