Figurative Hiccough

Brazilian vessel in Stone Town Harbor, Zanzibar. ;-)

This week has been a bit of a figurative hiccough. Set up recordings with Mahsin and then had to cancel. First, because I was laid low by a food poisoning gut wrenching diarrhetic (is that a word?) bout of nastiness and then when we rescheduled, we were competing with a rehearsal of an 8 piece taraab orchestra in an adjacent room. So, it's been rescheduled again for saturday.

However, all of this confusion has given me lots of time to hang around the music academy and meet people and make some connections. As I've already mentioned in a previous post, there is only one recording studio on the island, which I still haven't visited yet. It seems that the fact that I am a recording engineer has slowly gotten around and I've been asked to record a demo for the band Safar, which is composed of students and teachers from the academy. The ZIFF program (where they recently performed) says, " Safar means 'journey' in Arabic, and reflects the diverse musical styles represented in the group. Visit the changing landscapes of afrobeat, ngoma, taraab and arabic styles. Enjoy the encounters as style complements style, never dominating each other [sic]." I'm quite excited for this. I'll be working with Excel, who is the in house music technology guy and who will be my assistant engineer. We've managed to assemble a bit of a mish mash of equipment to get 10 separate channels. We're making due with what we've got.

I also met with a Jhiko Man, who is a musician/singer based in Bagamoyo. I got a really nice vibe from him. The more he said that he didn't want to "put in a box," the more I felt like I identified with him. I hope to connect with him in Bagamoyo eventually. I also met Adel Dabo, who is a bass player and teacher at the academy. He plays both with Safar and Jhiko. Super nice guy who's been all over the world playing music and has decided to base himself at home in Zanzibar.

At the last night of the ZIFF, I met Fid Q, who I was referred to by Ralph from Nomadic Wax. I didn't understand anything he was saying in his lyrics, but he had a really good stage presence and a tight flow. We exchanged greetings and telephone numbers. I sent him some beats via the internet to consider. He lives in Dar es Salaam, so if something works out for us to work together, we'll have to do some travelling.

The last little bit of news is that I met a guy named Matona who is a multi-instrumentalist, an instructor at the academy and a member of Safar. It seems that he is the person most oriented towards making recordings for release that is based at the academy. We had a short meeting today and he seems pretty interested in working together. I was happy to hear of his idea to make new renditions of old taraab tunes because I already had that idea and he said it before I said anything. Sometimes, life is like that....we'll be meeting on saturday to listen to music and exchange ideas.

Another thing I'd like to mention is that I've heard from many different people (totally unprompted) that they admire Senegalese hip hop and especially Daara J. They performed here a while ago and it seems to have had a really big impact on a lot of people. Their work really stood out when compared to the majority of bongo flava because they make a point of using traditional (oooh - i know I'm using that word a lot.....What is traditional? I think that word could merit a whole post...but that'll be for another time), acoustic instruments. Some people know about Didier Awadi (formerly of Positive Black Soul, now minus Duggy T, PBS Radical), who is a prolific producer and record label owner based in Dakar (I've heard he also owns a security company as well, so I guess enterprising young business man could be added to his list of hats).

The general consenus is that it's next to impossible to get this "interesting" kind of music played on the radio. The radio runs on the jabá or payola system. Musicians, singers, composers, and producers are paid a pittance for their work which is produced extra quickly and is put directly into rotation on the radio and distributed on CD and cassette. If you're not inside this system, your music doesn't get played. Because the general public isn't very well educated about the realities of this (not to mention having access to information about other alternative music), it's even harder for "interesting music" to get out there.......hmm, sounds familiar.

"We know we shall win, as we are confident." Spray painted on a wall at Jaws Corner, Stone Town where I go to have my morning coffee from an old man with a charcoal stove and BIG kettle and lots of little cups (obviously, originally, it's from Bob Marley).

PS, Blip - sou americano de Seattle, mas moro no Rio há 7 anos e ainda estou (e vou continuar há muito tempo) aprendendo português. :-)