Music

The Tanzania Albinism Collective

By Standing Voice

August 28^th, 2019

A new addition to this year's Summer Skills was a musical workshop aimed at developing the work of the Tanzania Albinism Collective: a group of singers with albinism formed by Standing Voice in collaboration with Grammy Award-winning producer Ian Brennan in 2016. Having embarked on an incredible journey three years ago to share their music internationally, the Tanzania Albinism Collective travelled to the UK to perform in front of hundreds of people at WOMAD Festival and have now produced an album named White African Power. Local musician Isack Rwabuti joined Standing Voice to lead the workshop and help the singers develop their songwriting craft. A focus was set on creating songs that could communicate key advocacy messages, and convey singers’ personal stories to engage audiences emotively.

"My goals for the end of the workshop was for everyone to create a verse of a song which communicates a message about albinism. I have learnt a lot from fellow music trainers who were facilitating other workshops. For example, I was communicating with those facilitating the storytelling sessions and I have no doubt I will be able to apply some of what I learn to my own projects in future." — Isack Rwabuti

We were delighted that the Summer Skills Workshop provided an avenue of further development for the Tanzania Albinism Collective. The musicians are blazing a trail, using the power of performance to rise above discrimination and catalyse change.