From March 15 to Tuesday, NC State hosted the Nile Project, a musical group that aims to bridge divides over water conflict in East Africa with its music. Over the course of the week, the group held several concerts, as well as lectures, a movie screening and a leadership summit for interested students.
“What we’ve been doing is getting these musicians to collaborate and bring people together with their music,” said Mina Girgis, producer, CEO and co-founder of the Nile Project. “Everyone feels equally involved, equally included, equally heard with the music.”
In a lecture-style event about water usage in the Nile basin and East Africa on Monday, Girgis outlined the reason for the creation of the Nile Project. Since British colonial rule ended in Africa, disputes over water usage, especially over the Nile River, have become increasingly prevalent.
Girgis highlighted the conflict among Ethiopia, Egypt and Sudan. Ethiopia wants to construct a dam along its section of the river to generate electricity, but is opposed by not only both Egypt and Sudan, but also by a post-colonial treaty that governs the ability to utilize the river.
According to Girgis, the political rhetoric of the region has recently become increasingly heated on the problem of water usage.
“We have to find a way to distract people from this conversation,” Girgis said. “This is what we do with the music.”
Adding to the tensions of water usage, the population of the Nile basin is projected to more than double in some countries, according to the United Nations. Girgis said that while large-scale conflicts over water between countries are unlikely, small, decentralized skirmishes between individuals, families, towns and cities are entirely possible and happen more often in East Africa.
“The Nile doesn’t have enough water for the people of today or the people of tomorrow,” Girgis said. “There must be some level of trust for people to have these honest conversations [about water usage] with each other.”
The Nile Project seeks to promote this trust with its music. It consists of 37 musicians, 12 of which are currently on tour in the United States. The week that the Nile Project spent at NC State is only part of its three-month tour of the U.S.
“The first tour that [the Nile project] did in the United States was in 2015,” said Sharon Moore, director of NC State LIVE, the organization that brought the Nile Project to campus. “What really convinced me that I wanted to bring [the Nile Project] to campus was when I went to a panel discussion in New York and heard Mina Girgis, the co-founder, speak. It just sounded like such an amazing opportunity, and we just kind of took it from there.”
NC State LIVE is a department under Arts NC State that typically presents world music, jazz, theater and modern dance, among other things. Key organizations that helped NC State LIVE bring the Nile Project to campus were the University Sustainability Office, the Water Resources Research Institute and the NC State Music Department.
“We consistently present world music,” Moore said. “We’re always looking for artists who connect to issues of importance that are relevant right now. This particular project did that on so many levels.”
The Nile Project’s latest album was composed in just 10 days, according to Girgis. The process of collaborating on music involves each musician teaching the rest of the group about its individual instrument, followed by one-on-one sessions lasting about an hour with each other. This process ensures that both close and personal relationships between the musicians will develop as well as an understanding of each other and their respective cultures.
The song showcased during Monday’s lecture had deep, religious concepts. This is because all three Abrahamic religions have roots in or have had significant events featured in the Nile basin.
During the question and answer portion of the lecture, one student asked whether language proved a difficult barrier to breach when composing the Nile Project’s music.
“For music, we don’t need to speak any language,” Girgis said.
The Nile Project performs on Stafford Commons Tuesday. NileFEST is the culmination of the Nile Project's residency at NC State LIVE, featuring a concert by The Nile Project, an interactive mural, and food from the Nile region. The Nile Project is a collective of musicians from the 11 countries that the Nile River connects, and aims to "educate and empower stakeholders to collectively work towards the sustainability of the shared ecosystem."
