Dangriga -Garifuna

Dangriga -Garafuna, originally uploaded by fiddlesarah.

I am in love this country. Not near enough time here to really get to know all that i want to know. The country is rich in traditions and culture and music. The amount of diversity blows my mind! We have had quite extreme experiences. There is so much light, joy, and heart here but it is not to say that there is not a dark side as well. Our friends that we have made here are amazingly lovely people.The embassy people really were awesome, they were so fun to hang out with and introduced us into the some of the really special parts of this country. Ms. Zoe engineered our performance at the Menonnite community and our meeting with the legendary Paul Nabor the greatest living Paranda artist.

We made our way down to Dangriga to play at the Garifuna Museum. Stopped off in dangriga town to have lunch at a local spot by the water. Things take awhile here, which means more hang time, which i love. Sean and I stepped out on the street to see what was happenin' and we were greeted by some local fellas. Charlie was one character that had lived in NY (we get that a lot down here) he was trying to hussle tourist for a boat ride out to the islands. But was a friendly soul. Then a big man with a beer in his hands came up quite abruptly and asked if sean was a blood. He said he was a crypt and then started a little rant about some wierd stuff and walked off. Then i was greeted by nolan, he was a young fella. He took me over to see the fisherman catches, he told me the story of his father and his pelican. Apparently the pelicans were made with one flaw. They get cataracts from the pressure of hitting the water all the time. Eventually both eyes are infected which blinds them and thus they starve to death. And so many realie on humans to feed them. Nolands dad was always able to be spotted out in his boat because he had a giant pelican with him. And when his dad went to Belize city his pelican followed him all the way there. Sweet story and said with so much love.
Then off we went to the much awaited Garafuna museum. It was hot, humid day, no way to escape the heat, because we were playing outside. The children couldn't either, there was a tent for them to stand under but there were to many to fit underneath it.
These children were beautiful. They came out and sang the Garafuna national anthem.

We performed and it was really difficult to tell if we were getting through or not to them. There were many dry faces in the audience, they had no expression at all on their faces. They were teenagers, that can definitely account for some of it. But i couldn't tell whether they really couldn't connect to what we were doing or if it's a cultural thing that i don't get? But, the adults always are so thankful to have us. They are so happy that we are exposing the kids to music other than hip-hop and Reggaeton. We are trying to convey that the old stuff is important, it's got stories that important to remember and to give respect to the older cultures. The old guys playing traditional music are gems in the middle of the dark caves of Belize. They play out of necessity to express themselves and tell a story from their soul.
After our performance we got to hear some music Garifun community. It was fascinating one man play Quadrilles 1-5, they were English in origin for sure. The Garifuna people are most noted by their resistance of Colonization of the British. Facinating. Then we heard "Brother David" he sang our favorite song that we know sing at any chance we can get called "Belizean Products" I thought at first he was saying "Belizean buttocks". This also brought me joy.

We made Mennonite history last night

Spanish Look-out Mennonite Community, originally uploaded by fiddlesarah.

We performed last night in a mennonite community called Spanish Look-out, This community started about 50 years ago in Belize. They originally fled from Holland and Belgium in the 1500s to escape persecution, and eventually resettled in belize by way of Mexico and Canada. They speak Low German, very old german that was developed in the 16th or 17th century. Unlike other Mennonite communities that shun technology, Spanish Lookout is mechanized, and specializes in auto parts. Along with auto parts, Spanish Lookout is a major producer of dairy, poultry, vegetables and cattle produce, supplying the majority of the country with these commodities. Belize’s most popular chicken, Quality Chicken, is located in Spanish Lookout. Western Dairy, Belize’s only commercial production of milk is also located in the town. Spanish Lookout has been one of the few exporters of crude oil within Belize.

