A dramatic trip home....

Well, the trip home was a bit more eventful than I was hoping for. First of all, we didn't have any food for the first flight from Banjul to London. For whatever reason, they loaded an empty cart back in London, which was supposed to be filled with our dinner for the flight. The airline did some last minute scrambling to try to arrange some food for us, but were unsuccessful. We were already over an hour behind schedule taking off. After about 20 minutes of being in the air and on the way to London, the pilot pulled a full 180 degree turn and started to head south. I knew something was wrong, but there wasn't an announcement for a couple of minutes. Sure enough, the pilot announced over the intercom that there was a technical difficulty with one of the wings, and that we were going to head back to Banjul before it got any worse. My heart started racing a bit, as we starting flying in circles around Banjul, and continued to do so for about the next hour and a half so that our landing weight would be a bit less. The pilot pulled off a successful landing, as multiple fire trucks awaited our return near the runway. We were escorted back to the terminal, and were told that they would try to fix the problem within the next few hours so that we could still fly. I was pretty hopeful of this, as I my next flight was scheduled for 2:30pm the next day for Seattle. We waited around for a few hours until 10pm, no dice....All passengers were taken by coach to various hotels around the tourist areas near Bakau. I felt like I was already back in America or Europe by this point....They gave us a free room and meals.....I called my mom somewhat frantically on the bus back to the hotel, trying to arrange for my next flight to be changed, which we did successfully....not cheaply though!!!
At 8:15 in the morning, we were back on the buses heading to the airport. The flight departed right at about noon, touching down in London at 6pm. I took the train back up to St Pancras International and walked to the hostel where I stayed for the night. I slept very well that night! It was a much nicer and quieter hostel than I stayed at back in January. Yesterday, I awoke around 7:30, walked a couple of blocks to a breakfast place, then jumped on the subway to Heathrow airport. Arrived in Seattle at about 4:30, and was picked up by my wife Megan at 6.
Jet lagged and culture shocked, I'm back, happy, and in one piece.
One thing worth mentioning about the flight back to London....my friend Vikki from England whom I met from '08 was on the same flight!!! She had been in Gambia for the previous week. A friend gave her a round trip ticket as a gift at the last moment, and she seized it. We even got to sit next to each other on the plane ride. It was the best thing that could have possibly happened after everything that happened the night before...We also rode the train up into central London together....small world!
Only a week and a half has passed since I left home....It feels like a lot longer!

I hope you've enjoyed reading these blogs!

Sean

Concluding my second visit to Gambia

I'm back at Lamin's compound, Njie Kunda in Jambanjelly for my last night. The two Koras are boxed up, and I have just a few belongings to arrange for my departure to London tomorrow. Looking back, it feels like the trip has come an gone pretty quickly, but the duration of the trip was just about perfect. I'd definitely do a few things differently next time, but all in all, I feel it was a successful trip.

Today, I took my last field recording...a duet of Moriba and I playing Kora. We did about six tracks here at Njie Kunda, where it's a bit quieter than the compound in Brikama. Overall, I produced eight field recordings of Kora players, which is about 5 more than I came out with over my 3.5 month stay in 2008. I'm quite happy about that. Now I just need to figure out how to transfer them to the PC and edit them a bit. I've already promised a few folks that I will be transferring video recordings to DVD so that I can send it to them in Gambia.

This evening, I met with my good friend Fansu Jaiteh, whom I met in 2008. I had quite a bit of time with him during that year. Unfortunately, I only got to see him twice this time around. He has been working over 50 hours a week and taking classes simultaneously, and had to take a three week trip to Basse, at the east end of the country during the middle of my trip. He came to meet me in Jambanjelly after having spent the last few days in Kartong with his family. His father unfortunately passed away only the day before yesterday. He now lives in Brikama with his wife and child. I was glad to be able to have dinner with him here at Lamins and catch up for a couple of hours before he headed back to Brikama for the evening.

I hope you've enjoyed reading the blogs. I've got quite a few performances already lined up for the end of the month. Check out the performance calendar at www.myspace.com/seankora.

I'm anticipating that I will probably experience a bit of reverse culture shock upon arrival in London tomorrow. Then a bit of jet lag to follow the next day after jumping 8 time zones back to Seattle.

