It was a great week, with lots of like-minded people sharing their thoughts, experiences and ways of worshipping. It was also a consultation for developing a new ‘Arts Manual’, which will be available in the future for all those engaged in the Arts in cross-cultural missions. Anyway, don’t take my word for it – watch this cool video, which shows what happened during the week (you can briefly spot me in a green Malian costume and also in a multi-coloured rugby top!)

(NB A shorter, 3 minute version of this film is viewable here).

Hope you enjoyed that. Don’t forget, there are lots of places running courses in Arts and Missions these days, as more and more folk are realizing the importance of using culturally relevant arts in their work. Music is not a universal language and neither are any of the arts. Going into cross-cultural missions without understanding this could, in some cases, even be destructive. So, what are you waiting for? Get transcultural and find out more!

Arts Courses at GIAL, Texas

European Training Programme Arts Course (UK)

BA Degree with an Arts pathway option (All Nations, UK)

Ethno-Arts at YWAM School of Missions, Panama

List of courses on ICE website

Masters Degrees in Musicology on universities.com

Meanwhile, have a look at this amazing guy with his home made drums (including a bass drum with foot pedal) and harmonica. I saw him a few years ago half way between Cotonou and Djougou on the coach route north. To top it all, he’s also blind! What an increadible bloke! Anyone seen him lately??

This really is a testimony to African resourcefulness and ability to triumph even in adversity. This guy is incredible. Makes me think of the Staff Benda Bilili story (click here and here to find out more).

Enjoy!

But rather than paste the whole article into my own blog, have a look at his instead!
Click here to see Rob’s article on Eric’s blog.

Cheers!

Many of you may be asking:

“What do you do on a course like this? And what’s the point (apart from having fun)?”

Well, although it was fun, it was also hard work and we covered an enormous amount of material. Here’s a brief summary of the topics we cover on a course like this:

* Why do we have the arts? What rôles can they play?
* A history of church music in Africa.
* A Biblical basis for using the arts in missions.
* Organology: the study and classification of musical instruments.
* Verbal expressions: stories/proverbs/riddles etc.
* The visual arts: how these are also non-universal.
* Contextualization and how to do it.
* Researching the arts in a given location.
* Ethno-drama: examples and practical task.
* Music and Trance: possession in African music.
* How to run a song-writing workshop.
* Song composition: practical task.
* Field recording techniques.

We also had a few visiting arty folk, including a an ethnic music group, a story-teller and a very talented ethno-dance group (oh, and Indian puppetry from my colleague…)

Finally, there was lots of singing, dancing and playing music, particularly during breaktimes, with a good range of different ethnic instruments:

Being an ethnomucologist/arts worker is a great job and loads of fun but also has a HUGE impact on entire communities in a way other forms of communication can not.

Could YOU be an ethno-arts worker?

Do you know anyone who might fit the bill?

If so, get in touch! We’re running a similar (but more in-depth) course in the UK this summer. I’ll be teaching one some of it too!

Have a look at the course info here: ETP Ethno-Arts Course 2011

Finally watch this video and be inspired:

Thanks for reading!

One of the things we teach students on such courses is how to do decent field recordings of local music. This was me last September in Bamako, showing them in a practical way what to do.

Interestingly, I was doing exactly the same thing today, but in Jos, Nigeria. More on that to follow…

It was a privilege to see them and look through a copy (even though I only know about 5 words of Toroso). Here I am with a Dogon pastor, holding a freshly arrived Dogon Bible:

You may remember that I was up in Sangha recently for a workshop to compose new songs for the dedication, sheduled for early next year (read about the workshop here). I also did the same for the Moba language in Togo (blog post here). And while we’re on the subject, here’s a post about the Lokpa Bible dedication in Benin in 2008.

