*35C3 preroll music*
Herald: Most recently in South Africa, it was an awesome experience, awesome people,
awesome culture but while I only experienced the tourists way, Sélim Harbi
brings us the local guide culture. Sélim allows an immersive and almost physical
experience of the African identity. Please welcome on stage Sélim Harby and
Afroroutes. *Applause*
Sélim: Hi, can you hear me? So first of all thank you very much to be here.
I wasn't expecting so much crowd. So again, give a big applause for yourself. Thank
you very, very much to be here. *Applause* And thank you for the CCC. It's the first time I'm
here and really experiencing something totally new for me. And thank you for the
curators. Thank you for really giving me the stage to explore with you further this
project which is Afroroutes. First of all, I want to tell you something which is very
personal. The very first time when I was in Africa, in North Africa, I was invited
for a ceremony, a ritual, in Morocco. This ceremony is Gnaoua. I don't know if you
heard about it. So basically I was surrounded by African descendants and I
knew that those descendants are slave descendants that has been transported and
displaced from sub-Saharan Africa to Morocco. So this ceremony was a pretty
powerful for me. The more I asked the question about what is the purpose of
this, why are you doing that. I really started to explore the history of Africa
through that. So a couple of years after that I was luckily able to be in Brazil in
Salvador de Bahía. I was also invited to a kind of ceremony called Candomblé, I don't
know if some of you heard about it, and the thing is that during the Candomblé
ritual they were explaining me that, we do that just to reconnect to the African
continent, to reconnect with our ancestors and our history, our slavery history, so
between Morocco and Brazil I knew that my story is there. So, Afroroutes is born out of
this conviction that the displaced culture from Africa crossing the sea to Latin
America was a pretty unexplored story. We see it like slavery. Slavery could be a
very, very large concept, large idea, very heavy history for the Africans themselves.
And I wanted to absolutely to avoid this kind of images that we used to see, I
don't know if some of you saw Amistad, the film, and this is like classical narrative
of blacks being beaten etc. which is reality. I wanted to go beyond that and I
wanted to explore how those diasporas still connected with their ancestors and
how is the function of music within this ceremony. So basically, Afroroots is born
out of this perspective. Second of all, I've been also luckily involved in a great
project, three, four years ago where I explored or I got in touch with a
fantastic medium which is Virtual Reality. I don't know if some of you tried some VR,
but VR was for me a really new exploration of how we can tell the story differently.
How can we really engage and create another type of connection with stories
and have a totally different approach with time and space. This project called The
Enemy allows me really to widen my perspective as a storyteller and really go
into a totally different path, so I decided to use this medium which is the
VR, not because I'm most like many of actors now in the media field, surfing the
hype or whatever, it's cool to have the goggles and say, wow it's fantastic. It's
just because I was deeply convinced that VR is the proper medium for this story.
So Virtual Reality, I'm not here the preacher of VRs. It's for me a very powerful medium in the
sense of it puts you really in the center of a reality. You don't have to receive
data, you don't receive a narrative, you don't receive, you just put into center of
reality and you empower your view somehow to really interpret data in a very
subjective way what you see and what you feel. In my eyes, it could be also as I
hear you can see, it could be really the next anthropology tool and in that sense,
it will transform the whole knowledge that we could have one century long into real
experiences which is totally different than just reading a book that someone else
wrote it or imagined. So VR is creating powerful memories because just for the
fact that it provides the context of what you are seeing. Please, first of all, take
a look at the trailer of Afroroutes and we talk a little bit after.
*Video starts playing*
Sélim: No sound.
It's ok. It happens.
*Sound starts*
Sélim in the video: Centuries ago, many
Africans were forced to leave their countries. They were spread in different
corners of the world. A long, long journey through lands and seas. They left
everything behind. They had to leave. They could only keep their language, their
culture and of course, their music. So there is a bigger story than slavery
itself. This project is not another apology of slavery. I want to look beyond
that. What happened after? Where are the slaves descendants today? What did they
produce in terms of cultures? How was their heritage leave they celebrated?
