If My Eyes Could Sing
What role does Music play in our world? How can a story change lives? Check out this trailer for the upcoming documentary film, If My Eyes Could Sing, from Jon Haas. Following my concept music album project entitled Stories of AIDS through Music, this film attempts to offer a voice for those that are oft-ignored. Through the lens of music, witness a message of hope. If My Eyes Could Sing, this is what you’d hear.
A Teacher’s Dream
A few weeks ago I asked my friend Q Malewezi whom he could recommend for taking lessons in the musical traditions of Malawi. Without hesitation he said “Charles Mkanthama.” I figured it was high time I learn some of the traditional music of this country I have been graciously hosted in since January. After all, my project is centered on music and Malawi.
Charles is a schoolteacher by training and Malawi’s ambassador for traditional music (a title unofficially given to him by me). He is a rarity in Malawi. As odd as it seems, there are only a handful of people left in Malawi who really know how to play the nsansi (essentially the Malawian name for the Zimbabwean mbira or the “thumb piano” as sometimes referred to outside Africa) or African xylophones, sing the songs, and can tell you the origins of Malawian music. Of course this does not mean that Malawian musical traditions are not an important part of its culture(s). Music is an undisputed part of everyday life. Song breaks out spontaneously on the back of lorries bringing dozens of men to work, in minibus taxis, or among women simply doing the day’s chores. The Chewa ethnic group’s mganda dance is still a staple at any traditionally Chewa wedding. It seems like every young girl learns to dance the Chitelera and the ubiquitous “de-duh, de-duh, de-duh, de-duh” of the Gule Wamkulu (a secretive society of male Chewas) is a quintessentially Malawian rhythm heard all over Malawi. Groups of Gule Wamkulu boys cloaked in burlap-sacks grunt their way through villages, having been newly initiated. Despite music’s prevalence in most aspects of daily life somehow the nsansi has faded from Malawi’s musical culture…enter Charles Mkanthama.
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Tales from the Studio: Part 2
I had the privilege of getting to record with some of Malawi’s best musicians last week. Alfred Sitolo (bass) and Dryson Mwimba (drums) constitute 2/5 of Peter’s Amaravi Movement, the band which Peter assembled last year and will be playing at this years Lake of Stars Festival in Mangochi, Malawi. In two days we knocked out all of the tracks these guys were slated to perform on. In Malawi due to scarcity of instruments very few musicians have their own instruments. This means every rehearsal and every day of recording we were on a constant quest to find a good bass and a good set of drums.
After two basses (a third one which we could never get a hold of due to classic Malawian setbacks like downed phone networks or missed appointments) and two sets of drums, we had a sound on record which is frankly…..amazing.
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Take One
August 7th, 2010
The games have begun. We did our first recording session on Friday, August 6th. I would have burst out the champagne (they actually have champagne in MalawiJ) in celebration but I thought it much more fitting to do that once the album is completed…especially considering the logistical issues of doing a full-scale album here in Lilongwe, Malawi. This isn’t exactly Nashville.
8:20am Arrival
Kaitlin our amazing piano player and I got there early so she could practice. We ran over all of her parts and I tried my hand at “being producer,” something which I am still getting the hang of. As soon as we begin rehearsing, the difficulty of getting a clean recording hit me: There was a sprinkler ts-tsing next door, excited dogs who decided to have choir practice right after we arrived, birds migrating outside, and the roommate moving out of his room. You can plan ahead, but sometimes planning is just to make you feel better. I managed to find someone to walk the dogs, but the birds were set on being on the album.
8:45am Enter the Engineer
Our sound engineer arrives with all of his gear and we begin the task of jerryrigging a studio out of our dear friend’s piano room. Finding a piano is virtually impossible in Lilongwe. Transporting a piano is…impossible. So when we found this beautiful German Sandner piano, since we couldn’t bring the piano to the studio we brought the studio to the piano. We took off the front panels to expose the hammers and set up two mics in front on either side of Kaitlin.
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Mara Kumbweza Banda
“First of all, it’s Mara Kumbweza Banda. I come from the Banda clan. The family name is Kumbweza. So it is important to identify myself from which family I come from.”
Mara Kumbweza Banda
We met Mara at her office of the Pendulum Project on June 23rd and she was very keen to do a narrative. Her reputation had been built up before our meeting by two of her co-workers and I had a good feeling. My instincts were right. Mara was amazing:
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Up to four awards will be available to pursue projects around an aspect of international contemporary or popular music as a cultural force for expression. Preference will be given to creative projects that are conveyed in a dynamic fashion and are accompanied by a feasible plan. In addition to presenting unique projects on music as a global force for mutual understanding. Deadline to apply is March 1, 2012.