The Mennonites have not had outsiders into there community. We were the first EVER to come into their community and perform! It's pretty major. It was an amazing experience for many reasons.
Firstly I have never been in such a religous setting, it reminded me of the hassidic community in Brooklyn. The Szatmar Hassid's that are from Sighet Romania that came and have preserved their traditions from a very certain place and time and they haven't changed a bit.
It's facinating. I have admiration for their committment to their beliefs and the amount of intense community building that enables communities like the hassids and the mennonites to exist.
I'm processing this all as I write... but it seems not sustainable to be so disconnected from the enviroment that one is living. In the situation with the Mennonites they have almost completley taken over the poultry and dairy production in this region and also produce oil. They don't pay taxes. Meanwhile there are tons of very poor native people here that don't have work or land. But it seems as though the Mennonites live harmoniously with all the natives. No one seems to have any bad sentiment. And historically all the various ethnicities that lived here have maintained their cultural identity peacefully. It's really inspiring that that can happen.

So last night when we performed in their community it meant there was curiosity and interest in the outside world which is a good thing. It was a funny thing that i did not know before we played but their religion does not allow dancing,i made a couple invites for them to dance, no one did. But there were people saying that their whole bodies were moving inside even though they were sitting still. Are we the gateway drug to sin?? Will they be dancing when they get our CD home??
I felt their energy really connected to us throughout the whole concert. They didn't respond with visual clues but i could feel it. Like I felt like what they were experiencing was for the first time this sense of some sort of emotionn that was really en-living.

We made history last night!


As we were leaving on of the women said now next time you come you must learn German. I replied uhh.. ok. She said, if you make excuses you get whippings. Och...

Ms. Leela Vernon The Queen of Brukdown

Ms. Leela Vernon The Queen of Brukdown, originally uploaded by fiddlesarah.

Mr. Peters is the King of Brukdown and Ms. Leela Vernon is the Queen. She performed with us at the Earth Day Celebration in Guanacaste National Park. She is a powerful performer, such a beautiful soul. She is a Kriol, as they spell it. Kriol was historically spoken by the Kriols, a population of mainly African and British ancestry. However, most Belizean Garifunas, Mestizos, Maya, and other ethnic groups speak Kriol as at least a second language, and it is the only true common language among all groups.

Pallotti High School

Pallotti High School , originally uploaded by fiddlesarah.

We played at a Catholic High school this afternoon. And these girls rocked. We got in they instantly were screaming and clapping and holdin' down the chairs with attitude. The friendliness of everyone is blowing my mind. Girls had big bright smiles and warm playful energy. This was my most favorite workshop that we've done. Heading out tonight for a dance party down the street.

LOVE TV

I am in love with Belize. It's hot and humid all the colors are bright here there's water all around us and there's a vibrant street culture. There's guys playing checkers, and guys playing cards, kids hawking patties, women cutting up fruit and bunch of others just hanging out. It's soooo laid back i can't even tell you. I admire it and think i need more of that attitude more in my life.
We started this morning with LOVE TV. Two lovely Carribean ladies interviewed us, they were so hilarious. They were dancing to our music and singing along but if the camera's shot their way the would stop instantly. funny. We got a caller who called in a request for "oh susannah". Everyone loves country and gospel music here. It's such a change from Nicaragua, everyone speaks english for one and they have a love for country songs, liek what country songs are about they love it.
We were asked the question, what would we say to young people that are wanting to be musicians like us, what encouragement could we give them. Sean answered beautifully, he talked about tracing history in todays music, be it rock, reggae, dancehall get the roots and stories. Because the traditional music here is getting lost and it's sooo beautiful. Garifuna, Punto Rock, Brukdown. It was a difficult question i thought because when compared to what we are doing, it's not fair. We come from this previlaged country, aggghh, it's so hard to be on the other side of this whole thing.
Sean and I took a much need walk today into town. Need to have time in the streets, with the folks that make this town. It was great. We first stopped in a music store and were greeted by such charming guys that told us so much about the traditional music scene here. This is where sean first bought Mr. Peter's CD. Then we went off and some fry cake and sausage in this rusty old building over looking the river. We ran in to Mr. Peters on the street hawking his CD's. As we walked we came across a school of elementary students. We asked if we could come back and play music for them. THis school was intense, there were 500 children there, and the building was not huge at all. The rooms were separated by chalk boards and the students were nearly back to back with desks, lots and lots of children. If we can we'll play there next week. On our way back this child on a bike was trying to sell us something, but we couldn't make out what he was saying, he was like this young boy traped in an old man's body. you'd expect him to be this sprite young spirit but instead he was serious and soft spoken. I asked to see what he was selling it it was patties in a bucket on the handlebars of his bike. Then i asked if he sang any songs, we were in search of a childrens song. Asked if he sang any in the street when he played, and he just dryly said no.

