Mr. Kekura Kamara aka Malawala Balawala

Balawala laments plight of Liberian Artists, calls for cultural policy to protect the industry

Liberia’s foremost entertainer and producer Kekura Kamara, popularly known as Malawala Balawala has been lamenting the plight of the arts and culture industry in Liberia and the painful struggle Liberian artists have to go through to gain relevance.

“Today in Liberia artists are struggling,” Kekura declared during an exclusive interview with contributing writer Nvasekie Konneh, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania recently. He revealed that Liberian artists go through the creative process, including going to the studio, putting in time and resources to produce their albums, but at the end of the day, their efforts are not fairly rewarded. He said artists often go through a tough battle to gain some type of reward for their effort.

“Just coming out of war that destroyed all the fabric of our country, Liberian artists are coming back to contribute to the rebuilding process of the country. Many don’t have the capacity to produce themselves. Sometime they record one song in the studio passing around to see if anyone will be interested in investing in their talents,” Kamara sadly told the reporter.

According to the producer, there are several organizations including the Musician Union of Liberia, Liberia Movie Union and others, which are involved in some advocacy for the government to give boost to the entertainment industry. He said through these unions, we have succeeded in having our representative on the copyright board. Another aspect of this advocacy is for the passage of the anti-piracy program in the country which will benefit the artist as well as the government.”

The Liberian producer, who is visiting the United States as guest of the African Cultural Alliance of North America (ACANA) noted that the governments of the Ivory Coast and Guinea are involved in the promotion of those countries arts, cultures, and tourism, but that the Liberian government has not shown any interest in promoting tourism that can have such a positive effect on the country.

Kamara said in other neighboring countries such as Guinea, Ivory Coast and Sierra Leone, there are vibrant arts and cultural scenes, but that Liberia remains at the bottom of the scale simply due to the lack of investment in the industry in Liberia.

“Either the private sector or the Liberian government has not invested in the promotion of Liberian arts and culture. If there is the right kind of supports from the government or the private sector, entertainment industry is a very lucrative sector that can generate revenues for the government and help the artists. It also promotes the country’s positive image abroad,” he said.

He lamented the government’s inability to support the industry, revealing that two years ago, there was a budget submitted to the Liberian government wherein approximately $700,000.00 was put in for the development and promotion of tourism. At the end of the day, the government only came out with mere $3,000.00. “This is just a drop in the bucket when it comes to the promotion of tourism in the country.”

He said Liberia does not have a cultural policy and “you cannot have cultural development without cultural policy. The United Nation Educational Social and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in collaboration with the government have conducted many workshops over the years geared toward creating a national cultural policy. There are many of such policy proposals piling up at the Ministry of Information and nothing is been done about them.”

The artist and producer furthered that other countries have cultural policies and their governments invest in cultural promotions. Unfortunately, that’s not the case in Liberia. He said Cultural policy will call for organizing and promoting cultural programs at the village and town levels. Through such efforts, talents could be identified and promoted to national and international status.

“On many occasions in the past the Ballet African Dance Troupe from Guinea under the sponsorship of the government of Guinea came to Liberia and went to many countries around the world. Recently there was the Chinese Cultural Troop in Liberia under the Chinese government sponsorship to promote their country’s image abroad. That is something that doesn’t happen in Liberia,” he said.

Kamara reminisced the last years before the war as the golden era of Liberian arts and culture. “Many talented musicians were coming up and there were many cultural groups and there were many original programming on the TV. The main supportive persons behind those efforts were the Minister of Information at the time, Mr. Emanuel Bowier and Alhaji Kromah as the Director General of LBS.”

He said during the Doe regime the good thing that happened was the creation of the National Bureau of Culture and Tourism which was headed by Jallah KK Kamara. He said the Bureau helped a lot in promoting the Liberian arts and culture. “Budget was allocated by the government and cultural groups were formed. During this period a Liberian artist, O J Brown won the first place award on the Radio France International cultural program called Decouvert. This award winning song was done in Kpelleh.”

He expressed disappointment in the current Ministry of Information’s inability to promote the arts and entertainment industry in Liberia. He said the Ministry is more of a propaganda apparatus for the government than doing anything to promote Liberian arts and cultures.

“Everything comes down to the fact that the government does not have a cultural policy or it has not decided to implement any of the many proposals that have been put together through many workshops sponsored by UNESCO and other relevant organizations,” the creative actor said.

He said Liberians in general appreciate Liberian arts and artists, but that they either don’t have the means to patronize or it may be that some don’t think that Liberian artists should live better life through their God given talents. “Even though they appreciate the Liberian arts and artists, the question is how many want to spend money to buy cds, dvds, or cassettes?”

Kekura Kamara strongly believes that until copy right measures are enforced, the Liberian artists will not be fairly compensated for the investment of time and resources they put in the creation of the products they come out with. “If Liberian movie or music cds come out and there are 20,000 to 30,000 copies sold, that’s enough for the artists and their producers. By our own standard, that’s a big success. In terms of quality, there are many quality recordings being done in Liberia today. Some of these recordings are taken abroad for further sound quality advancement. With the right type of support and investment, Liberia could be like any of her neighbor.”

He paid tribute to Former Information Minister Johnny McClain, who he said has been the only person in recent time that showed some appreciation for the bureau and what it stands for. “This is because the former minister spent ten years working for UNESCO. For the brief time he served as the minister of information, he tried to breathe some life into the bureau. His induction ceremony took place at Kendeja. That shows he understands the importance of arts and culture and that has more to do with his many years of works with UNESCO. Since his departure things have gone back to square one. Now the government wants to relocate Kendeja. The manner in which the whole Kendeja matter was handled was not proper.”

Kamara also credited for Liberian President, the late William R. Tolbert for promoting the arts and culture industry in Liberia. “No talk of the promotion of Liberian arts and culture can be made without mentioning the important role the late President William R. Tolbert played. He was like a talent scout that recruited many talented Liberian artists from his travels around the country. On many occasions when he traveled abroad, he took along Liberian singers and cultural troupes. It was through his efforts that Liberia participated in many international cultural festivals such as Festac 77 in Lagos, Nigeria.”

He blamed the television and radio stations in the country for doing very little to promote local talents. He noted that despite the present of many television and radio stations in the country, nothing has improved the industry. “Nothing has changed with all the many TV and radio stations. Their main staple is the pirated foreign music and movies because with those they don’t have to worry about copy right violation.”

He revealed that Liberian artists have to pay money to DJs to play their music on those radio stations. “It’s a sad thing that Liberian artists have to pay money to DJs to have their music played on in these radio stations. There should be a national policy as how much time should be for playing music from Liberia on radio stations operating in Liberia.”

“Many DJs in those stations don’t have any sense of nationalism and cultural pride. That’s why they prioritize playing foreign music over that of their own country. That is sad.”