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©Salomé/Survival |
From October 19th, English audiences will be enjoying the wonderful music of
a group of Aka 'Pygmies' from the Central African Republic (CAR)*. What
audiences may not realise, is that these beautiful sounds come from a people
whose way of life is threatened with destruction.
The forest of the southern CAR, from where these performers come, has in the
last three years been a corridor for a succession of murderous militia armies,
as power has changed hands in the capital, Bangui. They have cut off the Aka
from swathes of forest, and so from the animals and wild produce they need to
survive.
Although a fragile peace has been restored to the area, the Aka, like all of
the 'Pygmy' peoples in Central Africa, are under threat. More and more of the
forest is being depleted by logging companies, while huge areas of good forest
have been turned into parks or wildlife reserves that are guarded by armed thugs
who beat up the Pygmies and drive them out of their ancestral hunting
grounds.
And yet the Pygmies are the real guardians of the forest. As their proverb
explains: 'We Aka love the forest as we love our own
bodies'.
Stephen Corry, the Director of Survival International, the organisation for
tribal peoples says: 'What is happening to these people is not some kind
of inevitable doom; it is a crime, and must be resisted.'
For more information call +44 (0) 20 7955 6696. For photos, call Miriam Ross
on +44 (0)20 7687 8734 or email mr@survival-international.org
(For information on the tour contact the venues below.)
* They will perform at the Barbican, London (19 Oct.) Royal College of Music,
Manchester (21), De Montfort Hall Leicester (23), and Leeds University (24).