Great stuff! Thanks for reading. And here’s a ‘sneak preview’ of a couple of pages for you:

Following this research visit in 2010, I was back in the fascinating clifftop town of Sangha, many miles from home. Here’s what Sangha looks like:

The four-day workshop brought together musicians from all over Dogon Country (cliff and plain-dwellers) to work together on new Bible-based songs. The first three were based on parables, the second three were specifically for the Dogon Bible Dedication, sheduled for 2012. Here are the Dogon Musicians rehearsing one of their songs (with great joy and energy!)

On the last day, we found a secluded valley (between the rocks) and I recorded all the new songs, as well as a few older ones. It was great to see them use so many of their traditional instruments in the songs, some of which are still rarely used in church. Here they are:

TL: the four-holed Dogon flute, or kere. TR: The barbo, a drum made from a large gourd. BL: The boina, a large drum (two kinds, square and round-headed) BR: The gomboi or pressure drum.

It is interesting to note that the square boina was introduced in the 1960s by missionaries because round-headed Dogon drums were still deemed ‘evil’. Somehow having four corners removed its ‘evilness’. Thankfully, we’ve come a long way since then and the Dogon are happy to use a range of instruments to worship God. Have a listen to some of the new songs:

A bi-product (and highlight) of the trip was also being able to interview and record an old Dogon man, who knew many traditional folk songs from years gone by. Here he is singing one of the songs for me – amazing musicality for an old bloke!

Here are some short audio clips of some of the other songs: (i) A song in honour of his mother, saying how nice her breast milk tastes, (ii) A song saying “Whoever you are, you can do nothing in the face of death” and (iii) A song saying: “No Dogon woman is complete without her indigo cloth”.

More photos of the trip on Facebook – click here.
Thanks for reading/watching/listening!

Finally on the road again by 3:10pm, made it to Mac’s Refuge in Sevaré before dark.

Day 2
And, with my assistant/interpreter, I make the all-night boat journey from Mopti to Diafarabé on the Niger River. There were no seats on the boat, just an open hull. We sat (and slept) on the roof, which was a bit chilly and – as it was above the engines – a bit smokey too!

Day 3
Arrival in Diafarabé. As the boat broke down 4 times AND got stuck on a sandbank once, the journey took a total of almost 20 hours!! Did little more than rest for what was left of this day!

Day 4
Interviewing Bozo musicians, in a village not far from Diafarabé.

As night fell, I witnessed one of the most beautiful sunsets I’ve EVER seen, over the Niger river:

Day 5
To Dia and then Tenenkou. More interviews and recordings, trying to find out which song genres are ‘purely’ Bozo (and also sung in the Bozo language) and which ones could be easily used for educational purposes in the future.

Day 6
Journey back. Rather than the gruelling boat journey, we opt for eight hours on a motorbike instead (five off road):

There you go! Many more photos on my Facebook album of the trip: here.

And here’s what some of the Bozo folk songs sounded like:

I could tell you more about it, but instead here’s a link to a page which does just that:

Rob’s Burundi Workshop article

Also, as a picture paints 1,000 words, you can also see some photos of The Royal Drummers of Burundi I worked with here and other Burundi photos (including the workshop) here.

Just thought I’d share that with you! Happy New Year!

(NB not to be confused with Stuart Townend).

David Fanshawe was most well-known for his African Sanctus, which inspired me at a young age and – who knows – may even have been part of what led me to do what I do on this fascinating continent. The Sanctus is basically a mass for choir but with one key difference: authentic field recordings of African music (made in North and Eastern Africa by David himself) are played during the performance, combining with the sound of the choir with some fantastic results. Seriously uplifting stuff, although very eclectic indeed. You can see a YouTube video about the African Sanctus here and order a copy (inc. choral score) here. I’d love to conduct a choir in this one day, but it is quite a demanding work.

His eccentric personality and sense of fun and adventure are surely factors which drove him to travel to such remote locations to make recordings (I can certainly identify with all of the above). As well as Africa, he also spent a significant amount of time in the Pacific, collecting a large number of recordings there as well.

Read some good obituaries here and here and lots of tributes here.

Goodbye David – we will miss your crazy ways and superb music.