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)!
Thursday, 7 June 2012
Thursday, 31 May 2012
Colours
I have been enjoying the bright colours that surround me in everyday life. Here are a few pictures taken in the past month:
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| the kids at ISM all seem to favour purple shoes |
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| purses and scarves hanging on my closet door |
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| gorgeous flowers outside the window of my studio. Sometimes they are visited by hummingbirds! |
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| bouganvilia growing on the roof at ISM |
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| this tree also smells wonderful (yes, I know the pic is sideways!) |
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| love this tree |
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| my jewelry |
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| clothing made from beautiful African fabric... with our fabulous tailor Mama Suzy |
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| sunset while waiting for our ride home from work |
Thursday, 17 May 2012
Recording Studio!
Last week I had a recording studio date with Nicko P,. one of my musician friends, to record violin tracks for two of his songs. After getting off the dalla-dalla at the wrong stop, phoning a friend to get directions,and walking for 15 minutes, I found Fnouk Studios. No sooner had I arrived then Nicko phoned me to say that he had just heard from the recording engineer, who had to cancel the session because a big tree fell across the road in his neighbourhood and he had to help move it. Oh, Tanzania!
The recording session was re-scheduled for this morning. When I arrived Nicko P. and Katanga Junior (awesome drummer) were already there. Alex, the recording engineer, arrived soon after and we started recording right away. I first played over one of the songs Nicko had previously recorded -- I listened through the headphones and played along. Through the window of the sound booth I could see Nicko, Alex and Katanga talking and laughing and I wondered how it all sounded to them. I recorded a second track with the same song so that there would be more to choose from. Next Nicko played and sang another of his songs -- a very beautiful song titled Zena -- while I played violin. We were in separate rooms but could hear each other through the headphones and I could see Nicko, which helped me know which part of the song was coming next. We did several takes of Zena and then it was time for me to leave for work. I am really looking forward to hearing the recording once it has been mixed! I thoroughly enjoyed the morning -- I love studio work, and how wonderful to get to record in Tanzania, especially with such great musicians!
The recording session was re-scheduled for this morning. When I arrived Nicko P. and Katanga Junior (awesome drummer) were already there. Alex, the recording engineer, arrived soon after and we started recording right away. I first played over one of the songs Nicko had previously recorded -- I listened through the headphones and played along. Through the window of the sound booth I could see Nicko, Alex and Katanga talking and laughing and I wondered how it all sounded to them. I recorded a second track with the same song so that there would be more to choose from. Next Nicko played and sang another of his songs -- a very beautiful song titled Zena -- while I played violin. We were in separate rooms but could hear each other through the headphones and I could see Nicko, which helped me know which part of the song was coming next. We did several takes of Zena and then it was time for me to leave for work. I am really looking forward to hearing the recording once it has been mixed! I thoroughly enjoyed the morning -- I love studio work, and how wonderful to get to record in Tanzania, especially with such great musicians!
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| About to whack the microphone with my bow. Thank goodness for studio editing! |
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| Nicko P., Katanga Junior and me |
Wednesday, 25 April 2012
Lists
Just over 8 weeks until I leave Tanzania. A few weeks ago I
started two lists, one of things I will miss and another of things I will not
miss. The lists have been growing rapidly and so far they continue to be pretty
much exactly equal in length. Just for fun, here are some items from both
lists:
Some things I will miss
My colleagues and friends!!!
This item outweighs any of the others by an order of magnitude.
speaking Swahili
speaking “Swanglish” (bad mix of Swahili and English)
flowers blooming all year round
hearing reggae blasting from stores and on the dalla-dalla
Umoja Ensemble
Ndoto
jamming with reggae musicians and others
some of the restaurants
seeing Mt. Meru
being around people who have lived in many parts of the
world
speaking French with our landlady Annie
the landscape
living in a country that has lions, zebras, elephants,
giraffes…
people wearing bright colours
buying African fabric and having dresses made
geckos
Maasai
sleeping under mosquito netting
kissing people on the cheek to say hello, European style
all the different accents with which people speak English
beautiful trees, flowers and birds
the big African sky
living in the southern hemisphere
seeing Orion all year
singing in Jimmy’s taxi
riding the dalla-dalla to work
fresh pineapple juice
seeing people carrying a wide variety of things on their
heads
Some thiings I will NOT miss
slow internet
texting (I don’t do this at home but it’s the main form of
communication here)
not being able to walk at night
insects (although we have lots in Canada too of course!)
not having window screens
slugs
times when we have no electricity
times when we have no water
bad roads
the low water pressure in our shower
not having an oven
wearing insect repellant instead of perfume
the smell of burning garbage
the long commute to work
working 6 days a week
people accosting me to try to sell me things
no toilet paper in so many washrooms
the song “Sawa Sawa Sawa”
not being able to use debit and credit cards
mud
dust
bargaining
how shopping for anything is a mission
hearing, “Hey mzungu!”
Monday, 16 April 2012
Ndoto camp weekend!
We just spent a great weekend rehearsing with our Umoja Ensemble kids and some of our instrumental students for the Ndoto show which will take place June 16. To this point we had been teaching the Umoja Ensemble kids a new part of the show each week, and teaching the instrumental parts to our students, but this was the first time we brought it all together.
Everyone worked hard and played hard, and on Sunday afternoon we even had our first run-through of the show. Lots to work on still, but it's going to be great! And a good time was had by all!
Here is a link to pictures from the weekend: http://www.flickr.com/photos/umojamusic/sets/72157629465809514/
And the Ndoto web page has been updated with pictures and video:
http://daniellewilliamsmusic.com/ndoto-project.html
Thank you Danielle for putting both of these things together!
Everyone worked hard and played hard, and on Sunday afternoon we even had our first run-through of the show. Lots to work on still, but it's going to be great! And a good time was had by all!
Here is a link to pictures from the weekend: http://www.flickr.com/photos/umojamusic/sets/72157629465809514/
And the Ndoto web page has been updated with pictures and video:
http://daniellewilliamsmusic.com/ndoto-project.html
Thank you Danielle for putting both of these things together!
Sunday, 15 April 2012
One more set of pictures from Brian
These are mostly landscapes:
https://picasaweb.google.com/117570881383373391672/AfricaLandscapes?authkey=Gv1sRgCN7B9p2P7qOa7AE#
https://picasaweb.google.com/117570881383373391672/AfricaLandscapes?authkey=Gv1sRgCN7B9p2P7qOa7AE#
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