Belize City and the King of Brukdown

Well we arrived and played a gig in Belize. Had a rough morning with queasy stomaches, probably was due to the fact we only got a couple of hours of rest before flying off this mornign at 4am. We had quite a surprise at this gig. The most famous Brukdown player, Mr. Peters was mentioned at our briefing this morning when we arrived. Sean knew of his music from when he was here last. He was raving about him to Denise from the embassy. We get to the gig and who has the embassy brought but Mr. Peters and his son. They came to see us and got right up and played will the circle be unbroken and then we got to play a few of his songs as well. He's a man in is 80's, put out ton of albums and is traveling to World music fest in Chicago in august as well as Central Park, i think. Perhaps i'll get him over for a dinner at my house. It was quite a treat to have him play with us. If it hadn't been for him the gig wouldn't have been all that fun. Apparently the Belize crowds are pretty reserved takes a lot to get them off their feet. We have our work cut out for us. Might be time to pull out the Virginia Reel. Off to sleep, it's been a busy week and tomorow starts at 6:00am.

Zacarias Guerra Orphanage

We played at an orphanage this morning and the Ruben Dario Theatre this evening. Which is an interesting progression, from the poorest rice and beans to the biggest chandeliers. The orphanage was super nice. The children where incredibly responsive to us. They all got hambone. We played John Brown's and one of the boys got up and started dancing and through the course of the song proceeded to ask every girl in the audience to dance with him and none accepted, it was like a funny comedy routine between the male and female gender. The girls acted dramatically shy and hard to get while the macho dancing guy was ever so confident. They were all very healthy and spirited. i did not know what to expect when arriving but was pleasantly surprised.

It was a day of flying through trees over coffee plantations. There was a moment of standing on the edge of a platform in an enormous tree and the guys pushed me off and says "now let go with your hands". my body's instinct was...i should hold on, NOT let go there's a long way to the ground! But I let go and gave in to the adrenaline and man it felt good. I feel like that should happen once a week.


We stopped off in catalina for lunch and to have a look at laguna de Apoyo. This Marimba band was playing and this family dancing stole my heart away, such pure joy they have on their faces.

Today was our rest day, tomorrow we are back to full schedule. We start in the morning at an orphanage, continuing to work out some kinks in our workshop, by the end of tour we are going to rock some hambone workshops!

Domingo Savio Gabretto School and Nicaraguian TV

We started today with Miss Nicaraguan beauty queen, for real! She was our interviewer on Television. She was indeed beautiful and i caught sean in a gaze for her. We played in a janky retro style TV room where the commercials for margarine were done actually by the host as they pointed to a poster that displayed the lovely margarine product. Pretty funny.





Then we were off to a school in the rural area outside of Managua. This school is very special. It was started by Rev. Rafael Maria Fabretto, a priest from Italy. He started this school for the poverty stricken rural children of Nicaragua. His program is based on the
SAT, or Rural Tutorial Learning System. This is a program that not only gives the student a formal education of the basics of math, science ect but also teaches sustainable agriculture and community building along with character development. They have full school days instead of half like the public schools in Nicaragua, their teachers are more in the mentor position instead of lecture. It's really amazing alternative education for free to these children. Some of the children come from gangs in Managua, some come from landfills where they live, over 2,000 live and work on this giant dump, around 1,000 are children, reminds me of the gypsy communities in Romania.



