The Anglo-Ethiopian Society
Book Club - ONLINE - Unbury Our Dead With Song
Mũkoma wa Ngũgĩ
Tuesday 22nd March 2022
Online event starting at 19:00 GMT - Public event (all welcome to join).
Note - Register for the event on Eventbrite and you'll be emailed a Zoom link shortly before the event.
The Anglo-Ethiopian Society's book club will discuss Unbury Our Dead With Song by Mũkoma wa Ngũgĩ.
"...the first time you heard a Tizita that was yours, you fell in love with it. You never forget your first love; you never forget your first Tizita."
In the heart of Nairobi, four musicians – The Diva, The Taliban Man, The Corporal and 70-year-old bartender Miriam – gather for a once in a lifetime competition, to see who can perform the best Tizita. In the audience is tabloid journalist John Thandi Manfredi, who is enthralled by their renditions of the Ethiopian blues.
Desperate to learn more, he follows the musicians back to Ethiopia, hoping to uncover the secret to this haunting music. Manfredi's search takes him from the idyllic Ethiopian countryside to vibrant juke joints and raucous parties in Addis Ababa, set to a soundtrack of stirring Tizita performances.
From the humble domesticity behind the Diva's glamorous façade, to the troubling question of the Corporal's military service past, Manfredi discovers that the many layers to this musical genre are reflected in the lives and secrets of its performers.
A love letter to beauty, music and the imagination, Unbury Our Dead with Song captures how it feels have an encounter with the sublime.
Mũkoma wa Ngũgĩ is an Associate Professor of English at Cornell University and the author of The Rise of the African Novel: Politics of Language, Identity and Ownership, the novels Mrs. Shaw, Black Star Nairobi, Nairobi Heat, and two books of poetry, Logotherapy and Hurling Words at Consciousness. He is the co-founder of the Mabati-Cornell Kiswahili Prize for African Literature and co-director of the Global South Project – Cornell.
Book a place using Eventbrite in order to be sent a link to the session. More registration details are on the Eventbrite page.
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Unbury Our Dead With Song by Mũkoma wa Ngũgĩ. Publisher : Cassava Republic Press, June 2021 ISBN : 9781911115984 (paperback) UK price £11.99 Also available as an Ebook |