Towards a comprehensive art Arnold Chiwalala is not content only to write music and lyrics: he also creates stories and choreographies to his works. Becoming a songwriter, a musician and a dancer was by no means an obvious choice for Tanzanian-born Arnold Chiwalala. He went to technical college as a young man with the idea of becoming an engineer. But performing in a local traditional music group led him to take an interest in the student recruitment for the new College of Arts in Bagamoyo. He applied and was accepted. The Bagamoyo College of Arts has since attained world fame. Its teaching focuses on a comprehensive artistic approach: all students are required to take music, dancing, acrobatics and drama. These were the elements of the traditional Tanzanian art form known as ngoma. Chiwalala did so well in his studies that after his graduation he was immediately hired as a teacher at the school. Chiwalala first visited Finland in 1987, on tour with a band formed by teachers at the college. The visit attracted much attention, and two years later the Finnish Youth Association invited Chiwalala to give dance workshops at schools and dance studios. The invitation was repeated year after year, and gradually Chiwalala built up a network of contacts. He gained teaching experience at the Sibelius Academy, the Theatre Academy and the University of Helsinki. Ultimately, he settled in Finland permanently after gaining an engagement at the Finnish National Opera in the production of the opera Frieda by Kari Tikka. Chiwalala decided to continue his music studies while working. He became enthusiastic about the kantele when he realized how similar it is to the Tanzanian izeze. He first studied the five-string kantele at the Sibelius Academy and then took up the ten-string version, working his way towards a doctorate. The kantele is the main instrument in the duo formed by Chiwalala and guitarist Topi Korhonen named PolePole. The name is in Kiswahili (and translates loosely as "take it easy"); the duo sings in both Kiswahili and Finnish. PolePole has made its multicultural magic of music and dance at festivals in Finland and abroad, and it was Finland’s official representative at the Eurofolk event in 2002. Snow and hurry were novelties in Finland “Seeing white snow for the first time was really exciting,” Chiwalala recalls his first impressions of Finland. “Everyone was in a hurry all the time, even when walking down the street. And on the bus everyone was dead silent.” The food and the sauna took some getting used to, and there were new musical things to assimilate too. However, Chiwalala had no trouble identifying with the melancholy melodies of Finnish folk music. He found that the singing of Finnish women reminded him of Tanzanian women. “It was not about showing off, it came straight from the soul. It was soul music.” But he has noticed differences in how people make music in Finland and Tanzania. “In Tanzania, musicians especially in traditional music follow their hearts and their imagination, and everything happens within the community. Here, everybody writes down their music, and the approach is more technical. In Tanzania, music is an entity that does not require analysis.” Inspiration is important for Chiwalala. A tune may be born in at least three different ways. “Firstly, a melody may reflect life and my life experience. Secondly, it may recall a vision — a melody I heard in my head when I went out for a walk or in a dream, sometimes I can hear it quite clearly. The third option is that something happens which touches me.” Chiwalala says that he develops his compositions further through improvisation. For choreography, however, he draws on his knowledge of ngoma, which has rules linking certain movements to certain rhythms. Ngoma also underlies his artistically oriented doctorate at the Sibelius Academy. “It is about combining music, dance and drama into an integrated whole. I have already given all the required performances, and I am now finishing my dissertation.” Many hands make light work Chiwalala grows alert at the question of whether his ethnic background has helped or hindered his work in Finland. “I do not like the term ‘immigrant musician’, especially when discussing professionals. If a person is an artist, he should be regarded as a professional without having to tack the epithet ‘immigrant’ onto him. It is a wall-building word in a way, it prevents the integration of Finns and foreigners. I have shared with Finnish society what I have as an artist and a teacher. I have taught a lot of children, disabled children, and prisoners too,” Chiwalala says and adds that he has learned a lot from cooperating with Finnish performers. How should a composer's status be improved in Finland? “Many hands make light work,” Chiwalala says. To make performances happen, it is not enough for someone to have an idea for a composition or a project; financial backing and producers and organizers are also needed. Also, music makers should interact more. “If you only know your own way of doing things, you may end up being blinkered. Other composers have other kinds of ideas.” Chiwalala says that creating new things requires cooperation. As an example of creativity, he names Lordi, the winners of the Eurovision Song Contest, whose performance caught the fancy of audiences because of its new mixture of elements. This, he says, has happened in the Eurovision Song Contest earlier too. “If you look at the winners of that contest, you can see that they are all people with something new to give. It is always a new creation instead of a copy of someone else's work.” Text: Mika Kauhanen Translation: Jaakko Mäntyjärvi Photo: Maarit Kytöharju