Living a musician's dream

Some of you know about my passion for African music; I have been collecting recordings and going to live performances (usually in Toronto) for the past 20 years. I even had the opportunity in the 90’s when I was playing with the band Isorhythm to play some African styles. More recently I started taking African drumming classes and participating in drum circles.

But I never imagined I would be part of the musical life in Africa! I would not have believed it possible. Tonight I am looking at my life and realizing that it is more than I could have hoped for. To give you an idea, here are some of the events of the past few days.

Wednesday: I played a gig at the Arusha Hotel with a local band: blues, reggae, African styles. We were playing for an international conference of people involved in microfinancing. The delegates were from 40 different countries! Everyone loved the music and apparently there had never before been such great dancing at one of their conventions.

Thursday: Umoja Songwriters’ Night! Seven local songwriters performed original songs in a wide variety of styles for an appreciative audience at a local restaurant. Danielle was the main organizer of this event – and not only that, but she played and sang two of her songs as well. I got to accompany her on violin for one song, a bluegrass tune. Great fun.

Friday: Started the day by going to Umoja Ensemble with Tiana and Danielle at a rural school called Maasai Joy. (See my previous post for a video put together by Danielle of Umoja Ensemble.) This enthusiastic group of young students are learning drumming and singing, and Danielle is also starting to teach them music notation. I got to play the djembe (hand drum) while they danced, and to take part in the dancing and singing as well. What a great time!  Next time I go I will take my violin and play it for the group, and perhaps we will do some improvising with violin, flute and drums.

Friday continued: This evening was a student recital at the International School, in which violin, piano and guitar students played solos. Everyone did very well, and family and friends had a lot of positive comments during refreshment time afterward. I had a good time accompanying some of my students on piano and on violin. 

Saturday (tomorrow): Outreach teaching at Arusha Community Church. I have five outreach students (local kids whose lessons are subsidized by fees paid by the international school students), three of whom are very young. An added challenge is that several of my outreach students speak very little English, so I am learning to teach using gestures, a few Swahili words (still very limited), and lots of “my turn – your turn.” Three of the outreach students’ mamas are also learning violin, which is great because they can then help their children practice at home.

Other musical experiences in recent weeks: jamming with two local musicians at an Arusha night spot; playing Bach in a concert that included works by Bartok, Debussy, and Faure, jazz standards, someone singing “Imagine” while playing the ukelele, a gospel trio, and three choirs including one in full Maasai dress; teaching 30+ private violin lessons and 3 group lessons each week; rehearsing a small group of students playing an abridged version of a Bach Brandenburg concerto; assigning some of my students to start writing music of their own; doing improvisation exercises in one group lesson and teaching younger kids in another group about opposites (staccato/legato, forte/piano, allegro/lento, high/low); enjoying the “soundtrack of life” in Arusha: lots of reggae blasting on the sound systems in taxis and dalla-dallas.

So here I am, living my own dream in Tanzania.