Is there any tangible memory form. So I decided to follow the path of the slavery
roads and I knew that music will guide my journey.
For many years, I travelled in
different countries and met several diasporas and experienced their well-
conserved cultures and of course their music. No history book could explain me
slavery and the cultural dynamics within better than being almost there.
This is exactly what Afroroutes project is about. I'm using Virtual Reality in 360 videos to
take you on a journey to meet those African descendants, to hear their stories
and experience their heritage. Here is my concept. As you start to
experience, you will be surrounded by four characters. Simply by choosing one, you
will be brought to a destination. The character will tell you his story, will
show you his surroundings before bringing you to a specific ritual.
*Voice singing in the video*
Man speaking in video: My name is ... I'm ...
in Tangier, Morocco. I am born in ... a slaves house. I grew up there.
Sélim in the video: And that's not all. We want to bring you much closer. At the end,
you will be invited to play music with the characters to feel that physical experience.
Sélim: Thank you very much.
*applause* Sélim: So basically I decided to go on
music in this journey because before drafting the first prototype by writing
the concept of this project, I did a lot research and one of my biggest hurdle was,
I wasn't able to find trustful archives. I wasn't able to find really powerful
testimonies of what happened exactly. The only archives I could found were somewhere
in the Western world, not in Africa, not in African bibliotheks, somehow kind of
jailed into Western bibliotheks of big institutions. So for me it was a big
problem and most of this narrative or the version of this narrative is basically
written by people who enslaved the Africans. So for me it was a big problem.
I can not tell this story from the perspective of Western perspective which I
used of course because it gives a lot of data and information. So for me it was
clear, in order to tell this story I need to go deeper into archives. I really need
to go into what we call the meta archives which is simply the oral tradition. It's
what the people used to say and transmit generation after generation. In this case,
music was absolutely what I was looking for because, if you look at little bit of
the history, those communities wherever through the trans-Atlantic slave trade,
the trans-Pacific slave trade or the trans-Saharan slave trade, that's like
400, 500 years, but the communities in Brazil for example, they're still speaking
Yoruba which is the language from western coast. The people the Siddi in India, they
still talking Kiswahili. So it is really powerful how the music could maintain this
intangible form in a very intact way and it's still very very powerful. So I
decided to go absolutely on music and explore this displacement through music.
As you can see in this map, I could identify also several diasporas. First of
all, in North Africa which is the Gnawa and Stambeli communities which are sub-
Saharan, African transported through the slavery caravans from the Sahara to North
Africa. You have also the trans-Atlantic slave trade which is mainly, the entry
door was Salvador de Bahía. 90 percent of all slaves transported from the western
coast where proceed. The entry door was Salvador de Bahía and from there was they
were spread into the whole Caribbean and from there to the US. So for me, Salvador
de Bahía was a key point to explore this and another very untold story, I'm coming
like three weeks ago from Gujarat from India where I've been able to visit and
explore a little bit the other journey which is the trans-Pacific journey. From
the Indian cities, the African descended from the eastern coast, Zanzibar and
Kenya. So I tried to have this three destinations to have a better overview of
what those traditions are. Let me explain you shortly what you can expect in this
experience. So basically you will have a menu. Three characters would be in front
of you. And as I say in the trailer, you just have to pick up one, you choose one,
and you just embark. You don't know who is the person and you don't know where you
embark. It's exactly like the slaves condition in that time. So you embark to a
destination and at the end, you will discover where is the destination. So you
will meet three characters. First of all, what you saw in the trailer was a maestro,
healer Abdullah el Gordh from Tangier, Morocco. Luzinho do Jeje, a percussionist
in a Candomblé group in Salvador de Bahía and Siddi Goma which is a band in Siddi in
India, African descendant and performing the what they call Damal which is a ritual
from the Southern India. Ok, so the experience is quite simple. You get into
this menu, you choose a character and then you have a very linear story, 360 story.
