In the coming weeks, Surprising Europe, a new television series on African migration in Europe, will be shown on Al Jazeera and on Dutch tv. This Is Africa participated in the making of the series by researching and pre-producing some of the items. Meet kuduro artist Puto Cossa (Angola/Portugal), dance duo Pepe Soup (Liberia/Italy) as well as K-Nel, Bantu, Wonda Wendy, Scorpio and Sister Fa.
Surprising Europe touches on a big issue that so far has received little attention in the media: misconceptions among prospective immigrants about life in Europe. Anyone living in a western country who has friends or relatives in Africa will be familiar with the perceptions and expectations that exist about life 'up north'. In the face of harsh economic realities and family pressure or simply driven by an urge to see more of the world, many young people are dreaming of going to Europe.
Ugandan photo journalist Ssuuna Golooba once had similar dreams and took the step of leaving his job and life in Kampala behind to settle in Holland to try and make his fortune there. After overstaying his tourist visa he became an 'illegal immigrant' and faced the other side of life in a country where society seemed driven by rules, papers and an ever changing political climate. Earning an income cleaning toilets while barely being able to afford his survival in Holland, he had a hard time explaining family back home that life as an undocumented immigrant is quite different from the way he had imagined, and that he had to hustle hard to find money.
Ssuuna's urge to show a more realistic image of African migration in Europe (using the slogan 'no more lies') was at the heart of the idea for Surprising Europe, a magazine-style tv series which portrays life of the 'sans papiers' (clandestine immigrants) in big cities like Barcelona, Paris, Lissabon and Amsterdam. The series of nine episodes will air worldwide on Al-Jazeera from August, while Dutch public broadcaster Human (Nederland 2) starts a month early with the 1st episode on Friday, July 8.
Surprising Europe is not only an eye-opening introduction to the hardships and wonders of the European continent to newcomers on the African continent; to Europeans and to Africans living in Europe it will also be a revealing look into the lives of those who made their way and decided to stay, often without the legal documents that would give them the same rights and possibilities as residents. Apart from the practicalities of coming to Europe (with or without a visa), the series looks at living conditions, changing immigration laws, racism and discrimination, intercultural marriages and more.
Each episode of Surprising Europe portrays an African musician living in Europe. Besides presenter K-Nel, a Kenyan rapper living in Cologne (Germany), there's Ade Bantu (Nigeria/Germany), Puto Cossa (Angola/Portugal), Sister Fa (Senegal/Germany), Scor.pi.o (Cameroon/Netherlands), Pepe Soup (Italy), Wonda Wendy (Gabon/France) and Lord Ekomy Ndong (Gabon/France). The producers of Surprising Europe (a company called Jongens van de Wit) worked closely with This Is Africa and Africanhiphop.com in researching and producing the musical items.
The first video accompanying the series, by Dutch/Cameroon rapper Scor.pi.o, is out now and the single can be bought from Itunes:
The website Surprisingeurope.com is a growing online community containing background articles, blogs by some of the musicians and presenters in the series and video posts by people of African origin from all over Europe.
Watch Surprising Europe:
Dutch television (from July 8) every Friday at 4.30 p.m on Ned 2 (Human)
Al Jazeera English (from August 8) weekly on Monday 10.30 p.m, Tuesday 9.30 a.m., Wednesday 3.30 a.m, and Thursday 4.30 p.m. GMT