All the best-
Sean

Evening with Malamini, today with Jali Sherifo Konteh

The highlight of my trip to Gambia happened last night. I produced a recording of myself playing Kora while Malamini was singing and tapping on the back of my calabash. My intention was to highlight his singing, rather than my playing, and I was quite successful with this. Not venturing off from the main melody (kumbeng) on any song, I was able to allow him to take the spotlight. My heart tingled throughout the entire hour that we sat, as I know that we were creating something truly awesome within that moment. I believe we got eight tracks overall. I was surprised at how well it came out after listening to both the audio from my Kodak pocket video recorder and the mini disc player, especially because we recorded so late in the evening. I've usually been sitting with him at night around 9 or 10 at the latest. Last night, we didn't get started until a bit after 11pm. Don't know what else to say other than that it felt truly amazing to be with him last night.

Today, Moriba and I ventured off with Dawda (David Gilden), the other toubab from Texas (www.coraconnection.com) staying at Jobarteh Kunda, to record Jali Sherifo Konteh. He played very sweetly, and recorded quite a few tracks I had never heard. Very nice. There was quite a bit more negotiating that took place between him and Moriba over a reasonable fee, which I hadn't experienced with anyone in the past. Music is definitely a business for Jalis. No doubt about it. Some are more vocal about it than others. I'm not saying it's good or bad, its just the way it is here.



That's it for this post. Tonight or tomorrow morning, I'll produce my last recording, a duo of Moriba and I playing Kora, and then up to Radio Gambia in the morning to try to find some cassette recordings of Jali Nyama Susso. Then probably off to Lamin's in Jambanjelly for the night. Tuesday- to the airport!

Cheers!

Hanging out at the garden/Back in Brikama

Yesterday was a great way to finish off a five day visit with Lamin and his family. Mike and David, toubabs from Maine came down from Serrekunda, where they have been staying- Mike since Dec. 1st, David since Jan 1st. Mike is a percussionist, playing various drums from around the region. He is quite good for a toubab, I will say. He teaches a class at College of the Atlantic in Bar Harbor during the spring quarter. David, a recent graduate, was a student in his class, and is continuing to study. The two of them played while Lamin, myself, and a young man known as "Sweets" danced and had a blast. We cooked fish and an assortment of various vegetables that Mike and David brought over an open fire in the garden area for lunch. It was delicious! The vegetables definitely hit the spot for me. They seem to lack quite a bit from the traditional diet of Gambians. There are a few veggies served in a traditional bowl of food, but they are overwhelmed by the quantity of rice and palm oil. I played a couple of tracks on Kora while Mike accompanied on drum....probably the best jam session I've had with anyone, I must say. He's definitely got the feel for traditional music here. I would definitely consider having him join me for performances on the east coast.

This morning (early afternoon), I arrived back in Brikama. I hung out with Moriba for a bit, played some Kora, had some lunch. After lunch, we walked for what seemed like a mile, to the compound of Kausu Kuyateh, another of many Kora players here in Brikama. I recorded him playing solo, just like I did with Jali Mady Susso, Moriba, Malamini, and Tata Dindin Jobarteh. He played very softly, almost too soft for my recorders, I had to move everything closer to his Kora a couple of times. His playing was decent, but the recording from Jali Mady Susso last week was far better. I would even go as far as to say that he is the best Kora player still alive here in Gambia, and as far as I know, he is practically unheard of outside of this area. I can't believe that he doesn't have a CD out in circulation anywhere!

Tonight I'm going to record Malamini and myself together. I'll be playing Kora while he will sing. Tomorrow, there's a Kora player called Tafa-Mustapha Jobarteh that Mike recommended I record, and I'm also going to get Moriba and me both playing tomorrow as well. That'll be the end of my recordings for the trip. Monday- Radio Gambia, then maybe back to Lamins for the last night. Tuesday- fly to London. Wednesday- back home!!

I'm exhausted!

I hope all is well back home.