Actually the purpose of that is to have this character trying to define the place,
the environment, who he is, and trying to introduce you slowly to this to his
community. And after that you will be totally in a ceremony and a ritual, in a
specific ritual. You could ask me why ritual, what is ritual, why you choose to
put us in the ritual? Personally I think that a ritual or ceremony is in one hand
the pure manifestation of that well- conserved memory, once, and in the other
hand it is a multimedia explosion. You see things, you see colors, you see dance, you
listen to music, you just explore in all senses and in that sense, VR is very
powerful to transmit that. Of course as user you will be able to stop if you want
but and this is why how technology is very powerful in this project. You can't
go further because the structure of the ritual is basically, the music is gonna go
a little bit up and up and up in the ritual. The people go in trance. Why?
Because this trances is the way to reconnect with their ancestors. For some
people maybe it's like something really new. But the music frequencies that are
produced during a ceremony whatever with drums, whatever with other instrument
jingles etc. put them in a situation where they really connect with their
ancestors were there with their heritage, with the memories and the challenge of
this project was to reproduce this. Me or you, you may want to experience that. So
what you are doing now basically is, we are working on a technical solution,
basically an algorithm which measuring your frequencies and your body movement.
If you want to go in trance you can. If you want to stay in the ritual you can.
The more you stay, the more the music will go up and more will transport you with
them. If you if it is too much for you, you step back and you go back to the menu,
as simple as that. Those are some testimonies because during this project,
as many of you doing projects, you have moments when you are doubting. You say
what the fuck are you doing. What's this? Why are you doing that? So what I always
do is like when I produce the first prototype, I go to the people back and say
look, this is what I'm doing. What do you think? So, this Maestro of Genua told me,
this is what I always dreamed about. I knew that I have brothers and the other
side. So for me it's a very powerful testimony that their memories still
gravitating between the sea and they know that they have parents, family that
crossed the borders or crossed the sea and they are there. So for me it's very
powerful to know that those people understand what is the purpose of this
work and from the other side too. So in Brazil I had this crazy testimony which
with where this Maos de Santos told me, we don't need passports anymore, so we can
be everywhere. Lately in India, Mr Sabia which is the lead singer of the Cidi told
me this is our music there. So for me all those testimonies show me that this
project is on a good path somehow and the purpose why I'm doing that is actually
and I think beyond music and beyond slavery and et cetera this dynamics of
displacement when people move from place to place, they carry on a set of
knowledge, set of wisdom with them and sometimes we think it's gonna be lost
somehow in the space but I don't think so. Personally I think that memory is still a
life always. And music is really powerful to tell us that the memory can be always
kept intact. And what I learned also through this project is that through the
suffering of being displaced of being taken somewhere as they create beauty.
Beauty has been created, celebrated, transcended into new identity which is
very beautiful because if you see the Brazilians. They are now part of Brazil,
despite the whole harsh situation that they are living in, their living there,
that they're still, they adapted to new environment where they are and it's the
same for all displaced cultures from Africa. So outputs of this project, first
of all, we will produce an app which is going to be free to download so that
everyone can experience it on very normal basic cardboard and also multi user
experience. So one of my main purpose and of doing this project, so I want to have
a kind of social impact through that. I want to explain somehow slavery in a
totally different way. I want to have a kind of educational part of this project.
So I want that children can go through that, listen to some music, listen to some
strong story but also understand differently what happens. Because maybe we
love to dance on soul music, jazz music but somehow we forget where it's coming
from and then what is the whole journey that we all today's pretend that we are
open and love this jazz music and stuff. But we don't understand where it's coming
from. Why is it like this? How those displaced communities had lived. That we
today can listen to their music and enjoy it. So I actually I am, in order to finish
this small speech. You know what's this? Actually I made, I made some research
because early this year I was invited to have a TedX-Talk in Cape Verde and the theme
was roots, Wurzeln, and I made some research and I found out that 99 percent
of the plants on this earth cannot live without roots in the site. Only one plant
and this plant is magic. This plant could transform the role of the roots in the
soil through the leaves. The name of this plant is Tillandsias and it's a very
inspiring plant because it has like through the years transformed the role of
the roots into to something else. It lives without roots. For me it's a very
inspiring plant because it kind of reminds us that we we are all like kind of
we can reinvent ourself and this is the case also for those displaced
communities. They reinvented something. They really transformed and transformed,
transcended that identity to something beautiful. So far, I came to the end of
my pitch. Thank you very much. If you have questions ...
