Another day, another concert and more great African music.

Props to Suely for telling me about Lura and broadening my knowledge about Cabo (Cape) Verdean music. Thanks to her when I looked in the paper a few weeks ago and saw that Lura, from Cabo Verde and Busi Mhlongo from South Africa would be doing a concert together my interest was immediately piqued. The two played together this past Saturday the 5^th at the Bassline at the Newtown Cultural Precinct in downtown Johannesburg. I saw a few concerts at the original Bassline which was located in Melville, Joburg, in 2000 when I was here on a six-week abroad with Principia College and again in 2003 my dad and I saw a show there. The concert I saw at the new Bassline was called Afro/Latin Connection and it was in celebration of South Africa’s National Women’s Day which will be on the 9^th of August. The concert was also part of the Urban Voices International Festival which included poetry and music from Africa, the USA and Palestine. It was special to have Sifiso Ntuli a South African freedom fighter/activist and music producer, announce the acts and give some commentary on the event. I know Sifiso from a great documentary which I hope you will all borrow, rent or buy called Amandla a Revolution in Four-Part Harmony. Amandla chronicles the amazing and in many ways essential impact that music had during the fight against apartheid in South Africa. Music was used as inspiration for those fighting for freedom, a way to share hidden messages, resist the abusive system through music and more.

From funana to batuku to morna Lura sings a bit of each of these styles which come from the various islands that make up Cabo Verde. Cabo Verdean music is very beautiful and diverse and often talks of very serious topics such as drought, emigration, poverty and loneliness. Probably the most famous Cabo Verdean is Cesária Évora who has been dazzling audiences for many years now. Cabo Verde is a small archipelago made up of 10 islands and has had a rough and torrid history marked by the slave trade, famine and mass exodus from this small nation due in major part to its inhabitants leaving to make money to send home in what is called remittances which is a growing epidemic especially amongst those who have left underdeveloped nations (so-called third world). Despite all of this Lura’s music is passionate and beautiful while telling of these stories. She played for over an hour and it was a pleasure to listen to her and her band and watch her dance too! I would highly recommend her album Di Korpu Ku Alma (Of Body and Soul) most of the songs in which are in Cabo Verdean Creole which is a mix of Portuguese and African languages. An interesting fact is that Lura was raised in Portugal and didn’t visit Cabo Verde much in fact she spoke Portuguese as a child and only learned Creole from friends in school. Now, she is fluent in Creole and most of her music is sung in the language native to her families’ homeland.

After Lura I was treated to the passionate, intoxicating, powerful and at times ghostly sound of Busi Mhlongo. I say ghostly not to offend but to say that her voice was very shrill and unique at times and she was clearly moved by the atmosphere, music and crowd especially during one of her songs called Yapheli'mali Yami (My Money Is Gone). During this song she was clearly moved to tears even and wept openly as she held the hand of a young woman from the audience with whom she seemed to make a special connection. I had not heard of Busi before finding out about this concert and had listened to very little of her music before attending but immediately fell in love with the enthralling sound of her voice and the music played masterfully by her band. She is certainly now at the tops of musicians I have heard and seen in concert and probably the most memorable musician I have seen in a while. Sorry Amadou and Mariam and Baba Maal I loved your shows but there was really something to this show. The crowd certainly loved her and most knew her music which was sung mainly in Zulu with some sprinkled in English.

If you recall in my last blog posting I mentioned that the crowd, which was in large part white, was a bit “reserved” and in fact during the first half of the show the crowd only stood up to dance for one song. Well the crowd on Saturday at the Bassline which was more even in terms of a racial mix was much more animated and willing to dance, sing, etc. This might have been due in part to the setup at the Bassline which had actual space to dance as opposed to the Nelson Mandela Theatre which had only seats and no official standing room but I think it was also due to the type of music being played and the crowd who came. I had forgotten how fun it can be to see concerts in Africa not only because of the musicians but also because of the audience. It may be a surprise to some of you to find that I too was dancing and enjoying myself during the two great acts that I saw. A highlight of the evening was when she allowed members of the audience to get up on stage and dance and after 10 or so black people had done so a white women got up which received a great applause from the crowd followed by a white man who was thoroughly enjoying himself and while not the most polished dancer he seemed totally at ease which might have been helped in part by alcohol or maybe just the lively crowd.

I would like to leave you with a recommendation which is that if you at all like African or World music or even if you don’t but want to give it a try please go to http://calabashmusic.com/ and buy some of the great stuff they are selling. I bought Busi’s album “Urban Zulu” there after the concert and get one to two songs for free by visiting Calabash each week. Calabash calls itself “The World’s First Fair Trade Music Company” as half of the money spent to purchase music goes to the artists which I assume must be more than they make off of selling their albums as CDs, tapes, etc. Also it is great as you don’t waste all the plastic and other materials in buying the physical CD and you can download it as many times as you like which is much better than iTunes where you can only download and share songs a limited amount of times. Calabash has also recently partnered with National Geographic to better make the music it sells more marketable and recognized. If you go to the site that combines Calabash and National Geographic you can find out more. I like that they are helping small and independent artists in getting their music from around the world more into the mainstream.

Johannesburg or bust.

Hello dear readers,
I created this blog over a month ago after coming up with what I thought was a creative name but never really felt prepared to start it until arriving in Sandringham, South Africa. My arrival was scheduled for 12 noon on Thursday the 13 but when we arrived in Dakar, Senegal (flying from Washington, Dulles) we were informed that due to a fuel shortage we had to go to Ilha do Sal in Cabo Verde (backtracking an hour or so) to get fuel to continue our journey. This meant that I arrived in the Johannesburg International Airport after 2:30 PM and spent 45 minutes going through immigration, collecting my bags and clearing customs. I was met at the airport by Jared Smith, the son of Linzi the women I am working for here, and he drove me the 20 or so minutes to their house. I met Christina, the Smith’s domestic servant and her son Thomas and then headed to the office to get moved in. My bed is in the loft in the office overlooking three desks below.

The rest of the afternoon was spent unpacking my stuff, setting up my “room” and getting settled in. Linzi was out working and came back around 5:30 when it was starting to get dark. What a contrast arriving in 60 degree weather in the middle of South Africa’s winter where it starts getting dark around 5 PM having come from the middle of the summer in Portland where it was in the 70s, 80s and 90s and staying light until 9 PM. I made my own dinner as the Smith’s dinner was prepared with meat and me being a vegetarian I am a bit of an oddity here in South Africa. I will be doing primarily all of my cooking on my own. I was tired around 9 and slept in the next morning.

Friday through Sunday I took time to get to know the family meeting Douglas, the father, Roxy, the Smith’s daughter, Stewart another one of their sons and Christina’s other son John. I also went to the grocery store (two to be exact) with Linzi, set up “my” kitchen in the office, watched rugby with Doug and Stewart, watched TV with the Smiths, went for a walk around the neighborhood, played Scrabble with Linzi, Doug and Stewart and got comfy in my new digs. I did a bit of work too reading a 47 page document from Linzi that gave me an overall orientation of ETC's purpose, process and practice.

All in all it was nice to have a few days to settle in, get an overview of the surroundings, practicum (internship) and people I will be living and working with. Tomorrow I start my first full week of my practicum and I will undoubtedly have more stories to tell.