Learning the system

This morning I went into Brikama from Jambanjelly with Lamin. We rode via bush taxi, the crowded little mini bus that can fits about 20 people or so. I wasn't expecting to do this, but I woke up to find out that the last little bit of money for my trip had arrived from my wife Megan, and I wanted to fetch it ASAP. Lamin knocked on my door shortly after I found out after reading a text message that she sent overnight. Shirtless, in somewhat of a stupor from being tired, I answered to Lamin's knock, and asked him if he would be heading into Serrekunda for more business this morning. Brikama is on the way to Serrekunda, which meant we could stop to receive the money transfer. Lamin was in a bit of a hurry to get back to his garden in Jambanjelly, where workers were starting the construction of cement blocks that will line the outside of the property. Lamin said he would drop me in Brikama and continue onto Serrekunda by himself so that he could hurry back to Jambanjelly for work in the garden.

Upon arrival in Brikama at the car park, Lamin took me to the spot that all bush taxis heading towards Jambanjelly line up. This way, I would know where to go after picking up the transfer from the bank. We bid each other a temporary farewell, and for the first time in my two trips to the Gambia, I was on my own, calling my own shots. Moriba wasn't there to negotiate anything....it was just me. Unless you count walking back to Moribas compound in Brikama from the internet cafe, and to Lamin's garden from his compound, I haven't really been out on my own that much. As I exited the busy car park, where it felt like there must've been over 100 bush taxis, people walked up to me saying "Westfield junction, Westfield junction!" or "Banjul! Banul!" depending on where they were heading, trying to get me to jump in. I just smiled or said "Hani" (no) and continued walking out of the car park. I walked by vendors selling many things, fruits, shoes, etc...typically, 5 or more vendors selling the same item will set up shop right next to each other. It seems kind of like the same concept as a Subway being open next to Meconi's subs in Olympia, but you have more competition here.

The transfer pickup went smoothly, and I walked over to a spot where Moriba and I usually get bread and beans for breakfast. I recognized the woman selling the bread from previous visits, and she sent me on my way with my daily bread. I wanted to get some bananas, and I found woman who had some that looked exceptionally ripe. She charged me 20 dalasi for four, which I thought might've been a bit overpriced, but I figured bananas that ripe would be worth it. Nothing is truly fixed in price around here, and I haven't really gotten the feeling of what it's like to negotiate a deal around here, because Moriba has done it for me. The bananas were worth it, probably the best ones I've tasted yet, and my chance to negotiate an overpriced item was soon upon me. I was back at the car park to catch the bush taxi back to Jambanjelly, and I saw a boy carrying thin slices of fresh coconut on his head. I asked him how much per slice, and he said 25 dalasi. I knew this was overpriced, because I have gotten them for 5 in the past with Moriba. I gave him a puzzled look and continued walking. I got all the way back to the spot that Lamin instructed me to catch the bush taxi, turned around, and found that the boy had followed me. "5 dalasi" he said politely. I smiled and pulled it out of my pocket, sort of giddy over the fact that I had just successfully negotiated my first deal solo in my two visits to Gambia. I enjoyed the coconut slice and a banana while I waited for 15 minutes or so for the bush taxi to depart for Jambanjelly. I'm feeling more comfortable about learning the system here....

After getting back to Jambanjelly, I walked to Lamins compound, ate my bread and another banana, and took my Kora to the garden a quarter mile walk away. I witnessed workers constructing cement blocks with sand, water, bags of dry concrete mix, and a template box that you pack all of these with. I've never seen anything like it. Perhaps this is how they make those cinder blocks back in the states that we've all seen. I took very good photo documentation of this. Check my facebook page in a few weeks.

I've been practicing my Kora quite a bit while hanging out at the garden. I've been getting better at singing with a few pieces, and working on some new ones. Many of the workers complimented me on my playing, and Lamin and Ousman seem quite happy about it as well.

I took a two hour nap after lunch this afternoon. Seems like 2 out of every four days are like this. Even with a second wind, the experience is still tiring.

Right now, I'm sitting in Lamins room here at the compound. He has the tv on for traditional wrestling. I can't understand a thing being said, but I witnessed this type of wrestling at both Dombondir and Kartong Festivals.

Gambia lost to Algeria 2-1 yesterday...sighs all around.

