Category Archives: music

Bay Area Rainbow Symphony Seeks Players

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I recently picked up the oboe I hadn’t really played since my wrist injury 29 years ago. I saw an ad for the newly forming Bay Area Rainbow Symphony. When I contacted them, they weren’t sure if they had any oboe players and I felt I had to help out, at least so the orchestra could tune with a proper A from the oboe.

Fortunately, when I arrived at my first rehearsal, which was the second rehearsal of the orchestra, another oboe player was already there and in much better practice or perhaps even talent than I. He is a great guy and, when I told him how broke I am lately, he offered to pay for $50 of the makeover my oboe really needed, since one of the octave keys was sticking and making me squawk like a duck. What a kind offer! I ended up paying for the work myself, but I really appreciate his encouragement.

Last evening, I went to the third rehearsal of the orchestra, knowing that the first oboist wouldn’t be there. I struggled to play his part and the guest conductor Jay Pierson was very encouraging, despite my fumbling for notes as I sight-read the part. Very talented Jay also composed a “Rainbow Fantasy” as a sort of theme for the orchestra to play.
The orchestra is desperately in need of bassoon and certain other players, so if you are looking for an orchestra in the San Francisco Bay Area, please check it out at http://bars-sf.org/.

The first concert will take place on June 8 — so mark your calendar! You can buy tickets here: http://www.oldfirstconcerts.org/performances/168/

Festival in the Desert, Essakane, Mali

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The eighth annual Festival in the Desert (Festival au Desert) took place in Essakane, Mali, on January 10-12, 2008. I made it late the first day, stayed the second day, and had to leave really really early the morning of the last day. So, I missed my most anticipated musician playing at the festival: Tiken Jah Fakoly. I got to experience lots of really good music though.

Campsite, Festival in the Desert, Essakane, Mali Attendees Gathering With Camel, Festival in the Desert, Essakane, Mali Attendees Gathering and Setting Up Traditional Tents, Festival in the Desert, Essakane, Mali

Sand, Festival in the Desert, Essakane, Mali Stage Amidst Sand Dunes, Festival in the Desert, Essakane, Mali Tuareg Camel Riders, Festival in the Desert, Essakane, Mali

Local Mali Musicians, Festival in the Desert, Essakane, Mali Local Mali Musicians, Festival in the Desert, Essakane, Mali Local Mali Musicians, Festival in the Desert, Essakane, Mali

Local Mali Musicians, Festival in the Desert, Essakane, Mali Local Mali Musicians, Festival in the Desert, Essakane, Mali Local Mali Musicians, Festival in the Desert, Essakane, Mali

Audience Experiencing Local Mali Musicians, Festival in the Desert, Essakane, Mali Local Mali Musicians With Camels in Background, Festival in the Desert, Essakane, Mali Audience Experiencing Local Mali Musicians, Festival in the Desert, Essakane, Mali

Audience Experiencing Local Mali Musicians, Festival in the Desert, Essakane, Mali Dung Beetle Leaving Tracks in the Sand, Festival in the Desert, Essakane, Mali Seated Camel With Ornate Saddle and Colorfully Dressed Rider, Festival in the Desert, Essakane, Mali

Veiled Tuareg Men, Their Camels, Donkeys, and Old and New-Style Tents, Festival in the Desert, Essakane, Mali Stage, Festival in the Desert, Essakane, Mali

One apparently traditional event at the festival is camel racing. At the same time, with a bunch of jostling in the crowd, a ceremony of women took place, perhaps a form of “dressage” to show off their finery for potential spouses.

Preparing for Camel Race, Festival in the Desert, Essakane, Mali Preparing for Camel Race, Festival in the Desert, Essakane, Mali Veiled Tuareg Camel Riders Preparing for Camel Race, Festival in the Desert, Essakane, Mali

Hot Camel Butt, Preparing for Camel Race, Festival in the Desert, Essakane, Mali Vincent and Senja Milling in Crowd Before Camel Race, Festival in the Desert, Essakane, Mali Preparing for Camel Race, Festival in the Desert, Essakane, Mali

Preparing for Camel Race, Festival in the Desert, Essakane, Mali Preparing for Camel Race, Festival in the Desert, Essakane, Mali What Does a Camel Gotta Do to Race Around Here, Festival in the Desert, Essakane, Mali

