Book Review
 FaIsafa ya Sanaa Tanzania
        Edited By: 1'. Jcngo, L.A. Mhllghlll11 <lnd S.A. Kandl,r"
        Baraza la Sanaa la Taira Tan/;II1!;,
        1982, 133pp. Hardb8ck Tsh. 40/-;Paperback         Tsh. 30/- Review..r: J,W,N. Masanja,
        The bookF-alsafa ya Sanaa Tanzanta (The Philosophy of Art in Tanzania) comprises of
 articles written by famous scholars and a'rtists in the country. Their thinking in ~eneral is not
,confined to the school of thought 01 other phllo,opher, ,uch as L:IIlon, AII,tOlle, and Karl
 Marx, to mention only a few., who have written on the'philosophy of art in their respective
 :societies. The contributors feel that tbe true meaning of art should come'from. the People
 themselves in a particular period of their economic and 'cultural development. Thus, though
 art in Tanzania may be influenced by foreign forms of arts, its meaning must be defined by
 the Tanzanian people themselves.
         The book has seven chapters. In his introduction, E. Jengo attempts to give a summary
 ofalI the chapters, l;Jis reaction to the chapters is clearly written to help the reader grasp the
   gist. of each chapter. In dO\8g BO,he raises many questWns concerning the development and
   interpretation of Tanzanian art.         The question of African paintmg, lor example,!s
   fully analysed in his exposition. Tbebeliefthat painting is a foreign form of art in Tanzania IS
   shattered. Mbughuni, in the first chapter, discusses the meaning of Art - l11aana'ya sanaa.
   He points out four main aspect~:                                           .
          "Tafsiri ya Dhana ya Sanaa" (Intrepretation and concept of art)
          "Matumizi ya Zana ya Sanaa" (The function of art)
          "Tathmmi ya Lengo na Ujumbe"(Evaluation           of the artistic).
          "Nadharia ya Uundaji Sanaa" '(Theory of artistic creation).                            ,
        In alI the four aspects, Mbughuni stresses that Tanzanians do not have to read foreign
   art philosophies and interpretations in order to understand and appreciate their own art. A
     good example is'-thee meamng foreigners give to totem-like carvings which they calI
   "Ujamaa." The carving~ con!\ist of a groupof figures with one figure at the top. According to
    Wembah Rashid.. the so-called Uiamaa carvings are said to represent wrestlers. This is what
   the car~in~s depict. However, more investigation remains to be done to establish the validi-'
    t)' of thiS mterpretation, for in most carvings of this type, it is common to find a figure of a,
    woman on top. There is no evidence suggesting that among the Wamakonde men wrestle
    with women.
          The chapter on ••Asili ya' Sanaa" by S. Ntiro and Shemsanga discusses the existence of
   art during the pre-colonial period and its importance today. The patterns and designs
   dicussed by Shemsanga in part one of the chapter are said to have aesthetic value and
   meaning to their communities.
          In part two' of this chapter, Ntiro discusses the origin and meaning of art in Tanzania.
   He argues that the art of drawing,painting and sculpure in Tanzania was not irttroduced by
   foreigners. There 'are gOod'examples of drawings,.sculptures and paintings included in this
   chapter. The rock-painting and drawing of a hunter and the hunted animal(p. 33) shows that
    art in Tanzania is as old as the tr9pical sun. The Ilandallligulu and Yahitinde are also good
   examples of dra~in~ by Wasukuma in the cult dances dopicting their secret teachings.
          The dancers use their drawings as identification symbols. For example, the drawing of
   yahitinde would symbolise performing societies associated with a particular animal, namely
  'the snake. The bayeye (bagika) and the batiDild would, thcrefore, be identified by the usc of
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     the drawing ofyahitinde (a famous snake charmer) on the walls of their huts. Similarly, scu-
     lpture has symbolic meaning in the community. One important point raised by S. Ntiro is the
     notion that art must be studied within the cultural context of the people in order to unde-
    .rstand its origin, meaning, function and the style. True, but art can l>eenjoyed without
     necessarily understanding the culture that produced it.
          Chapter three attempts to define art and crafts. Simule does not believe that in Afrtca art
     and crafts are inseparabte;,in his view, they can be identified as sepNate entities. He therefore
    groups art and crafts and defines their parameters. Art, according tb Simule is any activity
     that produces an object that does not necessarily laave'to fulfil utilitarian needs. The purpose
     of art, according to him is to communicate. Crafts serve purely utilitarian needs.
          The position of the artist is discussoo by Kandoro and Bishota in chapter four. The.y
I focus 0!l the freedom of the artist in the community. Theiriellning of lPl"tis again discussed,
   but this time in relatjon to the word sanaa in Kiswahili. The word is sail:!to have origin,iled
   from Arabic sanaa aa tu (p. 57). It is probable that the authors want to remind the readers
   that in Tanzania there is no word from any,ethnic group with an ,equivalent meaning to the
   word sanaa. It is not surprising, therefore, that the word vinyago is used to mean sanamu,
   another word with roots from the Hindi language.
         On the freedom of the artist, Bishota and Kandoro seem to agree with the school of
   tnought that holds that the artist must conform to the values of his community. While it is
   true that the artists draw their inspiration from their communities, it cannot be said here that
   theIr work must conform to some ideology except in matters of a contract or commission
   when an artist has to produce what the client wants. Even here, some sort of artistic freedom
   is,necessary if a work of art is to bear the stamp of the artist.
         Chapter five discusses the role of art in educatio:1. Apart from merely carrying messages
   to the people, art is a medium of education, a basis for teaching and promoting the mental
  growth of the children. Mbughuni in this chapter shows that during the colonial period art
  was used to convey messages and to facilitate communication between teacher and pupils.
   But only few schools considered the subject to be as important as other subjects such as
  English, Mathematics and Sciencc. Tosome extent, the same trend prevaIls even today.
,Indeed, art can thrive without formal guidance in schools and colleges.
         Nakanoga discusses in chapter six the possibility of using art to develop the country's
  economy. Art and economy have lived together since ancient times. The artist makes things
  such as tools ana utensils for the community for which he is paid. Similarly, science and
  technology appli.~d works of art into mass production to meet the- people's demand.
  Nakanoga uses data to show that textile materials decorated by artists between 1977 and
  1978 at the Urafiki Textile factory in Dares Salaam sold more than .'the plain textile. He does
  not tell us, tho'ilgh, whether it was the decoration that created the demand .
    . Chapter seven by Mbogo attempts to show the relationship between the principles of the
  VIsual arts and architecture. The writer does this by discussing the role of space, pattern,
  sy~mmetry, and the function of architec~ure. He goes further by pointing out the relation-
  shIp of the environment to the architectural productions. He gives good examples of how
  tra~itional architecture, temporary as it may seem, respects the conditions of thl:
  envIronment.
        The writer does not, however su~est . any new' archllecturill techniques of
 tradItIonal architecture in materials ann design while still respectmg the cultural values of.
 the local people.                                                  _                                '
         O~the whole this' book is not oIlIy good reading, it is the only Kiswahili book in .East'
  Africa to' make an in-depth ana'lysis of art. However, the book gives us only the guidelines
  for defining art, it does not tell us how to define a great work o( art-What mak~sa
  great work of art? Are national criteria for defining a great work of art independent of the
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philosophh,al yardsticks Mbughuni has atlenlpted to expound? Is realism in art, for example,
a criterion for defining a great work of art? Such then is the problem that Falsafa ya Sanaa
Tanzania has not attempted to solve.
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