So this is who we played for today. We did our silent movie-ish Hambone routine, worked pretty good, have some kinks to work out for the next one. It's really fun to do and is such a nice break from the just playing music. I want to come back and work here for a stint of time. They are doing such amazing work.

Granada

Today we met monkeys on islands located in lake Nicaragua. Lake Nicaragua is the largest lake in all of Central America it has 300 small islands in it. We took a boat ride through these lush islands. It was astoundingly beautiful. The lake it at the bottom of a gigantic volcano. The birds and flowers were stunning. But the life there was also lovely. There were little boats filled with tons of people getting back and forth from their houses. Kids were fishing with sticks and some with their hands or nets. some of the islands were as big as a small bungalow. Like the one with the 4 monkeys that resided on it. I don't quite know how they arrived there but they are there and Lula blessed us with her grace on our boat. She took a shine to Sean. She was cuddling with him like a little sleepy child would do with their dad. It was adorable. Then she took a couple of my carmels from my hand and eventually my bag of plantain chips. It is so wierd, they are so human like. Her hands felt like hands of a farmer, just well used and leathery, her eyes spoke of emotion, as if she was sad, and she was smart she knew just what we had to offer her. Makes me think we might be related!!!
Granada is a Colonial town. The buildings are colorful and grand in their beauty and so many churches. We played at an art school in the courtyard-ish spot. The courtyards are amazing here. All the buildings just exist as a border, the inside of the building is open air for the mini-jungle courtyard. Brilliant. So we played there it was beautiful. There were fireworks going off during our performance for a saint of some kind. It's very catholic here.
Tomorrow we have an 8 am TV interview. What's the best color of clothing to wear for television, it's not white is it?

First Day

It is really hard to believe that this is only our first day. It seems more appropriate to say first week with all that has happened today. We started the day with workshops at the only university in Nicaragua to have a music program, Polytechnic. There were young kids, college students and adults that came bearing violins, guitars and their voices. We performed in a small room part of a very simple and plain building. folks spilling out and listening from outside. There was such a feeling of appreciation in the room. Everyone listening so attentively. We split up into groups and taught the crawdad song, i got to teach hambone for the first time. They were fantastic. This appreciation and attentiveness is not always present when teaching american kids and adults. I remember when lumii's went to vermont and taught in the middle school. I looked out and saw the scowl of cross armed teenagers. When i teach as well, there is a lot of struggle with getting the kids to "want to play the violin", and i guess they can say that because they are previlaged white kids. Kids down here don't have previliges. This is the 2nd poorest country in the western hemisphere. It's right after Haiti, if that gives you any perspective.

Then we had some press photos, and hurried off to a traditional Nicarguian lunch. They like fried cheese and plantains and pork oh my!!! Cabbage salad is about the only green vegetables you can get easily. We got all the direction not to drink the water, not to brush the teeth with the water and for God's sake don't have any liquid with ice cubes. We have done all of them and as of yet no sickness. Seems to be OK. It's nice because it's a little problematic brushing teeth with a bottle of water.

Next we traveled to Masaya. Masaya is the cultural capital of Nicaragua. They are known for amazing poetry, the most famous being Ruben Dario. There is a beautiful Artisian market there where we played. Over 300 people came to listen to us. They loved our show they gave us a standing ovation and the mayor of the town gave the most poetic speach i have ever heard come out of a politians mouth. I was totally melted, he was a charmingly over the top kind of speaker. He said " I arrived late to the show and missed half of it and i feel now like i have missed half of my life" We are "the paradise of life". We "represent Peace, Hope and Love". We are like 'from god in some way and who can argue against god". there was more and more, the sentiment was beautiful i thought. We got in the car to leave and michelle and jose were filling us in about a few more details about this mayor. He is part of the Sandinista party, this past election he totally rigged to his favor. My bubble was burst at this point, i was into this guy thought he was a truly inspiring poet for a politican, but really he's just a politician that riggs elections and has power issues. I am having a cultural experience right now!
No back to the hotel, i now have AC in my room, that's exciting, i will sleep well tonight!

