The Mbira, Cello and Hate Speech Monologues

When the stage is your preferred home, it quickly finds you. Exactly two weeks from the day I arrived in Budapest, I joined an event dubbed "Hate Speech Monologues that Turn Prejudices to Love".  Conceived and directed by Peter Malnor, the event took the form of story telling theater. It was an artistic counter-speech to prejudices, "hate speech" and discrimination. Interesting to note that this was the last of such events when all Central European University (CEU) students are in Budapest.

I never planned to be part of this event. It so happened that the day before the event, I met Melissa. Melissa is a student at CEU. She is from Zimbabwe. It was the first time I was meeting Melissa. With the little time we spent together, she found a way of making me to reluctantly agree to be the guy that gets to play the mbira at the event. The mbira is a traditional musical instrument from back home. I am certain its found in Zimbabwe, Zambia and Malawi. Called by different names. I dont know about other countries in Africa.

The Mbira.

While we had a team of speakers to do the monologues, I was only going to sit there and play the mbira. The only problem was that I had never played it before. Well, I did but not in front of people. As a performance. I had played it a few times and I came with one but clearly I was not ready for this.

The great thing is that I had these great people around me who were so supportive and thought I could actually do it. I was the only one to play music. I was joined by another musician who was going to play the cello. That eased up things. "We now have someone who can actually play something", I said to myself. Well, she was definately good at playing the cello but she preferred me taking the leading role. I was still in for it.

I did play it. Made the sound and played the drum part of it. It went as it should have. Even more exciting was that we could have the mbira and cello on the same stage. Two different types of instruments from two different continents share the stage and make music together. Music made by two people who just met. Nora was great. She continuously talked about how I just needed to enjoy the music and play. And so I played.

Nora and myself

The highlight of the night were the speakers. They shared their experiences and challenged hate and prejudice. Listening to each and every one of them, I was inspired and reassured that I was in the right place at the right time. By the way, Will Smith was right around the corner dancing the city away on his birthday. Would I do this one more time? definitely! The night brought together four continents on one stage. An amazing way to celebrate your two weeks in Budapest and help to spread love and not prejudice😆 

Here is to more weeks of music, monologues and sharing love in Budapest

Four continents. One stage. 

By Suzyika Nyimbili