*applause*
Herald: Small note on the end. He said earlier that he brought the prototype.
*Sélim confirms* Herald: I think you're able and willing to
show. Sélim: Yes. If people want to test it to
have a prototype with me so outside maybe, yes.
Herald: Perfect. In this case I think you meet each other outside, in front of the
room. If you have questions there are two microphones. Please ask your questions and
please speak out loud into the microphone directly. Number two please.
F1: Ok, thank you for our talk. I know from Brazil but I think this is valid for
the other locations too, that they are actually discussions that ceremonies like
this which are sacred should not be easily accessible to outsiders and especially
Europeans who come there usually as a tourist and see that as like cheap
attraction and then they go and go back to the resort or something. So how would you
situate your project in those discussion or did you take part in them?
Sélim: Okay. Thank you for this question. Actually it took me one and a half
year to find the right person and to work it out to get into a Candomblé session,
exactly they didn't want to reduce it to cheap entertainment which is not the case.
First of all, they were saying to me: "What you come from Europe, you want to just to
reduce our spirituality into an entertainment." It took me a lot of time to
really convince my local producer there which is part of the family of Candomblé.
That's not the case. I'm coming with a totally different concept. Of course we
are, it's a kind of golden gate you open for that and they're not like used to
let everybody to those ceremonies and those rituals, especially in Brazil where
the socio-economic pressure and situation is really special. It's really harsh. So
for them Candomblé is a kind of identity, it's us, you know, it's kind of: this is us
and this is the other Brazil. So yes it took me a long time to convince the people
to establish trust and to really be there many times and to and to let them
understand look, it is a project that aims to connect those diasporic heritage. You
know I want to show this to maybe your brothers and sisters in India, in Morocco.
And it's worked out, so somehow, VR, it's giving you as author also this question of
ethics because you don't frame something, you put the user inside a set. So, for them
it's a kind of secret. You know, I don't know, if some people of you have been in a
Candomblé session. It is very powerful like when the drums starting and going up
and up and up and up, it's fantastic I mean it's euphoria that goes up and for them it's a
way to be. It's a way to say, here we are. We don't forget, we are here, we
celebrate, we cry, we love and we live here and we don't forget where we're
coming from. So this magical gates that we are is up. Of course it keeps the whole
kind of responsibility somehow. Herald: Thank you. Next question, nice. In
this case, I have the opportunity...Number two please.
F2: Thank you for your talk. I would like to add a little bit to that
Herald: Questions only please. F2: Ok.
Herald: So what's the question? F2: The question is, well I can't do that,
I need to add something because I think that some things are not presented right
or just wrong. Candomblé it's not just anything but it is a direct connection to
the .. Herald: Ok, in this case I will shift the
discussion back to the ... Can we have the next question please?
F2: ...and this is shortened to something which cannot be shortened.
Herald: Okay go ahead, sure. F2: ...and the Candomblé and Dojoba are
directly connected and have a religious foundation. So this is just in addition
about that and also there was something wrong in your talk. You said the people
were deported to North America did not go through South America. But they also went
directly there, they were transported directly there. So just those additions. I
would love to discuss with you this further and not to ... also of course
everybody can ask me after that because I don't want to monopolize this.
Sélim: Ok, thank you very much. Herald: Ok, next question please. Number two.
F3: Ok, it's follow up question. If your
only aim were to connect the communities, why, how does the free downloadable app
into that so, could you maybe elaborate on the entertainment part a little bit more
because I don't see that point will be treated by your answer. The other
question: Is there any profit in your project? And if yes, who gets that profit.
