Making a drum

 

I have been spending a few hours every Saturday afternoon at Via Via making a drum with Fred, a drum-maker and drum teacher who works there. I am waiting for a few pictures still, but these will give you an idea of the process by which a log becomes a drum. The final stage after the last picture you see here was to put on the skin and stretch it tight. After that was finished I got to have a drum lesson with Fred where I learned a few new beat patterns, then I took the drum home and it is now ready to play. More pictures soon!

Jammin' in Arusha!

Last Saturday night I had a great time playing music at a party with an amazing group of musicians. The band included:

Mama C, a jazz singer with an extraordinary sultry voice

David, our awesome Umoja guitar teacher

Ray, David’s son, who is one of my violin students and a really creative improviser

A hot rhythm section (bass and drum)

Danielle, my wonderful colleague, on piano

me on violin and reggae piano

We played jazz and blues standards, some of Mama C’s originals, Tanzanian music, and reggae! Some of you know that I played keyboards in a reggae band in the 90’s. Well, as soon as the band started into reggae Saturday night I headed straight for the piano. It has been many years, but my fingers remembered.  I had missed it! If there are more opportunities to play reggae this year in Arusha, I’m there!

One of the great things about jamming with skilled musicians is that you can make it work even without rehearsing There’s something about jamming together; you get inside each others’ minds, you read each others’ body language; hearing becomes more acute and you find yourself responding to other musicians without even thinking about it. It is one of the most profound and exhilarating experiences of community I know of.

Here are some pictures of the band in action:

Tarangire video link

Hey all! Danielle took some great video footage while were at Tarangire and put this together:

Safari weekend video!! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q2lQEb4mhuk

More Tarangire pictures

Tarangire!

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 Yesterday Danielle, Anne, Katie, Cameron, Simone and I -- along with Gervus, our driver for the day -- had a fantastic time at Tarangire National Park, about 2 hours from Arusha. The pictures will speak for themselves! More to follow.

An Arusha Day (and night)

Mike using chopsticks

no idea what's going on here

crazy tree

Tunasoma Kiswahili!

Almost  five weeks in Arusha! Saturday was a day full of local activities. Danielle and I started the day by getting into a taxi to go to the Arusha Community Church, our Saturday teaching location, only to find out that the taxi driver didn’t know where it was and we didn’t know how to find it from where we were either! A phone call to Mike, our Swahili teacher, saved the day. In general I am gradually getting oriented to where things are in Arusha in relation to each other. Arusha is not a very big city, but many of the streets do not have names, or people don’t use the names, and recognizing landmarks is essential. There are only two traffic lights in the whole city. They make great landmarks.

After the morning of teaching violin (me) and voice (Danielle), Mike arrived for our fourth Swahili lesson. It was fast-paced and challenging.  I think both Danielle and I are starting to catch on. Mnafanya nini? Tunasoma Kiswahili. Unafanya kazi gani? Ninafundisha violin. Leo utakwenda lini? Nitakwenda shuleni.

Next we had our first experience riding in a dalla dalla, the local mini bus. Dalla dallas run along all the major routes and are very inexpensive, but also crowded. Every available space is filled and then some. I had my violin and backpack yesterday and had to take extra care not to poke someone in the head with my music stand. Generally it is best not to carry too much stuff when taking a dalla dalla.  It is a good thing Mike was with us, because we would not have known where our stop was. (I still wonder how to tell where you are when it’s too crowded to see out the window…) I am looking forward to taking more dalla dallas in the future; it is definitely a slice of life.

Danielle, Mike and I went for Chinese food, and in a reversal of roles I taught Mike how to use chopsticks. He was a very quick student. Afterwards we went for a walk around a neighbourhood with restaurants, tree-lined streets and a park. [pictures] Then Mike took us on another Dalla dalla to meet some friends for a drink at a Tanzanian bar before we headed home.

In the evening we went to Empire to hear a live reggae band. Lots of Bob Marley covers, but also reggae versions of Tracy Chapman and Lionel Richie. (Interesting!) The band also played some Soukous and other African styles. The night ended with dancing at Maasai Camp, a happening nightclub at a backpackers hostel. (Line dancing in Tanzania…. whaat?? I thought line dancing went out with the 80’s…) Some of the music was in Swahili, but some was the same as would be heard in a club in North America. A very diverse mix of people of all ages and from all over the world, and a delicious plate of chips (fries) at 3 in the morning… I can think of a lot worse ways to spend a night! All in all it was a good day and one that went a long way toward my feeling that Arusha is home.

Mt. Meru

Hey everyone! I'm behind on writing and will do so soon. Meanwhile, here's a picture of Mt. Meru. I can see the mountain very clearly from where I work and also as I walk up the hill to my house!