Soul of Africa in action at the Uganda National Theatre in Kampala where they enacted their Amani: An African Opera musical in June 2006
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Arts festival bridges urban dream in Kenya
Story by Betty Caplan
Published October 2, 2006
Everything in Kenya has a habit of being hi-jacked. Festivals start out as one thing and turn into another because of extraneous demands to do with donor funding. The just concluded first Nairobi International Festival of the Arts turned out to be a festival of dance leaving critics questioning where 'the arts' was in the equation and what was 'international' about NIFTA 2006 that should have been appropriately titled, 'Nairobi Dance Festival'. BETTY CAPLAN reports
The very ambitious first Nairobi International Festival of the Arts (NIFTA) that opened with a Gala Evening at the Kenya National Theatre on August 23, 2006 and continued at various venues-Laini Saba (Kibera), Kabiru Community Centre (Kawangware), Mukuru kwa Njenga, St Benedict's Thika Road (Mathare), SOS Buruburu, and Kenyatta International Conference Centre-until Saturday, August 26, 2006, appeared to lack focus.

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Uganda National Theatre stages Joseph Kony’s brutality on Children

They are kidnapped to serve as sex slaves, porters, and soldiers. Those who do not cooperate have their lips and noses chopped off while any one who attempts to escape faces a death too horrible to describe. These are unlucky girls and
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Tanzania to honour women artists

A body to recognise, empower and reward women in performing arts in Tanzania has been launched, reports Ogova Ondego.The Association of Women in Performing Arts in Tanzania—better known by its Kiswahili name, Binti Leo—was launched with pomp
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New dance language on Kenyan stage
Writer Betty Caplan reports on a unique dance style that blends classical ballet, Spanish and Oriental flavours and traditional African dances to honour, celebrate, imitate and poke fun at the gloriously beautiful but vain flamingos of Kenya’s
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Theatre turns Nairobi street urchins into responsible citizens

African Medical Research Foundation, AMREF, is creating 21st century ‘Black Pinocchios’ from the street urchins of Nairobi. Wanjiru Kinyanjui caught up with one of them and reports on his........Full article |