Empire Sports Bar

I know I've mentioned Empire Sports Bar in a few posts. It's where I played regularly: Tuesday nights at the acoustic jam session (violin) and every other Saturday with the band (violin and keyboard). Here, finally, are some pictures:

Stone Town!

Before leaving Tanzania I spent three days in Stone Town, Zanzibar. I had been there for a couple of days in October but had spent more time on that visit to Zanzibar at the beach. This time I stayed in Stone Town, went on a spice tour, and enjoyed wandering through the narrow streets. And of course, sunset over the Indian Ocean was beautiful.

Recording studio pictures

Here are a few pictures from one of my favourite days ever, a day spent in the recording studio with my friend Diallo, an excellent singer/songwriter/guitar player. I played violin on a couple of his songs and we also worked with a young man named Duy who is writing and recording music. He had the ideas, and together all of us -- along with studio engineer/fantastic keyboard player Emmanuel, created arrangements and recorded the parts. One of the most fun things was playing harmonies with myself and sounding like an entire string section! We all had a great time working together and I think the results were excellent.

Emmanuel

Diallo

Adding vocal harmonies

Hmm, wonder what I was playing here?

Arranging one of Duy's songs

listening carefully

Happy group at the end of a productive day

Pictures from Umoja's Year-End Musical Celebration

I'm home now! Time to start catching up on this blog. First, here are some pictures from our June 1st concert, described in an earlier blog post:

The time has come...tonight I fly out of Tanzania. It has been an epic week: Ndoto, 3 great days in Zanzibar, a fantastic day in the recording studio, saying many goodbyes... so I haven't had time to update this blog! Once I get home, after a 3-day stopover in Amsterdam, I'll upload some pictures and videos. Till then...

Another list

Now that I will be home in less than 3 weeks, it's time for another list:

Things I am looking forward to
Being with friends and family!!! This tops the list and trumps everything else.
Corona with lime
ATM's that work
driving my little blue car
my good violin
Kira and Tilly (our cats)
coffee shops
my 35th high school reunion (in Ann Arbor a few days after I get home)
Ziggy Marley in concert (one night after I get home)
my good violin
Thai food
strawberries, raspberries, blueberries and peaches
Waterloo MB church
volunteering with ACCKWA (AIDS committee of Cambridge, Kitchener, Waterloo and Area)
the Waterloo Chamber Players
the Guelph Symphony
playing squash
going to the gym\
24 hour grocery stores
24 hour Tim Hortons
drum circles
CBC Radio 2
wearing heels
our rooftop patio
having a stereo
walking at night
new students and returning students
fast internet
frozen yogurt
our house!!!
the Bruce Penninsula
lots of live music
What Not To Wear
the bathtub
stairs and chairs
places that are open late
whatever life has in store next....!
And so much more...

See you all soon!

Year-end musical celebration!

Last Friday was Umoja Music School's year end concert, featuring performances by all our ensembles. Everyone worked very hard to get ready and the concert was a huge success! I loved seeing how much the violin groups I work with have grown this year, and that was also true for the piano and guitar groups. To give you an idea of the great variety of music, here is the concert program:

Violin level 4: Vivaldi Double Concerto
                    Do You Know What It Means To Miss New Orleans?

Violin level 1: Twinkle Twinkle
                    Song of the Wind

Piano level 1: Cuckoo

Piano level 2: Tribute to Umoja (a newly composed piece by one of Danielle's colleagues)
                    You Are My Sunshine

Guitar level 1: Lightly Row
                     Twinkle Twinkle

Conducting class: Sibelius Symphony no.3 (Danielle taught two groups of violin and piano students to the basics of conducting, and they all conducted along with 3-minute recorded section of the Sibelius)

Umoja Ensemble and Umoja Music School students: Kumecucha from Ndoto (a preview of our upcoming show on June 16!)

                                intermission

Violin level 2: Cincinnati

Violin level 3: Allegro Maestoso from Handel's Water Music Suite
                    Si Bheag Si Mohr
                    I've Got My Eye On You from Pirates of the Caribbean

Piano level 3: Opera project (This was truly creative! Danielle had been teaching this group about opera, so they made up their own opera by setting words to the pieces they were playing on piano)

Guitar level 2 and 3 and friends (drums, bass, vocals) Don't Stop Believing

Guitar level 2 and 3 and friends (drums, bass, vocals, violins): You Can Call Me Al

Umoja Ensemble and Umoja Music School students: Watoto Wa Umoja (original composition by Danielle!)

Hopefully I will have pictures to post soon. Meanwhile here is a link to the video of Watoto Wa Umoja: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=njLRULVcWxE&feature=relmfu

Congratulations to my colleagues David, Danielle and Tiana, and a huge thank-you to our administrator Annette for all her organizational work! And to all our students -- hongera sana (well done)!