5.31.2008

Exhausted!

I think I'll start this post by saying that Jeremy's pictures are much better than mine. Not just a little bit better, but a LOT better. So, before you read any further check these (and these) out. I won't have enought time to upload my pics now anyway, but have patience and I'll get them up next time I'm in Niamey.

It's been a really great trip into Niamey, but I'm ready to get back out to the bush. It's expensive being in the city. I'm not looking forward to getting on the bus tomorrow but I am excited about being back in my village. After all, I have a meeting in Niamey on the 13th and Mid-Service training the 16th -18th at Hamdallaye. Mid-Service training!!!! I'm nearly half way done? Ok, it's not quite half way yet, but it is very close.

Pangea was absolutely amazing! It was so great to see all of my friends and it was great to connect with Nigeriens in such a constructive way. I made contact with many new musicians and look forward to practicing what they taught me. I never got a chance to teach my second class on Cash, Dylan, and Redding, but maybe I'll get the chance to hang out with some of my new friends and do impromptu classes. One guy said that I could come stay with him any time I'm in Niamey and we'll talk about music and drink tea all night.

All of the classes went really well this week. The volunteers that led the dance classes worked really hard and the routines turned out really well. Thursday's theater and radio classes also went really well. These classes had the most amount of collaboration between volunteers and their Nigerien counterparts and that was very inspiring to see everyone come together. Most other classes were led either by Peace Corps volunteers or Nigeriens.
During the hip hop conference (led by Nigeriens) Koy, a Nigerien rapper, was talking about the origins of hip hop culture in America and mentioned the artist Afrika Bambaataa. Some of the volunteers asked if he was Zarma, one of the ethnic groups in Niger, because bambata in Zarma means big. He actually took the name from the Zulu chief Bhambatha. Although I think "Big Africa" is a pretty cool name.

There is no way to describe everything that happened this week, or to truly express how I feel about it. I hope that it continues next year and that each year it gets bigger and better. Like I mentioned in my last post, there was a videographer every day and at least one photographer. As the fruits of their labors are collected and combiled I will be linking to them. The video that was put together last year was really good and I think that this years video will be well worth the weight, so be patient (but don't forget I'm on Nigerien time).

I hope you are all doing well and thanks for reading. I look forward to posting again when I get a chance.

5.27.2008

Pangea


First of all, Pangea is going great, I'm having a blast. Monday morning I taught a class on American folk traditions in music. The class was scheduled to be an hour and about half way through a television crew showed up (you can see in the picture above). So, I did the second half of the class with a camera shoved in my face.

The class was directed at the Nigeriens present (mostly musicians) and it went really well. Everyone there seemed to enjoy it. It was just a surface skimming presentation on origins of popular American musical traditions. It was incredibly difficult to narrow down such a broad topic, but it was alot of fun to put together.

My favorite question that was asked during the presentation was, "Can you tell us everything about Johnny Cash?" At this point, I had about 5 minutes left in the class. We decided that I would do a follow up class highlighting a few artists. With input from the class we decided on Bob Dylan, Johnny Cash, and Otis Redding. Basically, I'm just going to put together short bios of the artists and play lots of video and music clips. I think that there is an opening tomorrow that I am going to fill with my second class.

After my class was a demonstration of the biram by Malam Barka. You can read more about Malam Barka here. I don't think I can describe this instrument with words and be believed, so I'll just wait until I have some pictures. You can purchase Malam Barka's CD from Amazon here.

Yesterday, I was supposed to help out with a guitar basics class, but no one really showed up for that. I spent that time learning some West African guitar styles. It was really great.

During lunch, there were groups of people pocketed all over the Centre de Formation et de Promotion Musicale (CFPM) playing and jamming in various styles. It was beautiful and was where I realized that I was going to have a lot to learn and nothing to teach in any instrumental class.

Well, I'm going to get back to preparing for my next class. I'll leave you with a general overview of the week.

Monday/26: American & Nigerien Traditional Music

Tuesday/27: Jazz, Blues, Funk, Soul

Wednesday/28: Hip-Hop, Reggae, Rap

Thursday/29: Theatre and Expressive Arts

Friday/30: Ceremony and Performances

Every Night: Concerts

Every day has a videographer and several photographers, so I'll be linking to all available video/pictures as they become available. Also, I'm taking pictures in my free time and will post them soon.

Thanks for the picture Jeremy.

5.22.2008

Back in Niamey

I'm back in Niamey and I'm getting ready for Pangea, more information on that coming later. Just know I'm very excited about it. The guys in the picture are from a soccer game we recently had in my village not from the upcoming Pangea.

Before I discuss Pangea any further I'd like to talk about what I've been working on in the village.

On, April 29th (Yeah, I know it's almost June) I held a meeting where I walked the guys in the office through how to assess a problem and write a proposal for a project. We recently had a well collapse in another village in the commune and one day the secretary general asked me what I was going to do about the problem. So, I told him that I would teach him how to fix the problem. They started working on the information that afternoon and I just got hold of some proposal applications that can be submitted in French. So, when I return to the village we will complete the proposals. When I say 'we', I hope that I mean 'they'.

The next day, we were supposed to have a meeting to establish a calendar for the office. I sketched out some designs and created a few keys so that we can color code different things such as meetings, travel, projects, market, etc. No one showed up. Who would have a thought you needed a calendar to plan a meeting for establishing a calendar. I tried again a few times to have the meeting, but there just weren't enough people interested/around. I left them the task of creating a list of dates of activities within the commune during the next three months and when I return we will put the calendar together. In sha Allah.

On Friday, May 2nd Sarah took two girls from my village to Maradi for a Young Women's Fair that the volunteers in our region put on. I didn't go, because we had some soccer games in my village, including the first game ever by the girls team at the CEG. The boys played on Saturday evening in front of about 600 people. We beat Kanambakache 2-0. After the match the students performed songs they had written. One song was about the importance of girls education and the other about how to treat the visitors. Sunday morning the girls played and we lost 1-0. It was a great weekend.

The following Friday, we were supposed to do a project celebrating Global Youth Service Day (2 weeks late of course). That got postponed to the following week and then postponed again. The rains have started, so school will get out soon. I don't think we will get around to doing this project this year.

May 13th was Nigerien Women's Day and I went the following day to Tibiri to help with a school there. We made paper flowers for all the mothers.

Well, that's the low down on what's been going on here. I'll post about Pangea soon.

Thanks for reading.

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Best thing about hot season: mangoes

Worst thing about hot season: well, it's hot