The latest fund-raising campaign by Global Music Exchange
The Baka are hunter-gatherer semi nomadic forest people. They have a rich culture that has lasted thousands of years. The were known as “the dancers of the gods” by the Pharaohs of Egypt.
They are being forced out of their forest home to live in roadside villages, supposedly for their own benefit. However discrimination means that all they can look forward to here is a life of exploitation and abuse.
They have had no say in this relocation, they just have to obey the authorities. Forest Voices Tours bring the communities together where they can talk, discuss problems and solutions, and have their views recorded on camera for others to hear.
The Forest Voices Tours have proven to be very effective at collecting statements from Baka who otherwise would not be heard.
For the first time they are being given a voice.
We organised 4 Forest Voices Tours between 2014 and 2019. COVID then disrupted the program. Since then the Cameroon authorities have made it far harder for people to travel without the correct papers, the most important being Cameroon ID cards. Although we have in the past got IDs for dozens of Baka, they have been impossible to get for the last 10 years due to refugees coming from conflict in Central African Republic bribing local officials to give them Cameroon IDs. Since the ID cards only last 10 years they have now all expired!
It is now necessary to travel to Yokadouma, 200km away to obtain them, and for that you also need a birth certificate. Very few Baka over the age of about 6 years old have these.
In order to organise further Forest Voices Tours we need to obtain ID cards for all the musicians. This isn’t impossible but it is very expensive due to the travel and cost of staying in Yokadouma until the process is completed. Therefore, until we have enough money to achieve this money donated for tours will be used to obtain ID cards.
PLEASE HELP US ACHIEVE THIS by donating here…..
A clip from the concert at the refugee camp, Saturday December 15th….
You can also help by buying the Baka’s music – all their royalties go to the communities via the charity Global Music Exchange
More Baka music at march-hare-music.com