Benefitting country(ies): Angola

Overview:

Implemented by the Instituto Nacional do Património Cultural (INPC), this two-year project aims to establish suitable conditions for safeguarding semba, a traditional musical genre and dance, by creating opportunities for intergenerational transmission and income generation. Rooted in working-class neighbourhoods, semba is a symbol of Angolan identity-building and anticolonial resistance. However, lately it has begun to lose influence and significance among young urban populations who view the practice as old-fashioned. This has resulted in a gradual decline in the number of composers, musicians, dancers and craftspeople of traditional instruments, as well as in the performance and transmission of semba. The objective of this project is to counter these trends through capacity-building, research, awareness-raising and communication activities aimed at reconnecting the population with listening to and practising semba. Activities include participatory inventory workshops and inventorying activities with the communities concerned; digital platforms (‘impact lab’) to collectively experiment, create and share audiovisual content, resources, tools, skills and knowledge; and workshops on the creation of dicanza (a related percussion instrument) and cultural entrepreneurship. Originating from a request from the semba community, the project will also build the capacities on the 2003 Convention of practitioners and officials from the INPC, staff at the National Museum of Anthropology and members of the National Union of Artists and Composers.

08/08/2022 - 30/06/2024 – Safeguarding the Oulad Mbarek epic04/06/2024 - 04/06/2024 – Exchange of experiences and cultural dialogues for the safeguarding of the intangible cultural heritage of Afro-descendant peoples through the preparation of inventories in the SICA region and Cuba