Fulbright-mtvU Fellows

The Pulse on the Gulf

Compared to other forms of popular Mexican dance, Danzón is less about flair and improvisation, and more about control. In this intro to the 1991 Mexican film Danzón, a dance that may at first seem like little more than shuffling reveals itself as an elegant sequence of carefully controlled steps.

While Iʼm thankful to have dodged the Swine Flu with my health intact, Iʼm bummed to report that my project took a hit.

A few weeks ago I was looking forward to traveling to the historic port city of Veracruz to get an up-close look at one of Mexicoʼs most cosmopolitan styles of popular music: the Cuban-born Danzón. Every year, competitive Danzón teams from all over the country convene in a seaside ballroom in Veracruz—Mexicoʼs Danzón headquarters—for a weekend of cha-cha-chá-ing in front of a panel of judges.
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Tags: Danzón, Grupo Tres Generaciones, reggaetón, Swine Flu, Veracruz

Making The Video

While my original goal here was to record a CD, I’ve put that aside in favor of a series of film projects, all of which have kept me really busy as things wrap up around here!!

My latest project has been helping make a music video for a rapper named “Bastin”.

Two weeks ago, my guitar teacher introduced me to Modibo “Bastin” Diabate, who is trying to make his debut here in Bamako with his song “Sanuya” (which I should mention, was arranged by Lamine Soumano and produced by Studio Mali).

Bastin handed me a French translation of his lyrics, and we sat down to listen to his song. The next day, I filmed him in concert as part of a big hip-hop show organized in honor of an album debut for Malian megastar rapper Ramses Damarifa of the Mali’s #1 hip-hop group Tata Pound. The show was great, with the series of consistently-solid opening acts only exceeded by Ramses himself. However, the footage I managed to get while trying not to get trampled by the excited crowd wasn’t quite enough to stand on its own.
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Tags: 2Fanga, Andra Kouyate, Bassekou Kouyate, Mah Bara Soumano, Modibo “Bastin” Diabate, Ramses Damarifa, Tata Pound

Hip Hop Meets Health Education

During the recent needs assessment exercise I conducted with children participating in the strong>Hip Hop Therapy Project (HHTP) two of the needs that emerged were:

1.The children expressed a need for more information around sexual and reproductive health.

2. The children expressed the desire to showcase their breakdance skills and talents.

In an effort to respond to the first expressed need, I decided to partner with Straight Talk Foundation. Straight Talk Foundation is a Ugandan health communication organization that promotes communication for social change through print, radio and face-to-face interventions for adolescents (ages 10-19) and young adults (ages 20-24). Straight Talk Foundation also operates the Gulu Youth Centre, which provides free tests and treatment for HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases (STD), counseling services, and health information materials for young people.

Straight Talk Foundation has agreed to provide space at the Gulu Youth Centre for breakdance classes to take place. This will help to expand the size of the Hip Hop Therapy Project as well as increase direct access to sexual and reproductive health education and services for the young people participating in the project.
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Tags: Aids, Breakdance Project Uganda!, Gulu Youth Center, Hip Hop Therapy Project, HIV, Straight Talk Foundation

I Never Thought I Would

In a further attempt to share more about my daily life here in Uganda, here is another installation of “I Never Thought I Would”. Enjoy!

I never thought I would…

Enjoy a cold shower: I’m one of those people who always take scalding hot showers. I’m talking about the kind of hot showers that leave the air in the bathroom heavy with steam and leave you unable to see anything in the bathroom mirror. In Uganda, there is no hot water where I live. When I first arrived, I would diligently boil water in a kettle and use it to bathe. As the weather began to change however, so did I. I arrived here in November during the rainy season and the temperatures were relatively cool (low- to mid- 70s). January, however, is the beginning of the dry season and one of the hottest months of the year. One sweltering afternoon, the idea of bathing with hot water was unfathomable so I decided to try a cold shower. I felt so much better and refreshed after that cold shower that it has now become standard practice. Before coming to Uganda, the very thought of taking a cold shower would fill me with dread. I now enjoy and look forward to cold showers and that is something I never thought I would do!

Buy an empty water bottle: When I first arrived in Gulu I noticed that a lot of people, particularly children, were collecting and selling empty water bottles. I knew from previous travels to developing countries that empty water bottles can be very valuable to poorer families as they allow for the storage of various liquids and can also serve as cups. So, while I could understand why someone would collect empty water bottles, I didn’t understand why someone would buy one…until the day I did. There is no electricity where I live so I frequently rely on kerosene lamps to make my way around the house at night. One day, I went to the gas station to purchase kerosene and realized that I needed a container to carry the kerosene once I bought it. I looked around and saw that everyone else in line had an empty water bottle to put their kerosene in. I looked around some more and noticed that several children were hanging around the gas station selling empty water bottles. I purchased one for about 10 American cents, got my kerosene, and left. I frequently buy bottled water in Uganda and give the empty bottles away to children who sell them…buying an empty water bottle however, is something I never thought I would do!

Tags: Uganda

Country Harp and City Life

I met Juan Carlos, 18, on my first day of mariachi classes at the School of Mexican Music in Mexico City. We were pretty much friendly strangers for the first two months, since we sat on opposite sides of the classroom—me in the neatly-arranged row of guitarists in the front, him with the pack of macho guitarrón players who roamed freely in the back.

Juan Carlos’ natural knack for music could have made him the envy of the entire class. But he was way too likable, always greeting people with a warm saludo as they walked in the door, or helping them decipher their sheet music, to bring on anything but fuzzy feelings from the rest of us. What most impressed me was that despite his confidence, Juan Carlos was as new to the guitarrón as I was to Mexico.
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Tags: Juan Carlos, School of Mexican Music