Sélim: Okay first of all, why an app, because basically I want to share it with
people as simple as that. Profit, till now we don't have any profit. We produce a
prototype after the prototype with a company based in Berlin which is in VR. So
we got small money just to produce that and to make it in a good way and to
explore VR, first of all, as as a storytelling tool. So there is no profit
in that sense. This project is since two and a half year. We got some small grants
from cultural institutions to make research but beyond that I mean the main
purpose is not to make money out of this, basically. The main purpose is to
distribute it, to shift somehow the conscience of people to present this issue
in a totally different way but also to try to somehow engage the debate, you know, to
unroot narratives which is in our conscience still there. We see blacks as
you know slaves etc. We don't have it easy to really decode what happened, you
know, in terms of culture, in terms of anthropology. So this project is an
attempt to that, is a trigger. So that's why we're here, to discuss that. So till
now we didn't really have a business plan for this project but I would be very happy
that people can see it first of all. Thank you.
Herald: And number two again please. F4: Thank you, Sélim, for this talk. You
started with VR as a tool for anthropology and then you refered to it again. Could
you please elaborate a little bit more on this anthropology, how this plays a role
in your project? I hope my question is clear enough to give you a point for
starting. Sélim: Yeah. I think that was part in the
answers in the presentation. VR is... I mean I don't pretend to be first of all an
expert on VR. Second of all, nobody can pretend to be an expert in VR. It's a very
nascent new tool and everybody's like experimenting. Some works are good, some
works are consequent, some works are powerful but some work are total failures.
So let's be honest about that, so nobody can pretend to having the magical formula
to do the best VR piece ever. But I think personally it's a tool that can really put us in
a situation when we can really embrace the world in a totally different way. If you
go back a little bit in the history and you see like the the cinema that had been
produced in the early 60s or 70s by Jean Rou for example, in Africa, which is a
very honest work he put in frame like the reality as it is from African living
there. But I think that approach has been always through the technology approach. We had
always built this pictures of Africa through other people's eyes and VR is
totally the opposite of that. Is just you put a camera and you disappear. You have a
360 degree, things happen, you observe, then you look at the footage you want to
design it, or not, as your choice but basically the act of filming VR or
capturing 360 content is very easy. It's very simple. It's just, you put the user
in the centre of something. In that perspective I think it's very powerful
anthropology tool because anthropology is based on observation, so as simple as
that. Herald: Thank you. I think I have the
honor of the last question, finally. You mentioned more modern art or more modern
music project. What are your upcoming projects and what do you think is the
technology like in 10 years for you, related to your upcoming projects?
Sélim: I'm still stuck in this project and I think basically we are far from the end
product or output but I'm very happy to see that people engaged with that. I just
came from another meeting I told you from re:publica in Africa and I realized that
this project, I identified basically two audiences. First of all, you have the
African audiences which for them just to be in a ceremony is enough. It's fantastic
they freak out, It's exactly what they are looking for, in terms of memory and
displacement. It's very enough and you have the VR audience. People who would say
ok what can I experience here? You know, I see people dancing around me, listening to
music, cool, I can dance but what I'm expecting? We are working on this part we
want to make feel the user how this music and this power of music can work on
your conscience can work on your brain activity, can engage you physically and
this is how we are working now with music and code. With coding music, we are
analyzing the frequencies that are producing through the combination of high
frequencies and low frequencies and that creates this space of trance. And of
course you cannot push users directly into trance, some people don't want this. So yes,
the next step will be to elaborate this interactive ceremony, so you can really go
deeper producing CGI the more the trance will go, the more you will see things
happening. The more you visualize the memories, the more you will see, the
belief, the spirits, whatever, and the more you will have this physical
experience of being in a ritual. So, this is a next step, basically.
Herald: Thank you very much. Sélim: Thank you, thank you a lot.
Herald: I want a round of applause for Sélim.
*applause*
*postroll music*
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