I've decided to go back to Jobarteh Kunda in Brikama this Saturday. I want to try to get some more quality recordings of Kora musicians before I go. I might come back to Lamins for my last full day on Monday, depending on how I feel. Moriba and I are going to try and go to the studio of Radio Gambia sometime to find a cassette recording of one particular Kora musician that I couldn't one of in Brikama. His name is Jali Nyama Suso, and I have been unsuccessul of finding anything of him in the states other than a couple of youtube videos. He passed away back in 1991.

All is well. I hope the same is true for everyone.

Hanging out at the Garden, Ousman Njie

I'm happy to say that I've gotten a bit of a second wind....it couldn't have come at a better time too. I believe this to be true for a couple of reasons- Jambanjelly smaller and a lot quieter than Brikama, therefore, I'm able to concentrate a lot better on practicing Kora. The heat hasn't been as intense. I'll bet it hit 90 today, but that's a lot better than 98! I'm feeling a bit more comfortable with things in general. I may even head back to Moriba's in a few days to get some last recordings of more Kora players before departing on the 6th. Nothing is really set in stone though.

I walked to the little corner shop just down the way from Lamin's compound by myself this morning to get some bread, potato, and mayonnaise for breakfast. Generally, I haven't felt so comfortable doing this, but today I let myself do it, and felt good about it. A few children ran up to be shouting the typical phrase, "Toubab!" which is the Mandinka term for white man. Generally, they'll also ask for a mintie, which is a type of candy, or a dalasi coin or two. There are a few ways you can respond to this. You can keep walking and ignore them, you can say "Ta fama nyininka" which means go ask your father, or "Ta bama nyininka", go ask your mother. There's "atcha" which is go, also "Ta koma" go back (easy to remember for me, Tacoma being the next northernmost city of Olympia), or "finti banta" which I believe means get lost. Once in the shop, there are a variety of things sitting behind the table where the shopkeeper is standing. All dry goods, some immediately ready to eat such as the things I had for breakfast this morning, some teas, cigarettes, batteries, etc. Generally, one will walk into this shop, and take their time ordering each individual item, sometimes even giving cash for each item separately as the shopkeeper passes the item across the counter. You don't have to do this, it just seems to be common, that's all. I've seen Moriba order a pack of cigarettes, give the man 50 dalasi, or whatever, and then order some tea for attaya, maybe another 25, in a separate payment.

I spent a good part of the morning and with Ousman Njie, Lamin's younger brother. He is a very sweet young man, close to my age, and he doesn't smoke anything- tobacco or cannabis- Its very rare of men to be this way it seems. After eating breakfast in my room at Njie kunda (House of the Njies), Ousman collected me and we went a few compounds down where the head of the village of Jambanjelly was building a new structure for his family. He had a team of 8 or so yound men stacking cement blocks up, placing wet concrete (maybe mixed with mortar?) in between as they stacked. I got a few pictures of this, which I hope will turn out well. Ousman brewed attaya while the workers worked, and they came over a couple of times during the hour or two we were there to take a break, drink the attaya, and kachaa (chat). One of the workers came over and threw a rock at a branch of an orange tree, knocking down about 5 or 6, which he gave to me and Ousman for a snack. The oranges and grapefruits in America don't even compare to the rich, sweet, delicious ones here. The bananas too...so wonderful! Mangoes are out of season..Generally are ripe starting in June or July during the rainy season.

After hanging out with Ousman and the workers for a while, Ousman and I went back to Njie kunda, collected my Kora and some water to drink, and walked a quarter mile or so to the garden which Lamin has put so much time and effort into. We hung out it under the veranda of the small building recently constructed last summer. I played a bit of Kora while Ousman did some odd jobs around the garden. Lamin soon arrived from his day trip up to Serrekunda, where he has been doing business for his garden, arranging to have materials for a cement wall fence delivered to the garden. He arrived in a lorry with about 6-7 boys and a load of cement bags. The cement bags will be mixed with water, and sand from the previous days' delivery to make the cement blocks, which will be constructed similarly to the exterior of the structure in the compound that I witnessed this morning.

After the bags were delivered, Lamin, Ousman and I hung out under the veranda for a while, b.s.ing, staying out of the sun, and talking about life in Gambia. We did all this while listening to some cassettes of Lalo Keba Drammeh, a Kora player from Casamance (who has passed on) that I picked up in Brikama. There's a lot of talk around today of the soccer (football, as the rest of the world terms it) match between Gambia and Algeria, being played just to the north in Banjul. Its a match of high importance, the winner qualifying for the next round of something. We even came back to the compound here at 4:30, which is when the match was scheduled to start, but it wasn't on. Lamin believes they'll show delayed broadcast sometime this evening.