Preparing for Camel Race, Festival in the Desert, Essakane, Mali Preparing for Camel Race, Festival in the Desert, Essakane, Mali Ritual Involving Seated Women, Festival in the Desert, Essakane, Mali

Ritual Involving Seated Women, Festival in the Desert, Essakane, Mali Ritual Involving Seated Women, Festival in the Desert, Essakane, Mali Ritual Involving Seated Women, Festival in the Desert, Essakane, Mali

Ritual Involving Seated Women, Festival in the Desert, Essakane, Mali Camel Racing, Festival in the Desert, Essakane, Mali Camel Racing, Festival in the Desert, Essakane, Mali

Camel Racing, Festival in the Desert, Essakane, Mali Camel Racing, Festival in the Desert, Essakane, Mali Camel in Profile, Festival in the Desert, Essakane, Mali

Camel in Silhouette on Dune at Sunset, Festival in the Desert, Essakane, Mali

Twisted Fingers and Banged Thumbs in Abuja

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January 3, 2008, Embassy of Niger, Abuja, Nigeria

The guy arrived after I waited three hours for him (see January 2 entry). He looked at my passport and told me the DRC Chancery in Abuja usually only handles U.S. Citizens who have a multiple-entry instead of a single-entry visa to Nigeria. I explained that I couldn’t return to Nigeria, so didn’t need a multiple-entry visa, that I would enter Congo from another country entirely. He told me to wait while he supposedly called someone who apparently told him it would take a week to obtain the visa. So, rather than showing my anger, I just thanked him and said it was too bad I probably wouldn’t be able to do my research in the DRC. Then, I left. They had told me it would be easy to find a taxi, but I didn’t see any. I tried calling Folly – who I had already paid 300 Naira for taxi’ing me around and waiting a couple of hours at the Chancery before sending him away – but he didn’t pick up, so I went to the end of the street and luckily found a car to bring me back to the hotel.

Over the course of the rest of the day yesterday, my anger gradually faded into a fairly deep depression. I realized that unless I got my visa for the Niger the next day, that is today, I wouldn’t be able to travel through Niger to Gao and Timbuktu in Mali in time for the Festival of the Desert. I would have to try going by plane to Bamako and, if there is still time, to go to Timbuktu, although probably not to Gao. Another possibility is just to go to Bamako to take the flight from there, or perhaps from Accra, giving me time to try again for a visa to the DRC.

Back in Bamako, Mali….

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After Pays Dogon, I managed to get back to Bamako in reasonably good shape. I stayed a couple of nights at the marvelous Hotel Djenné, created by the former minister of tourism who had a great idea when she invited artists to decorate the place. On the bus ride there, I met a Dutch woman and her French traveling companion who was working on developing schools for young women in Mali. I met some other travelers over breakfast. O, and the first evening, I went to pick up the package I had left at Hotel Yamey and to try to visit Damien, the French guy working at his father’s restaurant, the Café du Fleuve. Unfortunately, he wasn’t around so I returned to the northern side of town to eat at the Restaurant San Toro, also owned by the former minister of tourism.

As a single person, I felt very conspicuous when I entered the restaurant, especially when they had no place for me, but after awhile of sitting and listening to a man playing the kora, I got into the spirit of the place and they eventually served me delicious juices and a vegetarian platter. I was craving good food after weeks in the “brousseâ€? (countryside). Better nourished, and after a walk and a stop at the somewhat seedy cafe where I saw a transvestite, I returned to the hotel and slept well. I had tried to treat Samuel Sidibe and a professor friend of his to lunch, but he was busy, so I just stopped by to pick up the conference proceedings he had obtained for me. They included a griot’s account of the history of the Mali Empire, a crucial contribution to my book.

Monument to Palestinian Children, Bamako, Mali

I spent the rest of the day trying to get a flight in January from Timbuktu to Bamako and managed only to confirm my place on the waiting list. That evening I again tried meeting Damien at the Cafe du Fleuve and instead ended up sharing a delicious meal with a Dutch fellow Michiel and a female friend of his, also Dutch, Lisa Winnen. They were very kind of me and my spirits revived considerably in preparation for my trip to Accra.

Bamako, Mali