Life & Work

Remembering Westgate one year on

westgate orchestra

The Nairobi Chamber Chorus and Conservatoire of Music Orchestra during rehearsals for the Westgate memorial concerts. PHOTO | COURTESY BILLI ODIDI

As Kenya and the international community observe the first anniversary of the terrorist attack that left 67 people dead at the Westgate Mall last year, a memorial concert and reflection along with a video exhibition to honour lives lost during the tragedy will be held at the Nairobi National Museum.

Four evenings of music and tributes will begin on Sunday 21st September, the day a year ago when the siege on the Mall began, which is ironically the World Peace Day. The performance by the Nairobi Chamber Chorus and the Kenya of Music Orchestra at the Museum courtyard will be accompanied by short readings from religious texts.

Filmmaker, Arjun Kohli has put together 20 video testimonials from bereaved families, survivors, hospital staff, and diplomats representing countries whose nationals died in the attack. “Our Nairobi: A Westgate Memorial Exhibition” can be viewed at the Aga Khan Hall on the First Floor of the National Museum and will remain open for the next two months.

Arjun says he has deliberately avoided the documentary format, which he felt would only offer a subjective view of the events.

Website

Instead, all the subjects were allowed the room to express themselves without the editor chopping it up into just a sound bite.
The exhibition will be open at the Nairobi National Museum for two months and transcripts of the interviews will be donated to the Kenya National Archives.

A special website has also been set up at www.westgatememorial.org and there are plans to publish a memorial book from the reflections of those who visit the exhibition.

“Instead of having memorials only in private spaces, I wanted to create a platform for everyone to share their thoughts because there is not a single person in the country who was not affected by the events at Westgate,” says Arjun.

In the course of his research, he met families who were very forthcoming with their stories and in particular, a couple that lost two family members in the tragedy “You are the only one who has asked us to speak about our experiences in the tragedy,” he recalls them saying. “History must not forget what happened at Westgate.”

Just a few weeks before the Westgate attack, Arjun had met the photographer who was commissioned by the international news magazine, Time, to do a photo tribute after the September 11th 2001 terrorist attacks in New York. That quirk of fate proved a strong motivation for him to document the memory of the equally horrific attack in Nairobi.

The gallery also displays two collections of photographs taken by photojournalist Kabir Dhanji who was inside the Mall on September 21st last year. Nation editorial cartoonist, Godfrey ‘Gado’ Mwampembwa has donated to the exhibition various works published from the time of the U.S Embassy bombing in 1998 to date.

Arjun is delighted that the choir and orchestra have also offered their time and talents to create music to accompany the exhibition. “Music plays a big part in the commemoration because the choir and orchestra provide support and strength by performing pieces that promote peace and understanding.”

Ken Wakia is conducting a joint performance of his choir, the Nairobi Chamber Chorus and the Kenya Conservatoire of Music Orchestra at the National Museum of Kenya courtyard at three separate concerts from Sunday to Tuesday.

The repertoire for the concerts selected pieces like “Ukuthula” (Peace) a Zulu choral folk song that has gained global renown as a prayer for peace in the world. The words are based on the belief that the blood of Jesus brings peace, salvation, victory and consolation to the victims of this sinful world.

The Conservatoire joins the Chamber Chorus in the classical piece “Jesu, Joy of Man’s desiring” a call for love among all people and nations. This rousing composition complete with choral interludes, between a divine melody of trumpet and violin is one of Johann Sebastian Bach’s most enduring pieces and is always a joy to watch in performance.

The Nairobi Chamber Chorus will also perform “Make Me a Channel of your Peace” a prayer that was first adapted into a traditional choral hymn in 1967 by the South African singer and songwriter, Johann Sebastian van Templehoff (Sebastian Temple).

This self –reflective song that seeks an individual contribution to peace in the world was famously performed at the funeral of Princess Diana in 1997 and has been recorded in recent years by artists like Sinead O’Connor and Scottish singer Susan Boyle.

The spirit of the performances can be summed up with a line from “Make Me a Channel of your Peace: “When we forgive, we’ll find reprieve. It is in dying, we’ll be released.”