Beauty

Return

Returned this week from two weeks in Rwanda and Congo, doing location sound(as usual) on a film about reconciliation and forgiveness. We went to shoot events around the 15th anniversary or the Rwandan genocide.
This was my second time in Rwanda, I found it a landscape transformed by the pageants of the commemoration, everywhere everyone and everything was swathed in purple. Roadside gacaca courts greeted me on all sides while driving between various points in the country.....

Rwanda, and the great lakes region of Africa in general, is stunningly beautiful. Infinite hills rolling off into dramatic skyscapes. Torrential rainstorms turning everything green against gray. On this journey I had the opportunity to venture farther afield, out of Kigali, and into the countryside. My first impression of Kigali, when I first visited it last year was slightly negative. It has the feeling, in many ways, of being occupied territory. There is a large international aid worker presence, which leaves a strong mark on the phsyco-geography of the place, and serves(at least to me) as an unpleasant reminder of the total failure of the international community to prevent(or even care about) the 1994 genocide. Residents proudly refer to it as either the "Singapore of Africa" or the "Switzerland of Africa" and on first blush it lacks the anarchic energy I've become used to in large african cities. But on this trip I had the time to let the energy of the place take hold of me and I grew to love the calm, gentle, relaxed pace of the city and the ease and quiet of its people. Rwandans are some of the quietest people who's voices I've ever recorded....

This weeks show, downloadable here, features edits of field recordings I made at the commemoration ceremony, as well as new music I obtained on a day trip to the DRC. More on that

Gideon Boot

I need a Gideon boot and a khaki suit,
I'll stand out in Babylon and defend the truth....

Pan of the Future

Just digitizing the stack of music I obtained during my all to brief trip to Trinidad and Tobago last week. My time there was almost entirely filled with the sounds of Jamaican music, which surprised me, though that just may have been what I was tuned into. Went to an amazing club in St. James on Friday which I can't remember the name off, and had my mind blown by the new Richie Spice single, blasted through righteous sound. Always good to hear the rough, short attention span style that people dj with in the Caribbean. One verse-one chorus-jump cut. The only Trini sounds I sighted in the whole session that evening was an amazing remix of Marlon Asher's "Ganja Farmer". Which is a serious jam.



The trip was also surprisingly devoid of steel drum music, until my last night, which was a Monday and seems to be the night when the bands practice. All night as I wandered around Woodbrook in Port of Spain I was treated to the ethereal shuffle of bands tuning up and locking in together. Below is an interesting video about the construction of steel pans. They have an interesting and singular history, totally apart from other tuned percussion, but incredible versatile. I've seen people play Mozart on them.....

The Elusive

Youtubery of the elusive Omar Hayat playing at last year's festival in Essaouira. Every guidebook blurb I've read about Moroccan music mentions this guy as being one of the few gnawa artists influenced by reggae, but no one in Morocco, particularly the CD vendors, seems to have ever heard of him.....

Anyone who knows anything about him or has any of his music let me know.....

Back

Ok so I'm back at it. Been doing the radio for while but been seriously neglecting the blog for the last few months. I had new release back in january, an EP appendix to WAR which can be downloaded here.

Two new songs as well as a remix of "Xion Gate" by the great Pendle Coven. I'm in the process of mastering the new full length Teleseen record "Fear of the Forest", a sonic salve for all of you with dendrophobia out there.


Also the radio show is going strong. Listen to last week's show.


playlist soon come.

Not an easy road

Posting this from Kampala Uganda, where I have been for the last three days. I'm here working with the incredible charity Keep A Child Alive, doing sound on a promotional film they are making to raise money for their clinics here in East Africa. In a few hours we will head to Rwanda for about five days, we spent all of last week in Kenya, the first few days in Mombasa and the last few in Nairobi.
This is my second time in Kampala and I've been having a really emotional time here. My first visit two years ago was truly incredible and I left feeling a strong emotional connection to this place, but at the time I was so caught up in the circus of the job I was here to do I didn't allow myself to really stop and listen to the trial and tribulations of the people here. This time around we have been at the Alive medical center in Nobongo, filming people's testimonials and the the experience has been overwhelming. The amazing difference that a small amount of capital can make in the lives of people is unbelievable. Most shocking is the infection rates in this, what is supposed to be one of africa' success stories in combating HIV. Talking to the doctors, hearing how of the 250 or so people they test a month, about 100 people are infected. That's almost %35!!! Shocking also to hear that the %4 national infection rate which is so lauded globally as a success story is reflective of only %10 of the population that has been tested. The lies and politricks that manipulate peoples lives globally never ceases to amaze me, and the muderation and manipulation of statistics is undeniable.
Have been privilidged to been in Africa during what has been an extremely big week here on the continent, what with the inditment of Bashir for war crimes by the hague, the power sharing agreement in Zimbabwe, and the arrests of rebel leaders here in Uganda which took place over the last few days. All of these developments come as mixed blessings, the indictment of Bashir is easily the most problematic. How is the Hague to act of this indictment? By pushing a coalition of nations to invade the Sudan? The last comparable situation was the arrest of Charles Taylor, who at the time of his indictment had far fewer friends in his own country than Bashir does. Whatever happens, the indictment represents a gigantic shift in the attitude of the global community towards the genocide in sudan, at long last. More on this later.

But wait, isn't this blog supposed to be about music?

Hit the CD stores here in K'pla, only to discover that here they don't sell manufactured CDs but rather you tell a guy sitting behind a computer what vibes you like and he burns a disc for you. Pulled about 250 songs, and sorting through them now as I travel to Rwanda, will post the choice cuts as the appear.

sound.