Pictures from Zanzibar

Just got back from an amazing week in Zanzibar! Here are a few pictures:

Umoja Ensemble pictures

Hello to all! I am on vacation this week. At an internet cafe in Dar Es Salaam right now, planning to spend the day exploring Dar  -- and on to Zanzibar tomorrow! Super excited.  Lots of pictures will follow. Meanwhile, here are some pictures from last Friday at Umoja Ensemble. Danielle also made a video of me playing violin at the two schools, which I will post later.

Danielle teaching notation at Maasai Joy

Dancing and singing with Danielle and Tiana

Learning about quarter notes at Albehija

drumming with Teacher David

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. 

Umoja Ensemble

Every Friday morning, Umoja teachers work with kids at two of the local schools. The Umoja Ensemble kids learn drumming and singing and they are learning about music from all parts of Africa. I haven't worked with Umoja Ensemble yet but am looking forward to going this week. Meanwhile, here is a great video Danielle put together: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KwMbA7C-F8c

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