Arrived!

We arrived last night in Managua. We were greeted by such lovely folks from the embassy Jose and Carlos. It's HOT here. This is actually the hottest month of the entire year. My body is trying to figure out what to do. It's spent so many months trying to get warmer and now it's a little overwhelmed.
Last night was a lovely way to enter into the city. I was hungry and not ready for bed and sean too, so Jose took us out to get tacos. It was a Friday night around 11:30 pm. There was a party goin on. We found a place for tacos, we walked in and there was a 3 piece band playing. Of the international instrument was playing...the Casio-tone keyboard, bongos and a singer. This man singing was phenomenal. He was dancing like an excited Bob Leive but with salsa moves. He shook his hips, jumped up and down and sang like he was in heaven. Wow!! and all this in the middle of a resturant for people who hardly glance an eye his way. Wierd, huh? But it's a gig isn't it. Musicians have to play.
Feel asleep in the hotel with the windows open to the courtyard and the street. There was a lot of rustling around, i think there is a lot of nature out there that i am going to find today. The air is thick and balmy the smells are of things that are green and blooming. The birds are loud, they make sounds I haven't heard before. A salamander was climbing up my wall last night!

Getting ready to go!!

I am nearly there. Tomorrow I leave on the areo-plane. Finally have all my things insured, after all these years of traveling never had proper insurance. My baby is properly insured!

Got to have some good bye hangs with buddies, yesterday . i spent last evening at Grand Central Station with my dear friend Randy. It feels like being in Europe that train station. And there's nice food there, pretty marble things to look at and enough bums talking to themselves to keep the crowd interesting!

Today was a good last day in New York. I rode my bike across the Brooklyn Bridge to do some errands in Manhattan. Why is that bridge so romantic. Is it just stained in peoples brains from the silver screen and we have some sentimental attatchment? Is it because it's been the iconic NYC in all the tourist stations? It gets me every time i ride over. I mean its not a pleasant ride, it's actually a nightmare because it's crawling with tourist who don't have any clue that it's actually a thoroughfare, they just think it's photo op. But I have to say i was so touched today when i saw all of them snapping photos, i was proud of this city and was loving that so many people where admiring it's beauty. Posing against every other cable trying to look cool and collected meanwhile there are buzzing bicycles, power-walkers and tons of tourist not watching where they are walking. It was lovely.

Tonight I hope to make it out for a final brass band dance party at the Bulgarian Bar.

So here's the info on my tour that I am about to embark on. I promise to give it a full try on blogging. I think it will be fun.

The Rhythm Road - American Music Abroad program - formerly known as the Jazz Ambassador program - presents selected professional American musicians on concert tours in countries where there is limited exposure to live American culture. Under an open solicitation, a grant was awarded to Jazz at Lincoln Center to administer the overseas tours as well as the application and audition process to select quartets for the tours.http://www.jalc.org/TheRoad/index.html

new orleans cemetery

new orleans cemetery,
originally uploaded by fiddlesarah.

this is where the poor people of new orleans get buried. It's a very mysteriously beautiful place. The virgin Mary, teddy bears, fake flowers and ribbons decorate these little boxes that hold old souls that weren't able to get the fancy above ground burial.

the beginings of maple syrup!

the beginings of maple syrup!,
originally uploaded by fiddlesarah.

Lumii's toured back to southern vermont. Last year we got to slaughter a pig with my friend. This year it was just collecting the sugar water from the tapped trees and hanging out with a most lovely child

Flickr

This is a test post from , a fancy photo sharing thing.