That's all for now. Certainly glad to have a second wind. Also nice to know that I will be home in a week.

Take care,

Sean

Tata Dindin Jobarteh

Just had a wonderful dinner with Lamin- one of my favorite dishes here in Gambia. Its called Domonda- its chicken, peanut sauce, and rice. Pretty simple, but delicious. The only downside about it is that its hot food being served on an extremely hot day. It didn't feel quite as hot as yesterday, but close. Maybe 95 today?

Today....started out by waking up relatively early. I was interested to find some cassettes of various Kora players. There is a small shop in Brikama market that Moriba frequents, and I picked out eight cassettes featuring about 5 different performers. The only names I can remember off the top of my head are Lalo Keba Drammeh from Casamance (Senegal) and Jaliba Kuyateh from here in Brikama. The shopkeeper put each tape into his player, which broadcast out quite a ways from his little shop, out into the greater market area, where many people frequent throughout the entire day, buying, selling, lounging, etc....I bought each tape that we listened to. Each tape was about 25 dalasi, which totalled 200 for all- equivalent to about $7.50.

From here, we went to the office of Dr. Bojang. This is the family doctor of Moriba and family. I was curious to talk with him about the difficulties that I've been experiencing in my gut since I first travelled to Gambia in 2008. I've seen a few different folks in Olympia to try to sort through it all. The most success has come through visits with Jana Wiley, an actupuncturist in Olympia, Bob Levine, a homepath in Berkeley, CA, and Jennifer Martin, a naturopathic doctor in Olympia. There have been visits to others as well, but the situation has not been fully resolved. It is assumed that I am dealing with a parasite, although not certain. By visiting Dr. Bojang, I was curious to find out if he had any suggestions that might lead to a solution that my doctors in the states were unfamilar with. Unfortunately, we did not find Dr. Bojang...there was a long queue of patients in a room which made it seem like we'd be there for hours. One of the other Doctors at the clinics came into the room and immediately recognized Moriba, which for whatever reason, put us at the front of the queue. I felt kind of bad, because my guess is that everyone else in that room probably needed the attention more than me. The consultation was only a few minutes long. I explained what had been happening for the past few years, the doctor said he would prescribe me a weeks worth of medication for my gastrointestinal tract. Nothing extraordinarly was revealed, although I'm curious about some of the medications. Three of the four prescribed I've never heard of. The one that I am familiar with is one that I've used before. I've decided that I'm going to consult with Dr. Wiley and Martin before taking any of these upon my return home. One of the most noteworthy parts of this visit with Dr. Bojang's assistant was the bill....the consultation was free and the weeklong supply of four different medications came to 325 dalasi, about $12.

After the visit at the clinic, we walked back to the compound in Brikama. We walked into Moribas room, and sat for a couple of hours, staying out of the hot sun. I had wanted to make one more recording before leaving to Jambanjelly. I wanted to record Tata Dindin Jobarteh, Malamini's first son, playing Kora. He is the leader of the Salaam Band, playing Kora, with about 8 people accompanying on various local and North American instruments. The music that Salaam Band plays isn't all that appealing to me in general, but I will say that there is a lot more happening for the band with Tata on the lead Kora. Quite a bit more than I witnessed in 2008. The play mostly his own compositions, and he is very well regarded here in Gambia. After about an hour of relaxation with Moriba, I arranged to record Tata in the back of his own room in the compound. I asked him to play only traditional pieces, and I was quite happy with the recording. I got about 6 songs. It was probably my next favorite recording behind the one I received from Jali Mady Susso in Gunjur a few days ago. Tata's singing voice is strong, and really came out well.

Shortly after completing the recording, I sat with Malamini for one last time, bid farewell, and went off with Moriba toward Jambanjelly. Here, I was dropped at Lamins, and Moriba continued on down to Mama Santchaba to continue with his students. I may see Moriba again, but I'm not sure at this point. Honestly, I'm not quite sure how the next week will look, and I am fine with that.

Until next time...