What a Gig

Anna Schuster is studying for her masters in International Public Management at Sciences-Po. She has also studied International Relations and Genocide Studies while on exchange at the Australian National University, in Canberra. She grew up in Cote D’Ivoire, Madagascar and Benin and her internship with Search in Burundi has brought her back to Sub-Saharan Africa. Working with our Burundi office speaks to her interest in both international development and understanding of how a society can overcome a genocidal history. 

Drumming Performance

By Anna Schuster  

In my estimation a good gig consists of an exciting location, a fun group of friends, a seething crowd singing and dancing to pulsating rhythms, and—the cherry on the cake—the lead-singer’s sweaty t-shirt as a souvenir.  

I went to a gig in Bujumbura last Friday.  

It was organised by SFCG with the Ministry of Youth, Sports and Culture and USAID. The aim was to promote dialog amongst youth and encourage their participation in public life. Politically-engaged singers were invited, and the event included three bands, drummers and participatory theatre.  

It wasn’t what I expected. No singing crowd but almost 700 teenagers standing orderly and quietly behind ropes placed 20 metres from the stage. No sweaty lead singer but a dozen officials sitting in a tent, where I joined them with the other members Search staff.  

I was bewildered. We watched a group of Burundian drummers from Kamenge, a neighbouring district. I held my breath at every spectacular somersault they performed, the tremendous sound of 15 drums resonating in my chest. The 700 teenagers remained impassive. The first band played a few songs. I spotted a few singing along, but the vast majority stood without batting an eyelid. A colleague sympathetically smiled at me, sensing my embarrassment. My bewilderment grew greater.  

Lyon Story

The Marxian part of my brain had started building theories on crowd control and mass oppression, when the lead-singer of Yvan, the second band, stepped off the stage, picked a few teens and invited them to dance with him. The minister of Youth, Sports and Culture and the mayor joined in under bursts of applause, giving us a memorable moment of intergenerational dialog. I too started wiggling on my plastic chair. By the time SFCG drama group started performing a sketch on the elections, the crowd had definitely come alive. They applauded, laughed, yielded.  

Participatory Theater

Smiles from the audience

Check out the crowd

It was a good gig.   

This experience reinforced my deep conviction that individuals have similar needs. I saw in these young people the same excitement, need for releasing energy and thirst to impress peers I had when I was sixteen. I was lucky enough to grow up in an environment where all these needs could be expressed and discussed freely with my parents, my school teachers or my friends. Burundian teenagers often lack a listening ear. These young people were not used to be cared for and this concert was probably as much of a novelty for them as it was for me. They too were bewildered.  

We need more of these events where young people are given a chance to escape their daily life and feel that something special is happening to and for them. Not only to tell them that they are crucial to the future of their country, but also to show them that society cares about their development as individuals.