so. once again, time has flown and it's already mid-january, mid winter (i think -1 degrees this morning here in london?!) and i'm almost mid way through the first year at guildhall. phew! since i last wrote i've been on a grand musical venture...
the gambia, west africa.
for two weeks during december, as part of a cross-arts and trans-cultural elective at guildhall, 8 of us (and rather an international bunch.. aussie of course, dutch, mexican, american and english) travelled to the gambia, west africa to learn about four very different west african musical traditions. we spent our time drumming rhythms, singing and dancing through the days, absorbing the cultures and music of Susu, Mandinka, Wollof and Fula. every few days there were different visiting artists who would teach us various things about their respective tradition and style.
day 1 we were taken to a hotel in bakau, just outside the main city of banjul. quite the introduction really. the atmosphere of the beach and ocean breeze, the sun, the horizon of the deep-blue and man-made sailing boats, certainly made for a fresh slate, leaving the icy cold, stressful and bustling city-scape behind us.
day 2 we were soon shuffled off, piling into a rickety van, luggage precariously bumping around on the top, travelling to out next destination, our home for the next two weeks.
it was a fabulous and intense couple of weeks, with temperatures in the mid-30s. we lived in huts, making up a small camp just outside a small village called berefet, with a crew of locals that cooked up delicious traditional food. we were right on the river gambia too, where we could swim every day, escaping the heat. there was a few hours of electricity in the evenings only, run by a generator. and if we were lucky and the sun was shining brightly, we'd have running water too! i've never loved a shower so much as when you're covered in red dirt from dancing all day, mud remnants from the river and layers upon layers of citronella mosquito spray to escape the malaria carrying pests.
we worked hard absorbing all we could.. and it felt like a holiday at the same time! here's a bunch of pics from the two weeks: our teachers and few of us as well!
our susu teachers...
here's liza teaching the balafon (the african wooden xylophone with gourds) master how to play violin...
and some village shots: washing day under the boabab tree...
and some entertainment by the local village women and children... soon after these images, the whole village turned up pretty much, around 150 women and children, absolutely going crazy dancing and singing. what a memorable occasion it was!!
mandinka lessons....
i was very inspired by our teacher Jaliba (meaning 'great musician') Momodou Suso, from the mandinka tribe. his vocals are hard to hear in this video (this one is the only one i could upload for some reason.. more coming next time!), but his playing of the kora makes up for it.. what a beautiful instrument. i'll find another video for next time where you can hear his vocals too..
amazing really, the importance of music and musicians in west africa. the stature that musicians have traditionally in society, the respect for them, as well as the reverent messages behind the music that they create, is incredibly different to the western world. all music is taught aurally from generation to generation, they create and perform music to exchange messages, to resolve conflict, to influence political leaders with messages from the people. many of the songs we learned had a profound and respectful meaning behind them.
we had a day off after our mandinka jaliba came to berefet.. we went on this boat... which was quite an experience!
to this island, kunta kinteh island, or james island...
which is an historical island.. i think actually a UNESCO world heritage site, that was used for the west african slave trade. it still has the ruins of administration buildings and cells on the island.. as well as some boabab trees (great fruit by the way..!). it was kind of eery, but certainly amazing to hear of its history. apparently it is now 1/6 of its original size due to erosion as well.
ok, back to the music...
wollof music:
the wollof drumming was fantastic.. i bought a talking drum! yes i'm excited about it.. i'll dig out some more pics and videos this week too, as what i have here is very limited and i can't seem to upload any more videos today... crap internet!!!
then there was the fula musicians.. this is the only photo i found! more coming soon, i promise!! from the fula musicians, i bought a pair of lado lado's (i think they're called!), which are hand percussion shakers, make from sticks and cut out sections from a calabash.
and here's kat (our english gal, on the left), kabba (our local guide, who took a lot of convincing to come and dance), and maiike (one of our dutchys from the course) dancing with the musicians...
apologies for the lack of videos and music clips here.. i'll get the internet and videos sorted and will be back soon!!! thanks for reading.. any comments or questions welcome!
and coming next time also, are perhaps some photos form the guildhall.. who knows..
and coming next time also, are perhaps some photos form the guildhall.. who knows..
amazing!!! really enjoyed reading all that rae. Sounds like an awesome experience :)
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